Falcons conclude two-game road trip at UNLV
1/19/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
THE GAME
Air Force continues its two-game road trip by traveling to Las Vegas, Nev., to take on UNLV Saturday, Jan. 21, at 3 p.m. PT in the Thomas & Mack Center.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
TV:................. ROOT Sports (Drew Goodman, Joe Cravens, Jenny Cavnar)
Radio:............ KVOR AM 740 (Jim Arthur, Dan Acheson)
THE BREAKDOWN
Quick Facts Air Force UNLV
Overall Record:... 9-10......................................... 9-10
MW Record:......... 2-4............................................ 2-4
Streak:.................. L 2............................................ L 1
Last Game:........... L 76-83 at Nevada................. L 51-64 vs. SDSU
Next Game:......... vs. SDSU (1/24)...................... at Wyoming (1/25)
Conference:......... Mountain West ..................... Mountain West
Nickname:............ Falcons.................................... Runnin' Rebels
Location:............... Colorado Springs, CO............ Las Vegas, NV
Website:............... GoAirForceFalcons.com....... UNLVRebels.com
THE COACHES
Category Air Force UNLV
Head Coach.......... Dave Pilipovich...................... Marvin Menzies
Alma Mater.......... Thiel College, 1986............... UCLA, 1987
School Record...... 69-83 (5th season)................ 9-10 (1st season)
Career Record..... Same........................................ 207-121 (10th season)
THE SERIES
Overall.............. UNLV leads 34-12
First Meeting... Jan. 10, 1981 at USAFA (Air Force, 51-50)
Last Meeting... March 9, 2016 at UNLV (UNLV, 108-102 3OT)
Mountain West Championships - first round
Streaks.............. UNLV W 1
Notes................ Air Force and UNLV have split the last eight regular season meetings, each winning once on the road ... UNLV won the last meeting in the opening round of the conference tournament, 108-102, in triple overtime.
THE SERIES
Air Force and UNLV are meeting 47th time overall. The Rebels lead the overall series, 34-12, including a 32-11 mark in conference games. Air Force is 2-23 all-time in Las Vegas and 10-11 at home. UNLV defeated Air Force, 108-102, in triple overtime in the opening round of last season's Mountain West Tournament. The teams split last season's regular season meetings, each winning at home. UNLV defeated Air Force, 100-64, Jan. 16, while the Falcons won 79-74 in Clune Arena Feb. 16. Air Force and UNLV have split the eight regular season meetings in the series dating back to 2013. The teams first played Jan. 10, 1981 at the Academy resulting in a 51-50 Air Force win.
LAST SEASON VS. UNLV
March 9, 2016 at MW Tournament
Senior Ike Nwamu scored a career-high 38 points and Patrick McCaw added 27 with 14 rebounds to help seventh-seeded UNLV beat No. 10 seed Air Force 108-102 in triple overtime and advance to the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament.
Jordan Cornish hit five 3-pointers and finished with a career-best 20 points, while Jerome Seagears scored 13 for UNLV. Nwamu scored 13 in the third overtime, matching Air Force's total, including a 3-point play to open the period and an exclamation-point dunk to cap the scoring.
UNLV overcame a season-high 23 turnovers by hitting 34 free throws - its most since Nov. 14, 2009 - and scoring its most points in more than two years.
Jacob Van scored a career-high 37 - including three free throws with three seconds left in the second OT that tied it at 89 and forced the third OT - for Air Force. Eight players fouled out - including five for the Falcons.
Feb. 16, 2015 at USAFA
Zach Kocur scored six of his 19 points in the final 1:54, and CJ Siples added 17 points, including two free throws with five seconds left, to help Air Force hold on for a 79-74 win over UNLV Feb. 16 at the Academy.
Jacob Van added 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while Frank Toohey had 14 points and nine rebounds for Air Force. A jumper by Siples put the Falcons up 67-56 with six minutes to play.
Jerome Seagears' layup capped an 11-2 run that pulled UNLV within two with 3:37 remaining and his 3-pointer with 53 seconds left trimmed the Runnin' Rebels' deficit to 73-72.
Toohey made a layup 21 seconds later and, after a missed 3 on the other end, two free throws by Kocur made it 77-72 with 19 seconds to go.
UNLV's Dwayne Morgan hit two foul shots 12 seconds later, but Siples' free throws sealed it.
Patrick McCaw and Jalen Poyser scored 15 each for UNLV.
Jan. 16, 2016 at UNLV
UNLV defeated Air Force, 100-64, at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev. Derrick Jones, Jr., scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead UNLV. Jerome Seagears added 17 points and Stephen Zimmerman, Jr., added 14 points and 12 rebounds as the Rebels won their second straight after opening conference play 0-3. UNLV used a 15-0 run early in the first half to race out to a 20 point lead, 20-5, with 12 minutes remaining and never looked back. The Rebels went on to lead by as many as 38 points in the game and held a 43-25 lead at the half.
UNLV shot 50 percent from the field, including a 52.0 clip from 3-point range, and out-rebounded the Falcons, 52-20. The Rebels had 20 offensive rebounds and scored 26 second chance points. Hayden Graham scored 18 points to lead Air Force. Freshman Pervis Louder chipped in with a career-high 11 points.
EARLIER THIS WEEK
D.J. Fenner scored 30 points and Marcus Marshall added 25 to lead Nevada past Air Force, 83-76, Wednesday night in a Mountain West men's basketball game in the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nev.
Air Force out-scored Nevada, 26-10, over an 8:30 stretch in the second half to tie the game at 59-all with 8:49 remaining, but was never able to overtake the Wolf Pack. Nevada stretched the lead back to eight points, 76-68, with 1:17 to play. Air Force got as close a four points after that, but Marshall hit five of six free throws in the final 28 seconds to secure the win for the Wolf Pack.
Nevada closed the first half on a 12-0 run over the last 5:06 to take a 42-27 halftime lead. The Falcons went scoreless over the last 6:40 of the half, missing its last six field goal attempts and committing eight turnovers during the stretch. The Wolf Pack had its biggest lead of 16 points, 49-33, with 17:19 to play before the Falcons made their run.
Nevada hit 54.5 percent from the field, including 37.0 from 3-point range. Fenner hit 11-of-18 field goals and had five rebounds while Marshall was 8-17. Cameron Oliver added 10 points and five rebounds while Lindsey Drew had nine points and a game-high eight assists.
Air Force was led by Jacob Van, who scored 17 points. Frank Toohey added 15 points and 11 rebounds to notch his second double-double of the season. Ryan Manning had 15 points off the bench and Hayden Graham chipped in with 10. Trevor Lyons scored eight points and had a season-high seven rebounds and a career-best four steals.
The Falcons hit 43.1 percent from the field, including 32.1 percent from 3-point territory. Air Force hit nine threes, the most since hitting 10 vs. Utah State Dec. 31. The Falcons out-rebounded Nevada, 37-27, and had 18 assists on 25 field goals. The team matched a season high with 10 steals.
