Las Vegas – It was a maddening few minutes that seemed like an hour as game officials studied the replay screen to see if Wendell White’s potentially tying shot for the UNLV Rebels beat the clock.
When the officials finally signaled the shot was late, Air Force had its first victory at the Thomas & Mack Center over UNLV, a 52-50 triumph Wednesday night that put some steam back into the Falcons’ bid for the Mountain West Conference men’s basketball championship.
The Falcons used a closing 13-5 run, including Dan Nwaelele’s clutch 3-pointer with 54 seconds left, to win for the first time in 12 games in Las Vegas. As they stormed off the court after the agonizing final seconds, the Falcons had their first road victory of the season in conference play and stayed close to MWC leader San Diego State (13-6, 6-1), which defeated New Mexico 75-69.
While waiting for the signal of victory from the officials, first-year Air Force coach Jeff Bzdelik had his team prepared for the worst.
“I told my team during that time to stay mentally tough and be prepared to play overtime,” Bzdelik said. “I didn’t want them to be surprised that they still had to play and UNLV is revved up because they got back in it and after two minutes, we’re down four or five in overtime.”
Air Force (17-3, 5-2) suffered through an agonizing final 14 seconds as the Rebels (10-8, 4-2) had possession. But UNLV’s last chance wasn’t enough, with Louis Amundson’s shot being short and White’s follow attempt too late.
“We didn’t want to give up a 3 at the end,” Nwaelele said. “That was the biggest thing. If they went inside, we hoped to get a block or a rebound. They missed the shot.”
Air Force found its lost touch from 3-point range early in the second half and took a 35-33 lead with 15:26 left on Nwaelele’s 3.
But the Rebels started running and the Falcons struggled for a while to keep up. AFA guard Matt McCraw hit the game’s first free throw for either team with 11:18 remaining, lifting the Falcons to a 39-38 lead. With Amundson’s follow shot, UNLV took a 45-39 lead with 7:45 left.
An exchange of 3-pointers between Air Force’s Nwaelele and McCraw and UNLV’s Ricky Morgan had the Rebels ahead by one, but the Falcons took the lead back on Jacob Burtschi’s follow shot with 2:03 to play.
They led the rest of the way.
The Rebels put together a 10-3 run with just about three minutes remaining in the first half and led 27-16 on Jo’Van Adams’ layup. But as they did most of the half, the Falcons somehow kept from falling over the edge.
Air Force trailed by only five at halftime after scoring the last six points of the half, including a layup by center John Frye with only one second on the clock.
Burtschi led the Falcons with a game-high 13 points. Nwaelele added 12. Amundson, a 6-foot-9 senior from Monarch High School, shot only 3-of-10 and scored just six points for the Rebels. He was averaging 14.7.
AIR FORCE (17-3, 5-2 MWC)
Burtschi 6-13 0-0 13, Nwaelele 4-6 0-0 12, Frye 4-6 0-0 8, McCraw 3-13 1-2 10, An. Hood 3-10 0-0 7, Henke 0-0 0-0 0, Anderson 1-4 0-0 2, Maren 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-53 1-2 52.
UNLV (10-8, 4-2 MWC)
Amundson 3-10 0-0 6, Terry 1-5 0-0 3, Villepigue 6-6 0-0 12, Adams 4-9 0-1 10, Petrimoulx 4-8 0-0 10, Umeh 1-1 0-0 3, White 2-3 0-0 4, Morgan 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 22-43 0-1 50.
Halftime – UNLV 27-22. 3-point goals – Air Force 9-29 (Nwaelele 4-4, McCraw 3-10, An. Hood 1-5, Burtschi 1-5, Frye 0-2, Anderson 0-3); UNLV 6-11 (Adams 2-3, Petrimoulx 2-3, Umeh 1-1, Terry 1-4). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – Air Force 24 (Burtschi 6), UNLV 30 (Amundson 8). Assists – Air Force 15 (McCraw 7), UNLV 15 (Adams 5). Total fouls – Air Force 9, UNLV 7. A – 9,570.
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
