UNLV Survives Air Force With 78-70 Overtime Win In Mountain West Tourney, Advances To Play Boise State Thursday

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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher/Writer

Perhaps UNLV should make believe that a first half of basketball or even a second half is overtime.

The UNLV Runnin’ Rebels poured in 21 points in the five-minute overtime after scoring only 24 in the entire 20-minute first half as UNLV polished off the Air Force Academy, 78-70, in OT in the first round of the Mountain West Conference tournament at Thomas & Mack Center Wednesday.

It was a one-man scoring show for UNLV, which relied on Elijah Harkless to register 35 points, while guard Justin Webster chipped in with a dozen points.

UNLV moves on to play Boise State in the quarterfinals. Boise State won both of its games against UNLV during conference play.

In response to an LVSportsBiz.com question, UNLV coach Kevin Krueger said he hopes he can balance out the scoring instead of having Harkness carry the scoring load.

At 7 PM later today, the UNLV women’s team battles Wyoming for the Mountain West title and an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

In the first game today, Colorado State defeated Fresno State to advance to the quarters.

And New Mexico knocked Wyoming out of the men’s tourney.


 

Alan Snel

Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.