Omaha, NE -- (Sports Network) - Joe Darger scored 18 points and Wink Adams added 17, as UNLV used a dominant first half to cruise past Kent State, 71-58, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament's Midwest Regional.

Rene Rougeau chipped in 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Runnin' Rebels (27-7), who hold the eighth seed in the region and will next meet top-seeded Kansas, which decimated Portland State, 85-61, earlier Thursday.

UNLV, which captured the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship for a second straight year, is on a five-game win streak and has won eight of its last nine overall.

"I thought our guards and our entire team did a great job of talking and switching and making it easy for us guys on the inside to be able to stay in front, did a great job of just a whole team effort," said Darger.

Mike Scott had a team-high 14 points and 10 boards for Kent State (28-7), which held the No. 9 seed. The Golden Flashes, Mid-American tourney champs, had a five-game win streak snapped to close out their season.

UNLV dominated from the opening tip, kicking things off with an 11-2 run. Adams got it started with a layup, then canned a three during the spurt before Rougeau capped it with a shot off the glass at 13:51.

A Rashad Woods bucket briefly stopped the bleeding for Kent State, but the Runnin' Rebels answered with a 16-2 push to trigger the rout. Rougeau's dunk with 4:13 remaining in the first half gave UNLV a 27-6 lead.

Kent State limped into the break trailing 31-10, having made just 5-of-24 shots -- a dismal 20.8 percent effort -- in the opening 20 minutes. The Golden Flashes were 0-for-7 from three-point range and had committed 17 turnovers. The 10 points tied an all-time tournament record for lowest output in one half.

"The first half of basketball was just so unlike how we played all year," said Kent State head coach Jim Christian. "We just came out, played with no confidence, just made silly mistake after silly mistake. UNLV is a great team, took advantage of it. But that was about as bad as we can play, but they obviously did a great job taking advantage of it."

The Runnin' Rebels picked up right where they left off following the intermission. It was 39-15 on a Rougeau lay-in at 17:40, but Kent State matched its first-half effort with 10 points in the first four minutes of the second half.

The Golden Flashes never posed a serious threat down the stretch, though, as they trailed, 62-42, with a little more than five minutes to play.

Kent State got 12 points apiece from Chris Singletary and Haminn Quaintance, while Al Fisher donated 10 in a losing cause.

Game Notes:

Kent State shot 35.6 percent (21-of-59) for the contest, compared to a 50.9 percent effort (29-of-57) for the Runnin' Rebels...UNLV held a slight edge on the boards, 36-34...UNLV is making its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time since winning the national title in 1990 and returning to the Final Four in 1991...This was the fifth trip for Kent State to the Big Dance...It was the first-ever meeting between the schools. UNLV is 8-1 all time against teams in the MAC.