Rebels struggle to gain altitude; Air Force soars
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — Air Force senior Tim Anderson is not an NBA prospect by any stretch. But against a sleepy UNLV defense, he looked like the next Steve Nash.
Anderson scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half Saturday to lift the Falcons to a surprisingly easy 65-53 victory over the Rebels.
“Anderson is a great competitor,” UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. “He really made some big plays.”
Kruger had no compliments for his own team. After the Rebels’ sixth straight loss at Clune Arena, they walked away embarrassed by an all-around poor effort.
UNLV trailed by as many as 17 points and dropped to 12-4 overall, 1-1 in the Mountain West Conference.
Anderson, a 6-foot-3-inch guard, shot 8-for-9 as Air Force hit 62 percent (21-for-34) from the field.
“You can’t be happy with that,” Kruger said. “They had their way with pretty much anything they wanted to do offensively.”
Curtis Terry scored 12 points and Wink Adams 11 to lead the Rebels, who played tentatively on the offensive end and were missing their usual defensive intensity.
The Falcons (9-6, 1-1) used a late 14-4 run to take a 32-25 halftime lead.
Anderson’s 3-pointer with 11:15 left in the game ignited an 11-2 spurt that put Air Force up 54-37. Anderson scored eight of his team’s 11 points.
“We’re very disappointed,” Terry said. “We didn’t come out and have a lot of energy, enthusiasm and excitement about this game.
“We played lackadaisical somewhat. Our focus and intensity just wasn’t there.”
Terry and Adams combined to shoot 7-for-27. Adams hit 3 of 14 shots, including 1 of 9 3-pointers, after making his first 3-point attempt of the game.
UNLV was unable to penetrate the Falcons’ 2-3 zone defense.
“I hit the first 3 and I thought I was going to have a good night,” Adams said.
“They played a zone, and we didn’t know it was going to be that extended. They had us starting our offense so far out, we couldn’t really get to the paint. We were running our offense from 5 to 10 feet behind the 3-point line.”
The Rebels shot 3-for-10 and had seven turnovers in the first 10 minutes. Rene Rougeau’s steal and layup pulled UNLV to within 18-16, but Air Force answered that brief rally and led the rest of the way.
“I thought we opened up very jittery and anxious and a little bit frantic,” Kruger said. “They just competed harder, and we certainly aren’t a team that can allow that to happen and expect to come out on top.”
Rougeau finished with five points, seven rebounds and five steals. Corey Bailey had nine points and six rebounds. Those two combined to produce one of the Rebels’ few highlights.
Five minutes into the second half, Rougeau missed a short baseline jumper and Bailey flew through the lane for a one-handed slam.
Anderson made a 3-pointer on the next possession to thrill the crowd of 5,146 at Clune Arena, where the Falcons are 64-3 since the beginning of the 2003-04 season.
Anderson also made 9 of 12 free throws.
Kruger said UNLV must “bounce back very quickly” before facing Brigham Young on Tuesday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
“If we can’t get up for that game … then I don’t know what it’s going to take to get us going,” Terry said.
Air Force 65
UNLV 53
UNLV Min FG-A FT-A R A PF TP
Bailey 24 3-5 2-2 6 1 3 9
Darger 25 2-5 4-4 2 1 5 9
Adams 34 3-14 4-4 5 0 1 11
Rougeau 32 2-4 1-2 7 1 4 5
Terry 38 4-13 1-2 1 4 4 12
Rutledge 11 1-2 0-0 2 0 1 3
Wallace 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Lawrence 21 0-1 0-0 0 1 2 0
Shaw 13 2-3 0-0 1 0 2 4
TOTALS 200 17-47 12-14 26 8 23 53
Field goals–36.2%. Free throws–85.7%.
Three-point goals–7-24 (Terry 3-9, Bailey 1-1, Rutledge 1-2, Darger 1-2, Adams 1-9, Lawrence 0-1). Team rebounds–2. Blocked shots–None. Turnovers–14 (Adams 4, Bailey 2, Terry 2, Rutledge 2, Shaw, Darger, Rougeau). Steals–5 (Rougeau 5).
AIR FORCE Min FG-A FT-A R A PF TP
Holland 20 2-2 0-0 3 1 1 6
Johnson 24 2-2 0-1 3 4 3 4
Maren 29 4-8 0-2 6 6 4 9
Anderson 33 8-9 9-12 1 0 2 27
Washington 38 2-4 1-2 3 0 3 7
Henke 32 1-6 3-4 5 3 0 6
El-Amin 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Hood 13 1-1 1-2 0 0 3 4
Brooks 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Kenzik 11 1-2 0-1 2 1 1 2
TOTALS 200 21-34 14-24 24 15 17 65
Field goals–61.8%. Free throws–58.3%.
Three-point goals–9-19, .474 (Holland 2-2, Anderson 2-3, Washington 2-3, Hood 1-1, Maren 1-4, Henke 1-5, Kenzik 0-1).Team rebounds–1. Blocked shots–2 (Maren, Anderson).Turnovers–16 (Washington 4, Henke 3, Johnson 3, Hood 2, Maren 2, Anderson, Brooks). Steals–5 (Anderson 2, Henke, Washington, Maren).
A–5,146. Officials–Jim Stupin, Bobby Vetkoetter, K.C. Ely. Technical fouls–None.
UNLV 25 28 — 53
Air Force 32 33 — 65