Rebels squelch Falcons’ tricks

Steve Addy

Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2002 | 9:53 a.m.

COLORADO SPRINGS -- It was a victory devoid of style points, but the Rebels cherished it like few others this season.

The mundane elements of UNLV's 66-54 win over Air Force -- the when, where and how -- were the foremost reasons for the Rebels' quiet satisfaction Monday night.

Coming when, where and how it did, the victory gave the Rebels hope that their early MWC schedule might not bury them after all. They have five road games in their first seven conference outings, including the next two.

Even if Monday's opponent was Air Force, picked last in the MWC preseason poll, the Rebels can't turn up their noses at any road win.

"We didn't take Air Force lightly," said Jevon Banks, who supplied an excellent 16 minutes off the bench. "We knew we weren't going to blow them out, and it would be a grind. But everyone came together on defense."

Spoonhour said, "The best thing was that we gave a really good effort. If we didn't make shots or when we turned it over, everybody ran back and we didn't give up transition baskets. That makes a big difference."

In fact, it might have been the Rebels' best start-to-finish game all season. They have been relying on spurts or one solid half, but they were steady throughout against the Falcons (6-7). They led by nine late in the first half and pushed the edge as high as 15 with 6:33 remaining.

"It took mental toughness to come off a game (Wyoming) where you're running almost every time to play a team with a totally different style," Dalron Johnson said. "(Air Force) makes it hard to even run your plays. Sometimes everybody looks lost. But we adjusted pretty well."

On a night when point guard Marcus Banks was ill and mustered six points, others picked up the slack. Johnson was dominant with 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting and nine rebounds, Lou Kelly scored 13 and Vince Booker added 10. The Rebels shot 54.5 percent on 21-of-40 and held Air Force to 36.2 (17-of-47).

Also, credit Jevon Banks with a terrific relief job. Forward Joel Gerlach (6-foot-6) was keeping the Falcons close, scoring nine of their first 11 second-half points as they hung within 38-33. But the 6-foot Banks was assigned to Gerlach for most of the last 10 minutes and blanked him.

Gerlach finished with 23 points, but his final five were free throws, and Banks didn't foul him either time. He made three after Lou Kelly fouled him on a 3-pointer and two after a Johnson foul.

Spoonhour and his assistants swapped credit for putting Banks on Gerlach.

"I would love to say a lot of great research went into it," Spoonhour said. "But more or less, it was that no one else could guard Gerlach, so Jevon might as well have a try. When Gerlach has to play 40 minutes, like tonight, Jevon's quickness comes into play. He had fresh legs."

Banks, who scored six and dealt a team-high four assists, didn't see the height difference as a great obstacle.

"I guard Lou Kelly and Chris Richardson every day, and they're bigger than (Gerlach)," Banks said. "My whole thing was to stop him from scoring, slow him down, because he was their spark. I wanted to harass him and keep the pressure on him."

The Rebels visit Utah (10-3) at noon Saturday and BYU (10-3) next Tuesday night. Their next home game is Jan. 21 against Colorado State.