Rebels ground Falcons

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2004 | 9:44 a.m.

What's that old saying about turnabout being fair play?

Air Force came into its Mountain West Conference game against UNLV ranked No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense allowing just 47.1 points per game. But the Falcons were only the second-best defensive team on the floor on Monday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.

UNLV (12-6, 3-3), which fell behind 11-2 in the first 4 1/2 minutes of action, buckled down after that and gave the Falcons a dose of their own medicine en route to a 63-50 victory.

The win snapped a school-record 13-game winning streak by the Falcons (15-3, 5-1), who were ranked one step out of the Top 25 in both major polls earlier in the afternoon and were threatening to run away and hide with the Mountain West Conference title.

But that all changed dramatically on Monday night as the Rebels rolled up their sleeves and did an outstanding job of denying Air Force's vaunted backdoor layups as well as guarding the perimeter. The Falcons, who entered the game ranked seventh nationally in field-goal percentage (49 percent), made just 19 of 50 from the floor (38 percent), including a dismal 8-of-25 from 3-point range (32 percent ). They also were badly outrebounded by the Rebels, 41-20.

"This was a good win against the first-place team in the league that had been handling everybody," UNLV coach Charlie Spoonhour said. "I thought our defense was good. I thought we were very unselfish in moving the ball where it belonged. I just thought everybody played well."

Especially on defense.

Although the Falcons jumped out to the quick 11-2 thanks to consecutive 3-pointers by guard Antoine Hood, center Nick Welch and forward Joel Gerlach, UNLV bounced back to hold Air Force to just eight points and three field goals over the final 15:48 of the first half en route to a 31-19 lead.

Twice during that span UNLV put together long scoring runs. First the Rebels went on a 14-0 spurt that put them ahead to stay, 16-11. Air Force went 8:14 without a point in that span.

After Air Force closed to within one point, 18-17, on a layup by Welch, UNLV went on another 11-0 run, this time holding the Falcons scoreless for 5 1/2 minutes before Hood finally snapped the streak with two free throws just before intermission.

Air Force never got any closer than six points after that as the Rebels' front line of center J.K. Edwards (19 points, six rebounds), Odartey Blankson (eight points, 15 rebounds) and James Peters (six points, five rebounds in just 11 minutes) simply overpowered the smaller Falcons.

"We just knew we had to play tough defense and pressure the ball no matter who had it," Edwards said. "If you just let them pass and cut, they'll kill you every time."

"We knew they were undersized," said Rebels point guard Jerel Blassingame, who finished with 11 points and a game-high seven assists. "Normally we're the undersized team. But our big fellas rebounded and made shots for us tonight."

Edwards and Blankson both gave credit to Spoonhour and his coaching staff for preparing them well during a two-hour practice just before the Super Bowl on Sunday afternoon.

"Our coaches broke down a lot of stuff that they were going to do, which made it much easier for us tonight," Edwards said. "We knew what they were going to do. It was just a matter of going out and stopping it."

"We got off to a good start, but maybe we were feeling too good about ourselves," Air Force coach Joe Scott said. "I don't know if (UNLV) can play any better. They beat us to loose balls, they were tough, they were more physical, more aggressive. And they wanted to win more than we did. ... All night long they were quicker to the ball. That's not skill, that's guts. That's why they beat us."

With the victory, the Rebels moved into a tie for third place in the MWC with Colorado State and San Diego State at 3-3 in the conference. UNLV trails second-place Utah (4-2) by one game and the Falcons (5-1) by two with eight games to go.

"We had to slow them down," Blankson said. "If they got off to 6-0 it would have been tough for anybody to catch them. They still have only one loss. Hopefully they'll lose a few more and we can catch up with them in first place."

"I knew nobody in this league was going to go undefeated," Scott said. "We're still a game up with three straight home games (ahead)."

UNLV, meanwhile, hits the road for three consecutive games starting with a Saturday afternoon contest at preseason Mountain West favorite BYU (12-7, 2-4).