UNLV Bounces Back In Second Half Against Air Force To Advance In Mountain West Hoops Tourney; Runnin’ Rebels Play Utah State Thursday
ADVERTISEMENT
Shop at Jay’s Market at 190 East Flamingo Road at the Koval Lane intersection east of the Strip.
ADVERTISEMENT
Story by Alan Snel Photos by Hugh Byrne
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The Air Force Academy won four of 31 games entering its Mountain West Conference tournament game against UNLV Wednesday.
The Falcons, based just north of Colorado Springs in the Rockies foothills, gave UNLV quite a scare Wednesday but the Runnin’ Rebels caught fire midway through the second half to advance to play Utah State Thursday at 8:30PM at Thomas & Mack Center.
It was a lifeless first half as UNLV scored only 21 points in the 20 minutes and trailed, 25-21, at the break.
But UNLV flipped the game in the second half.
UNLV ripped off 19 straight points as Air Force went ice cold and UNLV led by 13 points with about 3:30 left in the game.
UNLV lives to play another game. Coach Kevin Kruger said his squad needed to play more assertively and aggressively in the second half.
Final: Runnin’ Rebels 68 Air Force 59.
The Mountain West is scheduled to play its basketball tournament at Thomas & Mack Center through 2032. After having six conference teams make it to the Big Dance in 2024, the Mountain West is expected to have three schools in the national tournament, maybe four.
The MWC tournament is important revenue for Thomas & Mack Center, which also hosts the NBA Summer League in July and the National Finals Rodeo in December.
The MWC tournament has local hotel sponsors Circa, Resorts World and Westgate and has Credit Union 1 as its title sponsor.
