NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Final Two: Rebels, Blue Devils : UNLV: After being behind, the winners open the second half with a 17-4 run and beat Georgia Tech, 90-81.

DENVER —  For the first 20 minutes against Georgia Tech Saturday, usually defiant Nevada Las Vegas seemed almost timid.

At least, that was the view of Coach Jerry Tarkanian.

“We didn’t play hard,” Tarkanian said. “It just seemed like we were playing cautiously. Maybe it was the pressure of the big game, but in the first half, we were like a boxer feeling his way around.”

In the second half, the Rebels reverted to form, assumed the aggressor’s role and knocked out the Yellow Jackets, 90-81, before 17,675 at McNichols Arena in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament.

“We really came out and played well,” Tarkanian said of a second half in which UNLV opened with a 17-4 run and outscored Georgia Tech, 44-28. “Defensively, we got after them really good and shut down a lot of things.”

Georgia Tech, which shot 66.7% in the first half, missed its first seven and nine of its first 10 in the second half, lost a seven-point halftime lead and never recovered in losing for the first time against an opponent from outside the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Yellow Jackets made only 10 of 29 shots after halftime.

“The turning point of the game was the first five minutes of the second half,” Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins said. “We kind of lost our composure. We wanted to work the ball around a little bit more and get it to Dennis (Scott, who had 20 of his 29 points at halftime).

“But we completely got out of our rhythm. . . . We really got rattled by their defense.”

The Yellow Jackets didn’t make a shot in the second half until Brian Oliver scored on a driving layup almost six minutes into the period, and they didn’t make an outside shot until Scott scored on a three-point bomb with 10:51 left.

“We had a lot of trouble running our offense,” Cremins said.

Georgia Tech’s high-scoring triumvirate of Scott, Oliver and point guard Kenny Anderson--known collectively as Lethal Weapon 3--combined for 69 points, only a fraction of a point below its average. But in the second half, the trio made only nine of 24 shots and was limited to 26 points.

“The beginning of the second half, they just wanted it more than we did,” Oliver said. “They came out and let their defense force the tempo. They forced us into some turnovers. They got some fast breaks.

“They kind of threw us into a funk.”

In so doing, UNLV (34-5) advanced to Monday night’s championship game against Duke, a 97-83 winner over Arkansas.

Georgia Tech ended the season with a 28-7 record that until Saturday had not included a loss by more than five points.

The Yellow Jackets were said to have superior perimeter players in Scott, Anderson and Oliver, but UNLV made 10 of 15 three-point shots to Georgia Tech’s eight of 21. Rebel guards Anderson Hunt and Greg Anthony combined to make eight of 13 shots from long range.

“They sagged a great deal,” Anthony said of the Yellow Jackets, “and coach told us at halftime that if we had the open shot, we should take it. Whenever you have great big men inside--like we do--you’re going to have an opportunity to take open shots. And if you are able to can them like we did today, you’re going to be successful.”

Forward Stacey Augmon led UNLV with 22 points as All-American forward Larry Johnson struggled with his stamina in the altitude, scoring 15 points and taking five rebounds before fouling out with 6:50 left.

Hunt scored 20 points, making five of nine three-point shots, including two in a row after Georgia Tech closed to 76-74 with 5:24 remaining.

Anthony scored 14 points, making three of four three-point shots, and center David Butler scored 13 points and took 10 rebounds. Reserve Moses Scurry scored six points and took 11 rebounds in 21 minutes.

“In the last half, particularly, I thought he dominated the boards,” Tarkanian said of the animated Scurry, who let out a scream each time he took down a rebound. “His play was a real key to our victory.”

Scott led Georgia Tech with 29 points, but after making five of eight shots in the first half, he made only three of nine in the second.

And when UNLV made its decisive move, he never got the ball.

“He played great defense on me in the second half,” Scott said of Augmon, his most frequent tormentor. “He was denying me the ball. The whole Vegas team was denying us the ball and got us out of our offense.”

Oliver scored 24 points and Anderson, who made only one of five shots in the second half, had 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

UNLV looked as if it might dominate at the start, using a 12-3 run to open a 21-12 lead after 5 1/2 minutes, but Scott hit a three-point shot to start a 14-2 spurt for Georgia Tech that moved the Yellow Jackets into the lead, 26-23.

Another three-point basket by Scott ended the three-minute run.

Johnson countered with a three-point shot, ending a string of five trips down the floor without a basket for UNLV.

Georgia Tech outscored UNLV, 11-5, in the last five minutes to take a 53-46 halftime lead.

Butler made a turnaround jump shot to reduce UNLV’s deficit to 49-46 with 3:28 left in the half, but the Rebels failed to score in their last six possessions of the half, and Georgia Tech got two free throws from Scott and a hanging baseline jump shot from Anderson.

Scott made four of six three-point shots in the half and Anderson had 13 points and five assists. “The first half, for some strange reason, we didn’t play with the intensity we wanted, and they pretty much did anything they wanted,” Tarkanian said. “The first half, they really outran us. Our plan was to have our big people beat their big people down court, but they didn’t.”

In the second half, the Rebels beat them almost everywhere.

And in every way.

“We showed UNLV that we could play with them,” Cremins said.

Beating the second-ranked Rebels was another story.