Dec. 1, 2004

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By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Seldom-used senior Andy Hannan hit an 18-foot jumper with 0.4 seconds left to lift UNLV to a thrilling 73-72 victory over California on Wednesday night.

Marquise Kately's jumper in the paint with 13.9 seconds remaining put Cal ahead, and the Golden Bears seemed to have a victory in hand when UNLV's Jerel Blassingame was called for a charge on the other end with four seconds to play.

But after Cal inbounded the ball under the Runnin' Rebels' basket, Richard Midgley traveled and gave UNLV the ball back with 2.7 seconds to go and Hannan came up huge.

Romel Beck scored 21 points for UNLV (2-1), while Odartey Blankson added 16 points and five rebounds.

Rod Benson scored a career-high 22 points and added eight rebounds for the Bears (3-2), who used a furious comeback over the final 10 minutes to erase a 14-point second-half deficit. Cal ultimately couldn't overcome costly mistakes and poor free-throw shooting (13-for-25).

Midgley finished with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists, but also committed eight of Cal's 17 turnovers. Kately also had 12 points as Cal kicked off a three-game homestand with a loss.

First-year UNLV coach Lon Kruger and his team began a four-game trip by playing at Cal for the first time. The Runnin' Rebels beat the Bears in the previous two meetings between the schools in Las Vegas.

Cal is down to only eight healthy scholarship players after losing starting point guard Ayinde Ubaka to a broken left foot in an 82-63 win over Southern last week. He is expected to be sidelined until mid-January.

Cal is already without reigning Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Leon Powe, who is expected to miss the season as he recovers from reconstructive knee surgery.

UNLV's crisp ball movement led to many dunks and open jumpers in the first half, but the Runnin' Rebels made only three of their first 10 3-point tries.

Michael Umeh scored seven straight points for UNLV during one first-half stretch, but Benson scored six straight points with a dunk during an 8-0 Cal run that turned a 28-21 deficit into a brief 29-28 lead.

UNLV led 38-32 at halftime thanks to two late 3s by Beck.