Rebels survive surprising home scare, knock off Air Force, 46-43

By Ryan Greene

Wednesday, March 4, 2009 | 8:56 p.m.

Final, UNLV wins 46-43

It was far from pretty, far from inspiring. In fact, if you're a UNLV hoops fan, it was downright scary.

But UNLV's five seniors can still say they went out as winners, pulling out a much closer than expected 46-43 victory over Air Force on Wednesday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The Falcons, now 0-15 in Mountain West Conference play, got to within as few as two points at 43-41 with less than a minute to play following a pair of Andrew Henke 3-pointers. But UNLV closed it out and improved to 21-8 overall and 9-6 in league play with only a road game at San Diego State this Saturday night remaining.

Senior Wink Adams scored 11 points for the Rebels, while Joe Darger and René Rougeau each scored 9. Adams scored 7 of those in the first half, as UNLV had to scratch and claw to erase a deficit which got as large as 8 points at 19-11. UNLV ripped off an 18-2 run between the end of the first half and beginning of the second, and never trailed again.

Adams' final bucket was a layup with less than 30 seconds to play in traffic, which sealed the victory and sent the home crowd into a frenzy.

The Rebels struggled offensively all night, hitting only 15 of their 49 shot attempts.

Henke led all scorers with 19 points.

For full postgame coverage, including stories, stats, photos, video and The Rebel Room: Postgame Edition, stay tuned to www.lasvegassun.com/rebels.

7:41, second half, UNLV leads 41-29

A couple of 3-pointers have fallen and the Rebels are continuing to play tight defense as they lead Air Force, 41-29, with 7:41 to play in the Thomas & Mack Center. For the 'a win is a win' folks in attendance tonight, they'll probably leave pretty happy.

Other than what looks to be UNLV's 21st win of the year, there's not a ton to brag about.

But how about the defensive job UNLV has done. Air Force is just 3-of-12 from the floor this half, and compound that with the fact that the Falcons just don't have many creators on the offensive end, and UNLV's done a very sound job. Overall, Air Force is 10-of-34 from the floor, and second chances have been at a premium, as they've been held to 5 offensive rebounds.

15:25, second half, UNLV leads 29-21

Joe Darger's first 3-pointer of the game just gave UNLV its biggest lead of the night so far at 29-21, and the Rebels are currently on an 18-2 run which has stretched over the two halves.

You really wouldn't know it, though. It's been a slow, ugly game, and the solid crowd on hand hasn't had too many opportunities to get into it.

Darger's three certainly helped, though. It was his first connection in 5 tries, as I'm sure the home crowd wanted to see him get one more in an official home game (again discrediting the MWC tournament).

By the way, did you know that the money line on Air Force tonight was +1800? Who would have thought you'd have hope with that ticket into the second half ...

Halftime, UNLV leads 20-19

Joe Darger cashed a pair of free throws with 50 seconds to play in the first half which gave UNLV its first lead since this game was at 6-5 in the early minutes.

So at least the Rebels have something have something to build on going into the second half. UNLV has shown a penchant this season for starting slow. Again, a game that's very reminiscent of the first meeting between these two, with Air Force sucking UNLV into its slowed-down game. Only this time, the Rebels aren't hitting threes to force the Falcons into some quicker, more urgent offensive possessions.

Here are some numbers of note from the first half ...

-Both teams are just 7-of-22 from the floor. UNLV is 2-of-11 from 3-point range, while Air Force is 3-of-10.

-Very uncharacteristic of UNLV is the fact that the Rebels have only 2 assists in 20 minutes. On the other side of that are 6 turnovers.

-Wink Adams leads the way with 7 points on 3-of-5 shooting.

-Oscar Bellfield, mired in an offensive slump here late in the season, hit his first 3-pointer in 5 games.

Still, there's no reason to expect this game to be too close at the finish. The Rebels have come out firing out of the half several times this season, and Wink Adams, if he can get some more looks, appears to be in a nice groove tonight.

Besides, how could he let down Mama Wink? She drew a HUGE applause coming out with Wink before the game, and he owes one to her. That's for sure.

3:54, first half, Air Force leads 19-15

Wink Adams hit a tough flip of a layup underneath, then backed down a defender for a turnaround jumper to end UNLV's 11-minute, 10-second field goal drought. Coupled with a tough two inside from Darris Santee and a Tre'Von Willis layup off a steal just before the latest media timeout, UNLV is back to within four of Air Force.

Air Force, however, is finding 3 points at seemingly the end of each lengthy possession. Grant Parker and Trevor Noonan hit back-to-back treys, and the Falcons are clinging to a tight lead.

7:49, first half, Air Force leads 13-7

UNLV has now gone almost 11 full minutes without a field goal, the last one being Wink Adams' 3-pointer at 18:37 which made it a 5-0 game. Since then, all UNLV has is a free throw from Oscar Bellfield and a charity from René Rougeau.

Darris Santee is now checking in for the first time tonight, as maybe the Rebels are going to try and make something happen in the post. What they've done so far hasn't worked at all, as Tre'Von Willis was the latest victim of the unfriendly rims. UNLV is 1-of-9 from long range so far.

11:52, first half, Air Force leads 11-6

Behind four points from Andrew Henke and a nifty dribble-drive jumper from Sammy Schafer, Air Force has the Thomas & Mack Center crowd on edge here early, leading UNLV 11-6.

The third bucket in the current 8-0 run was a Trevor Noonan layup inside that -- no joke -- came off a set play that coach Jeff Reynolds called 'Hi-Ho-Silver.' I guess when you're 0-14 in league, you'll try just about anything.

UNLV is 2-of-10 from the floor to start, and 1-of-7 from 3-point range. Kendall Wallace, who was 5-of-9 from deep in the first meeting, is 0-for-2. His last one swirled the rim twice before spilling out.

15:36, first half, UNLV leads 6-3

René Rougeau put back a Joe Darger miss on the game's opening possession, and Wink Adams followed it up with a 3-pointer from straight on to put UNLV ahead of Air Force early, 6-3.

Just before the first media timeout, Rob Ketchum and Mo Rutledge checked in for the Rebels, meaning all five seniors will get first half run.

As far as this game goes strategically, it's shaping up much like the affair in Colorado Springs back in January, a 21-point UNLV game which only took about an hour and 40 minutes. Long possessions and not much going on under the hoop on the offensive ends, as Air Force is trying to stay in this one any way possible.

Pregame, Part Deux

Well, it's the same starting five as always. Seniors Rob Ketchum and Mo Rutledge will start the game on the bench. Maybe Kruger's using that to tell his regulars to put Air Force away by enough early enough to give Ketchum some good run at game's end?

Pregame

The UNLV seniors got the memo tonight to bust out their finest whites, as it's a 'White Out' at the Thomas & Mack Center for Senior Night, with UNLV set to do battle against Mountain West bottom-feeder Air Force.

The five seniors -- Wink Adams, Joe Darger, René Rougeau, Mo Rutledge and Rob Ketchum -- all came out for warmups wearing the white giveaway T-shirts that are being handed out at the gates this evening. Adams is pairing his with a funky pair of Lebron James Nike kicks, which have a splash of red on them and grey camouflage lining the sole. Joe Darger, for the first time we can remember, is wearing a white sleeve on his right elbow. Typically it's red or black.

The game almost feels like a mere footnote tonight for the Rebels, who will bid farewell to maybe Lon Kruger's most influential class. Of course, the Mountain West Conference tourney will be on this floor a week from now, but it's not quite the same thing.

The first time around this season, UNLV easily disposed of Air Force -- still winless in the league at 0-14 -- 59-38 up in Colorado Springs. That was the day Kendall Wallace went 5-of-9 from 3-point range and Tre'Von Willis posted 11 assists in a game that was hardly competitive.

The most fun thing to watch tonight could be Wink with his mother, Reandre, also known as 'Mama Wink.' She was at practice yesterday, making Wink blush a bit when she called him her 'Little Cub.' Again, the game doesn't carry a ton of significance for two reasons. First, well, the outcome is pretty much obvious and predictable, and that this is a night you could see more emotion out of some of UNLV's players than usual.

On to tonight's three big predictions ...

1) Pick to click After watching the way Air Force defended the perimeter in January, I'm taking Joe Darger. Miech wants René Rougeau.

2) Rob Ketchum will score one more bucket as a Rebel I would imagine Kruger will give the senior walk-on the start and let him play through the first media timeout. Dude's certainly earned at least that much.

3) Scores ... I'm going with UNLV, 80-48. Gonna get ugly. Miech is going UNLV, 78-53.

Talk to you after tip-off.