HALFTIME: UNLV 42, Colorado St. 36

The UNLV Runnin' Rebels and Colorado St. Rams battled each other to virtual stalemate in the first half of their semifinal game at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev. Friday night.

The Rebels led early then blew the game open with a 13-2 run midway through the first half on eight straight points by Anthony Bennett - two free throws and a pair of three pointers that made the partisan UNLV crowd roar with approval.

But the Rams were able to counter, chipping away with at the lead after head coach Larry Eustacy was served up with a technical foul arguing against a call that went against the Rams. Colorado St. managed an 8-0 run of their own and got Bennett out of the game by forcing his hand to earn his 3rd foul.

CSU appeared to get a buzzer-beating tip in from Colton Iverson to finish the half, but after video review the basket was waved off.

Iverson leads all scorers with 17 points at the half and nearly a double-double - the post transfer from Minnesota has eight rebounds also. Wes Eikmeier added eight points for CSU

UNLV was paced by Katin Reinhardt's 16 points on 4-7 shooting- all 3-pointers - and 4-4 free throw shooting. Bennett added 13 points and 3 rebounds.

The Rams held a 21-16 advantage in rebounds in the half and shot 39 percent, 14-36 but just 14 percent on 3-pointers (1-7). UNLV shot 39% (12-31) in the half, 7-12 on 3s (58 percent) and went 11 of 11 from the free throw line.