E.J. Harkless carries UNLV to last-second win vs. Air Force

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Friday, Feb. 24, 2023 | 9:42 p.m.

UNLV has relied on E.J. Harkless to be its late-game closer all season, but on Friday night against Air Force, he watched someone else take the potential go-ahead shot.

That didn’t stop him from winning the game anyway.

Trailing by one point with nine seconds left, UNLV sophomore Jackie Johnson came up with a steal on an inbound play and quickly dished to sophomore guard Keshon Gilbert, who drove baseline for a difficult layup attempt.

Not to be shut out of the deciding play, Harkless decided to burrow his way into the crowd under the basket.

Gilbert’s shot rolled off the rim, and Harkless’ strategy was simple.

“Just go get it,” Harkless said. “Whoever wants it more.”

Harkless, a 6-foot-4 senior, snatched the rebound in traffic, went back up and laid it in with 1.7 seconds remaining to give UNLV a miraculous 54-53 victory over Air Force.

The winning bucket capped another sparkling second-half performance by Harkless, who scored 19 of his 23 points after the break. At one point down the stretch, Harkless scored nine straight points to keep UNLV alive.

Sophomore Shane Nowell, who scored on a dunk with nine seconds left to trim the deficit to one point and set up Johnson’s steal, has gotten used to seeing Harkless put the team on his back.

“It’s amazing,” Nowell said. “He’s a leader for this group, and it really showed today through the way he played in the second half, really coming through.”

UNLV came into the game as a heavy favorite, but 12 first-half turnovers (including five by Harkless) allowed Air Force to stay in front for most of the night. When Falcons guard Carter Murphy hit a 3-pointer to give the visitors a 47-42 advantage with 1:52 remaining, it looked like UNLV was about to suffer a staggering defeat.

“When you play a team like Air Force, a six- or seven-point lead feels like 12 or 13,” UNLV head coach Kevin Kruger said. “Those types of games can get away from you pretty quick.”

Harkless came to the rescue, though, sandwiching identical and-1 layups around a Murphy basket to bring UNLV within a single point.

Gilbert then scored on a drive, and Air Force’s Rytis Petraitis made a pair of free throws with 16 seconds left to restore the Falcons’ 53-50 lead.

Things looked dire for the Scarlet and Gray, especially considering their struggles in close games this year. Prior to Friday, UNLV had been 0-4 in contests decided by a single possession, including a pair of overtime losses. But their luck turned in the final sequence, starting with a set play out of a timeout that freed Nowell for an easy dunk. Johnson then swiped the inbound pass, and UNLV notched its first last-minute win of the season.

Kruger said coming up empty in so many late-game situations had been weighing on the team.

“We’ve had some games where it just kind of felt like something was about to go wrong,” Kruger said. “It just kind of had that air in the arena. And tonight, hopefully getting over the hump, we can get that swagger back a little bit.”

UNLV is now 17-11 on the year and 6-10 in Mountain West play. They’ll host Utah State on Wednesday, then travel to UNR on Saturday to close out the regular season.

Despite struggling for most of the game, Kruger said his players were rightfully giddy in the locker room after Harkless beat the buzzer.

“They absolutely earned that win,” Kruger said. “They put in three great days of work for it, and then they battled for 40 minutes.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.