Unlv

Sam Assare-Nyanako's first collegiate goal, 10 minutes in overtime, gave the visiting UMBC men's soccer team a 3-2 victory over Nevada-Las Vegas (5-13) in the first round of the Rebel Invitational yesterday.The Retrievers (8-8-1) will play Cal-Irvine for the championship today at 5 p.m. Brian Bugarin (Calvert Hall) and Oliver Bigyeki also scored for UMBC.* William and Mary 3, Loyola 2: Billy Owens had a goal and an assist, as William and Mary (16-1-1) scored three times in the second half to turn back visiting Loyola (13-4-2)

LAS VEGAS -- Two years ago, when former Villanova basketball coach Rollie Massimino came to Nevada-Las Vegas to replace Jerry Tarkanian, then-UNLV president Robert Maxson said, "We had to hire someone who, the day he walked onto campus, we would be perceived as a better university, and Massimino was a perfect fit."To which a teary-eyed Massimino replied, "I never had as nice a compliment in 20 years at Villanova."Today, the Nevada Ethics Commission will be looking into what has become known in this town as "The Massimino Mess."

Ron Meyer, head coach of the Canadian Football League expansion Las Vegas Posse, has graciously offered his help in resolving the bitter dispute over the nickname Colts.Said Meyer, who had a tumultuous five-year relationship with owner Bob Irsay in Indianapolis, "They should rename the Colts the Possums because they always get killed on the road and they play dead at home."Meyer, whose team entertains the Baltimore CFLs on Saturday night, was having his little joke at the expense of Irsay.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The frames of reference for NCAA tournament championship games usually are taken from recent finals. Because Duke has played in so many in the past decade -- tonight's matchup against Arkansas will be its fifth in nine years, and fourth in the past five -- it's easy to look back for comparisons.Forget the back-to-back national championships the Blue Devils won in 1991 and 1992. Forget the semifinal upset of Nevada-Las Vegas that first year. Many here believe the most striking similarity, in terms of circumstances and matchups, is to 1990.

LANDOVER -- Picture J. R. Rider in a Washington Bullets uniform. It looks like a perfect fit.If everything falls into place, and no trades are executed before the June 30 NBA draft, there is a strong likelihood that the Bullets will use their No. 6 pick to select UNLV's high-scoring small forward, who is projected as a shooting guard in the pros.Rider, who averaged 29.1 points for the Runnin' Rebels his senior season, is envisioned filling the role of go-to guy for the Bullets, who had no one to turn to in the final minutes of close games.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Forward J. R. Rider of Nevada Las Vegas said yesterday during a news conference that school officials should be held accountable for their role in his season-ending suspension. Rider was suspended Tuesday when it was revealed that a tutor had done some summer-school work that Rider submitted as his own."I feel that I've been made a public scapegoat by the university," said Rider.

LAS VEGAS -- If you were certain that you hadn't been caught in some time warp and beamed out here from the Starship Enterprise, you would swear it was 1973 instead of 1993 in this oasis of glitter where the high rollers keep arriving by the planeload each weekend looking for quick scores.Take The Strip, still a neon marvel of hotels, casinos and entertainers. But Debbie Reynolds and Tom Jones as headliners? Please. Hang a left at the convention center and pull into Piero's, a high-priced throwback to the days of excess where you can drop a C note for dinner for two without even stuffing yourself, and you will find The Tark still holding court in the center of the room, just like the days when he was the main act in town.

Remember that Indiana team that won the 1987 NCAA championship game on a bucket by Keith Smart? Beat a Syracuse team that had Derrick Coleman and Sherman Douglas and Rony Seikaly?Nudged UNLV in the semifinal game, a Runnin' Rebel team that featured Fred Banks and Jarvis Basnight and Armon "Hammer" Gilliam?So, for $10 and an autographed photo of Jimmy the Greek, which team graduated more players? The Indiana crew-cuts coached by the snow-pure Bobby Knight . . . or the UNLV rabble coached by the notorious Jerry Tarkanian?

MINNEAPOLIS -- The ghosts of another college basketball championship team will be on the court with Michigan and Duke tonight at the Metrodome when the Wolverines and Blue Devils meet in the 1992 NCAA final.It will be the ghosts of last year's Nevada-Las Vegas team, those undefeated overdogs, who, after pounding Duke by 30 points in the 1990 final in Denver, were upset by the Blue Devils at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.The starters on this year's Michigan team said yesterday that they rooted for the Runnin' Rebels as they watched last year's semifinal against Duke.