Thursday, March 5, 2009 | 2:10 a.m.
Still Scrapping
It may not be a night looked back on with much fondness, but the Rebels were able to scrape by with a 46-43 win over Air Force thanks to some scrappy play on Wednesday's Senior Night.
The Rebel Room
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Ryan Greene and Rob 'Once again The Python' Miech discuss UNLV's sluggish, ugly 46-43 victory over Air Force on Senior Night, which, believe it or not, earned a spot in the record books. Wink Adams capped his home career with a layup with 25 seconds to go which put the Rebels up by four and iced UNLV's 21st victory of the season.
Air Force went into Wednesday night’s game against UNLV with a simple motto.
Don’t Be Like a Deer in the Headlights.
Falcons coach Jeff Reynolds wrote that, in blue ink on a white greaseboard, inside his team’s locker room before his players ran out to a spirited whiteout crowd in the Thomas & Mack Center.
“We wanted to think that this was a normal game,” senior Andrew Henke said, “that we’d have to come out and execute, not let the hype take us off our game plan.”
It didn’t take Air Force long to evaporate the spirit of a Senior Night crowd for UNLV.
After a wide swing of runs between the teams, Rebels senior guard Wink Adams sliced in through the left side for a tough layup with 25 seconds left to power UNLV to a 46-43 victory.
“When we were up six and eight points in the first half, the building kind of went quiet,” Henke said. “They got real loud in the second half, but you could tell they were into the game.
“They were a little bit worried.”
If Henke, a 6-foot-6 swingman from Minnetonka, Minn., was worried about becoming the second consecutive Mountain West Conference team to go winless in the league, he didn’t show it.
He led everyone with 19 points, and nine of them came in the clutch final minutes of the game.
“I made the open shots I’m supposed to make,” Henke said. “I feel pretty good about it, but you can’t feel too good about a loss.”
Henke represents the spectrum of Air Force basketball.
Three years ago, he was a rookie on a Falcons squad that was making its second NCAA tournament appearance in three seasons.
Air Force, seeded 13th, faced fourth-seeded Illinois at the Cox Arena in San Diego. There was a bomb scare, and the game started with only players, coaches, refs and TV analyst Jay Bilas in the arena.
“It was pretty interesting to play five minutes of an NCAA tournament game with absolutely nobody in the crowd,” Henke said. “People slowly ran in and the rest of the game was packed.”
Air Force lost, 78-69.
“That was an experience of a lifetime,” he said. “I always thought I’d get back again. Unfortunately, I don’t know if it’s going to happen. It was a heck of an experience.”
Two months earlier, Air Force beat UNLV, 52-50, at the Mack. Henke played three minutes, grabbing a defensive rebound and turning it over twice.
“Wendell White had a tip-in at the end, just after the buzzer, for UNLV,” Henke said. “We took that one from them. It was a great crowd here then. It was a great feeling to run out of here with people throwing stuff at you.”
Late Wednesday night, Henke didn’t have such a great feeling outside his team’s locker room, in which that greaseboard with the line about the deer and headlights stood.
He spoke softly about being 0-15 in the Mountain West.
“It’s tough,” Henke said. “I’m not used to losing these types of games, especially when they’re close. In the past, we won a lot of them. We executed well, it was just those small, little mistakes.
“Wink getting to the basket … that’s stuff that just didn’t really happen in the past couple years. It’s happening now, but we’re learning. These young guys are getting better.”
With three 3-pointers against the Rebels, Henke, with 164, climbed closer to Dan Nwaelele (173) for sixth on Air Force’s career list. His 116 games tied him with Nick Welch for fifth.
Henke hopes to add to both.
Air Force finishes its regular season Saturday at BYU, and the Falcons likely will play Colorado State in the “eighth-ninth” conference tournament game next week.
The victor gets the top-seeded squad.
“Hopefully, we come out next week and do some special things,” Henke said. “Who knows?”
After he graduates, Henke will report to Scott Air Force Base, outside St. Louis, where he will work as a government contractor.
“It’s tough to explain,” he said. “I’ll be just coming into work, hiring outside sources to come in and do work for the Air Force, negotiating contracts, stuff like that.
“I’ll be enjoying the free life, away from the academy, just having fun.”
And remembering the truly fun days, when he experienced the gamut of emotions in college basketball.
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