UNLV knocks off BYU to reach Mountain West title game

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tre'Von Willis finished with 18 points and made critical free throws down the stretch, as UNLV upended No. 14 BYU, 70-66, to reach the championship game of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

Willis finished 6-of-6 at the line, while Chace Stanback added 17 points and six rebounds for the third-seeded Rebels (25-7), who will face San Diego State in Saturday's final. The Aztecs knocked off top-seeded and eighth-ranked New Mexico earlier Friday.

Brice Massamba had 13 points and six boards for UNLV, which has won six in a row overall, as well as eight in a row against BYU on its home court.

Jimmer Fredette made all 12 of his free throws and finished with 30 points for the Cougars (29-5), who had won their last three. Michael Loyd, Jr. added 11 points in the loss.

"He's a terrific player," UNLV head coach Lon Kruger said of Fredette. "I thought he had to work all night long. Didn't give him too many easy ones. Didn't foul him too many times. Didn't need to."

BYU played without guard Tyler Haws, the team's third-leading scorer this season. Haws suffered a left eye injury in the Cougars' quarterfinal win over TCU, and he did not dress Friday, as the eye appeared swollen shut.

UNLV held a 57-47 lead with under eight minutes left before BYU charged back with a 14-2 run to take the lead. Fredette scored eight in the stretch, which Loyd ended with a jumper for a 61-59 edge with 2:51 to play.

But the Rebels scored the next four points to go back ahead, and with a minute left, Willis' bank shot put UNLV up 65-62.

UNLV's lead still stood at three, 67-64, after Willis made two foul shots with 36.8 seconds remaining. The Rebels pressured Fredette on the ensuing BYU possession, forcing the Cougars to find other options. Loyd eventually got the ball in the right corner and drove into the lane, but his shot didn't hit the rim and bounced off the glass.

"They're really good defensively at taking you out of your stuff," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "I thought our guys read that possession well. I thought we needed to capitalize on that basket."

Massamba missed his first free throw at the other end, but the second bounced in to make it a two-possession game, and Willis later made two more to seal the win.

UNLV shot 61.5 percent in the first half, when the Rebels made 7-of-10 three- point tries en route to a 41-34 halftime lead.

About three minutes into the second half, consecutive buckets from Massamba pushed the advantage to 47-36.

Game Notes

UNLV owns a 4-0 record all-time against BYU in the MWC Tournament. This was the first meeting between the teams in the semifinals as all three previous MWC Tournament matchups came in the title game...The teams split the regular season series...UNLV shot 55.6 percent overall, while BYU made 39.6 percent of its shots.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

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