April 7, 2001

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico - The UNLV men's golf team trimmed six strokes off its score in the second round of the Ford U.S Collegiate Championships on Saturday but was unable to improve its position as the Rebels are still in ninth place.

A team round of 291 helped UNLV maintain pace, but the rest of the field was also better on Saturday. Georgia, which had the first-round lead at four-under par, pulled another 12 strokes off its score to lengthen its lead to 15 shots over Georgia Tech and 32 shots over the Rebels.

Senior Scott Lander turned in a second consecutive 71 on Saturday. At two-under, he is alone in 12th place and just two strokes off a top-five finish.

Lander trailed Georgia's Nick Cassini by three strokes as Saturday's play began, but Cassini was one of three players to fire a five-under 67 in the second round and stretched his own lead in the individual race. He has a two stroke lead on Northwestern's Luke Donald and sits seven strokes up on Lander.

Although Lander is the Rebels' top player on the leaderboard, it was sophomore Brett Foulds who carded the team's best second-round score. After shooting 76 on Friday, Foulds finished with a two-under par 70 for the round and is tied for 21st, two strokes over par for the tourney.

Brandon Askew and Calvin Kupeyan both added a 75 to the Rebels' second-day total. Along with a 74 on Friday, Askew is five-over par and tied for 35th. Kupeyan rebounded from Friday's 80 with hhis 75 and is tied for 54th, 11-over par.

Freshman James Oh, who had been the Rebels' top golfer through most of the early part of the season, struggled again on Saturday, shooting an eight-over par 80. His tournament total is 156, 12 strokes over par and has him tied for 57th overall.

The Rebels will attempt a last-round charge on Sunday.