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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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.