Rebels halt Air Force

Steve Addy

Friday, March 1, 2002 | 10:14 a.m.

By dismissing Air Force on Thursday night, the Rebels clearly defined their final assignment of the Mountain West regular season.

Here's their mission: Beat New Mexico on Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center to capture the third seed for next week's conference tournament, then get ready to host the Lobos again.

With UNLV's customarily unstylish 73-66 victory over Air Force, its seeding scenario was clarified. At 8-5 in the MWC, 17-9 overall, the Rebels can nail down the No. 3 seed and relegate the Lobos to No. 6 by beating them in Saturday's 7 p.m. finale.

A victory would wrap up the Rebels' surprising third-place finish and set up a third meeting with New Mexico in next Thursday's first round of the conference tournament at the Mack. On Feb. 5, UNLV suffered an 84-81 overtime defeat at Albuquerque.

"We want to get that one back," Marcus Banks said. "I think we kind of overlooked Air Force because Saturday is so important. That's a win we really need."

Even if the Rebels lose Saturday, they have a good chance of remaining at No. 3 and opening against New Mexico. If UNLV loses, it would retain third if BYU also loses at Colorado State. That's a promising safety valve for the Rebels, because the Cougars have lost all six road games in the conference.

Aside from the hoot of finishing third after being tabbed for fifth in the preseason poll, coach Charlie Spoonhour and Co. say they aren't rooting for a particular scenario. Playing New Mexico in a 3 vs. 6 matchup or SDSU in a 4 vs. 5 would be equally daunting; both of the Rebels' wins over SDSU came in overtime.

"I used to sit around and try to figure out the (seeds) and brackets. I don't bother anymore," Spoonhour said. "It's not going to matter, because this is going to be a heck of a tournament. It's going to be really good.

"We could win it all or we could be gone faster than the speed of light."

Win or lose Saturday, UNLV will be among the favorites to win the three-day event and earn the automatic NCAA tournament bid. Aside from the Rebels' homecourt advantage, they have won nine of their last 11 games, including seven of nine in the conference since Jan. 21.

Then again, it hasn't been easy. None of the seven wins was by more than eight points, and three were in overtime. Air Force made the Rebels battle to the end, too, rallying from 16 points down for a 64-64 tie with 3:14 left. UNLV saved itself with the same defensive clampdown it has come to rely on.

It was a typically ugly UNLV-Air Force game. Even when you beat the Falcons as most teams do (they're 9-17, 3-10 MWC), they make you look clumsy. They gimmick you to death with backdoor cuts for open layups, while their active defense leaves you pounding the ball on the perimeter, probing for a decent shot as the shot clock dwindles.

"They're a hard team to get away from," Spoonhour said. "I told our guys we were playing with a recipe to get our butts beat."

Air Force's only lead was 2-0, but the Rebels were just sloppy and impatient enough to make it interesting for the announced crowd of 9,629. After tying it 64-64 with an 18-6 run over seven minutes, the Falcons squandered their only real chance to go ahead by committing a backcourt violation with 2:41 left.

UNLV scored the next eight points, with Lou Kelly making 4 of 4 free throws, his only second-half points in a team-high 19-point game. Jevon Banks' 15-footer with a minute left cemented the win and highlighted his 14 points off the bench.

Kelly and Banks' strong games were a good sign for the Rebels' injury situation going into the tournament. Kelly didn't seem bothered by last week's groin pull, while Banks' sprained right ankle is back to normal.