Air Force vs. UNLV final score: Falcons crush Rebels, 71-56

The struggles for UNLV continued as they failed to show up as they were routed by Air Force on Wednesday night, 71-56. Playing at Colorado Springs is difficult due to the altitude, plus factor in road games are very difficult to come by in the Mountain West.

In saying that, UNLV was never in this game as Air Force led from 15:05 left in the first half and never looked back. At the end of the first half the Falcons led 43-29, and that was enough for Air Force to win by 15 points.

Air Force was led by Michael Lyons who scored 27 points and Mike Fitzgerald added 18. This win snapped an 11-game losing streak against UNLV. The big issue with UNLV losing this game is that Air Force was going to run their back-door passes, plus the screens and cuts. The Rebels had no answer to the fairly simplistic Falcons offense, but could not stop it.

It was not just the offense where Air Force excelled as they held freshman Anthony Bennett to just eight points, which is 10 points less than his average. Bennett also lost control when he threw the ball at Lyons, and received a technical foul.

Air Force played possibly their best game of year. They out rebounded UNLV by seven, shot 52 percent from the field, held UNLV to 42 percent from the field and made a respectable 8 of 23 shots from three-point range.

The loss probably will not keep UNLV out of the NCAA Tournament, but it will surely cause their seed to take a hit.