On February 9, 1989 UNLV came to historic Titan Gym at 15-5, ranked in the top-20 and headed for another NCAA Tournament run. Cal State Fullerton, led by acting head coach John Sneed was only 9-10 overall and in eighth place in the league. No one in the media was giving the Titans much of a chance.
Running Rebels head coach Jerry Tarkanian would have begged to differ with that assessment. He well-remembered the Titans knocking off his 24-0, number one ranked team in 1983, and always acknowledged that Titan Gym was one of his least favorite places to play.
Before the south wall was opened and the bench seats were removed from the sidelines, Titan Gym was nicknamed the House of Pain due to the high noise level and the close-proximity of the vocal Titan fans to the court.
UNLV brought in their stars: Greg Anthony, Anderson Hunt, David Butler, George Ackles, Moses Scurry and Stacey Augmon. Although lacking the depth of UNLV, Fullerton's cupboards were by no means bare, with Derek Jones, Mark Hill, freshman-point guard phenom Wayne Williams and future NBA All-Star Cedric Ceballos.
UNLV was clearly packed, but coach Sneed knew that the Rebels had two Achilles' heels: The Rebels were not a good outside shooting team nor a good free-throw shooting team. Titan post players David Moody and John Sykes were assigned to see to it that UNLV would get no easy lay-ups and were to put Las Vegas on the line instead.
Over 4,000 fans crammed their way into sold-out Titan Gym for the Big West Conference matchup, and made it a hot, sweaty environment for all. Fullerton rolled out to an 8-3 lead and dominated most of the first half before the Rebels were able to chip away to take a 28-27 lead. The score see-sawed before UNLV took a 43-39 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Ceballos, Jones and Hill were already in double-figure scoring at the half, and Sneed's strategy was working, with UNLV shooting 9-21 (42%) from the charity stripe.
Fullerton kept it close in the second half, with the UNLV lead never exceeding seven points. Titan fans held their collective breath when leading-scorer Cedric Ceballos picked up his fourth foul with 13 minutes to play in the second half. He was ably replaced by Oregon State transfer and defensive stopper Van Anderson, who had just become eligible weeks before.
Fullerton briefly took the lead at 67-65 with less than nine minutes to play after a strong spurt by Titan center John Sykes. Coach Sneed rolled the dice and brought Cedric Ceballos back to the floor with 8:41 left in the second half.
Sneed's gamble paid off as Ceballos followed a dunk with a 3-pointer to give the Titans a 73-71 lead with 4:30 to play in the second half.
With a timeout and the Titans trailing 83-80 with 24 seconds to go, Jerry Tarkanian could be overheard on the TV broadcast saying to his team, "Don't give 'em any 3-point shots. Don't give 'em any shots."
This is where it gets crazy: After the ball was inbounded, Wayne William passed to Mark Hill on the wing for a 3-point shot… miss. The ball was rebounded by Cedric Ceballos. He dribbled back beyond the arc to shoot a three… miss. The ball was then rebounded by John Sykes who quickly passed it to Derek Jones on the wing for a three… Swish. Nothing but the bottom of the net. The score was now tied at 83-83 with four seconds to play. It is noteworthy that this was the first career 3-pointer made by Jones.
After a Stacey Augmon travelling call, the Titans and Rebels were headed to overtime.
Overtime was a back-and-forth affair when Fullerton took a 90-89 lead with 45 seconds left to play following a Mark Hill 3-pointer. A John Sykes goaltend put UNLV ahead 91-90. After being fouled, Mark Hill missed the front end of a one-and-one with 24 seconds to play, giving the Rebels the ball.
At this point in the game, David Moody had fouled out, and Ceballos, Hill and Williams were playing with four fouls, which made for some obvious defensive problems.
After failing to foul poor free-throw shooter George Ackles, the Titans eventually fouled Stacey Augmon with four seconds to play. Augmon made the first free throw to put the score at 92-90, but he then came up short on his second shot.
John Sykes grabbed the rebound and made a quick outlet pass to point guard Wayne Williams who quickly crossed midcourt to put up a buzzer-beating jump shot from an estimated 35-feet to win the game for the Titans, 93-92. Pandemonium ensued as the Titan Gym court was filled by cheering fans in a matter of moments.
Since the game was broadcast on Prime Ticket, highlights were available to be shown on every 11:00 p.m. newscast, and into the next day on ESPN's Sports Center.
Cedric Ceballos led the Titans with 26 points, Mark Hill recorded 20 points, and John Sykes had perhaps his best game in a Titan uniform with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Coach John Sneed's defensive plan to even the playing field for Fullerton was a success, as UNLV shot only 3-14 (.214) from 3-point range, and 25-42 (.595) from the charity stripe.
The game is available in its entirety on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD_IH8xz_EA. This may be a fun way to spend 2-1/2 hours of your COVID-19 quarantine.