Poke in eye knocks former Rebel Beck out of Cleveland lineup

Romel Beck was hoping his latest Las Vegas homecoming would last longer than eight minutes.

But the former UNLV guard got poked in the right eye Monday while playing for Cleveland against the New York Knicks to cut short his debut with the Cavaliers in the NBA Summer League.

Beck left the game early in the second quarter of Cleveland’s 97-94 loss after scoring four points and grabbing two rebounds. He did not return.

“I’d been playing well in practice, so it was disappointing to get hurt,” Beck said. “Right now I’ve got some double vision. I’m going to the doctor and I hope it clears up so I can play Wednesday.”

The Cavs play Houston at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The last time Beck was in Las Vegas, he was Mexico’s leading scorer at the FIBA Americas Tournament last summer at the Thomas & Mack. He parlayed his 19-point-per-game average into a contract in Italy, first with Cimberio Varese, then with Pierrel Capo d’Orlando, where he averaged 17.5 points after being traded midway through the season.

“I played well over there,” he said of his Italian League experience. “It’s a different kind of game, but it’s better suited to my style.”

• BANKS’ RECORD SAFE — Houston rookie forward Donte Greene, a first-round draft pick from Syracuse, had 36 points through three quarters and appeared on his way to breaking the Summer League single-game scoring record.

Marcus Banks set the record last year with 42 points against Cleveland, and the former UNLV star kept the mark after Greene finished with 40 points in the Rockets’ 100-97 win over Phoenix at the Thomas & Mack.

“I had no idea I was close to the record,” said the 6-foot-8-inch Greene, whom the Rockets drafted 28th overall last month. “But (the Suns) were really all over me in the fourth quarter, so I wasn’t getting the same good looks I was getting before.”

Greene finished with three assists, but the last one resulted in the game winner as he made a sweet back-door feed to Maarty Leunen to put the Rockets ahead 98-97 with 7.3 seconds remaining.