Las Vegas – There was a lesson to be learned for the Air Force Falcons on Tuesday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Although scoring only two points in the last 4 minutes, 22 seconds, UNLV’s Runnin’ Rebels held on to beat the 3-point frenzied shooting Falcons 60-50 before a crowd of 15,962, gaining a tie with Air Force for second place behind league-leading BYU. The 14th- ranked Falcons fell to 23-5 overall and 10-4 in conference play.
While the Rebels (23-6) went cold down the stretch, the Falcons were even worse, missing chance after chance to cut into an eight-point deficit that seemed to be etched in stone.
In a hopeless attempt at playing catch-up throughout, the Falcons put up 39 3-point attempts. When the shooting gallery ended, the Falcons suffered through their worst shooting of the season at 30.2 percent. Eleven of their 16 field goals were 3-pointers.
“Thirty-nine 3-point attempts are way too many,” Air Force coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “That’s a hope and a prayer game.”
The Falcons’ hopes faded when they missed their last five shots of the game, four from 3-point range. The Falcons failed to score a point after Matt McCraw’s 3-point basket with 4:07 left, cutting UNLV’s margin to 58-50.
“We were trying to shoot ourselves back into the game,” Air Force’s Dan Nwaelele said. “When you’re not making shots, it’s not possible. We have to work more on going to the basket.”
But the faulty shooting wasn’t the only soft spot for the Falcons. UNLV held a commanding 44-29 advantage in rebounds, including 11 offensive boards. The Rebels scored 10 second-chance points.
“Obviously, it was great to beat a ranked team,” UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. “And while both teams missed shots, I thought both defended well, too.”
The most recent win over a highly ranked team by the Rebels was a 54-51 win over No. 5 Utah in the 1998 Western Athletic Conference Tournament.
“One thing led to another,” Air Force’s Nick Welch said. “They got more aggressive on the offensive boards and we were settling for 3s. We definitely died by the 3 tonight.”
Air Force played from behind for the last 22:57 of the game.
The Falcons are down to their last two games of the regular season, playing at TCU Saturday and at home against BYU Tuesday.
“It hurts to sit on the side and pray and hope,” Jacob Burtschi said. “But sometimes you have to.”
AIR FORCE (23-5)
Burtschi 2-11 1-1 5, Nwaelele 5-14 0-0 14, Welch 3-9 6-8 15, McCraw 3-10 0-0 8, Anderson 1-4 0-0 2, Henke 2-2 0-0 6, Kenzik 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Frye 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 16-53 7-9 50.
UNLV (23-6)
White 4-8 0-0 8, Essengue 2-3 0-0 4, Adams 2-13 3-3 8, Kruger 2-11 9-9 14, Umeh 3-7 0-0 7, Bailey 2-3 0-2 4, M.Lawrence 0-0 0-0 0, Anthony 5-7 0-0 10, Terry 0-1 0-0 0, Darger 1-2 2-2 5. Totals 21-55 14-16 60.
Halftime – UNLV 31-30. 3-point goals – AFA 11-39 (Nwaelele 4-9, Welch 3-8, Henke 2-2, McCraw 2-7, Frye 0-2, Anderson 0-3, Burtschi 0-8), UNLV 4-18 (Darger 1-2, Umeh 1-4, Adams 1-4, Kruger 1-7, Terry 0-1). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – AFA 29 (Welch 9), UNLV 44 (Anthony, White 9). Assists – AFA 14 (Welch 5), UNLV 11 (Kruger 10). Total fouls – AFA 15, UNLV 11. A – 15,962.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
