Courtesy of Braidon Nourse
LAS VEGAS – No. 11 Air Force’s Ethan Taylor nearly beat No. 6 UNLV by himself. To combat, the Rebels changed their offensive approach and went on a scorching run to quell any hopes of an upset by the Falcons.
It went for 19 unanswered points and lasted for seven minutes midway through the second half after UNLV was limited to just 21 points in the entire first period. It brought the Rebels from a six-point deficit all the way to a 13-point lead. The Falcons could not recover, and UNLV walked away with a 68-59 win in the first round of the Credit Union 1 Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship.
“I think we went into the break and I think we just figured out we need to feed (Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry),” Rebels guard Jalen Hill said. “Feed Bear and just get the shots we want. And in the second half, I think we showed that by shooting above 60 percent.”
In past Mountain West tournaments, Taylor has struggled to get going from a scoring standpoint, with a career tournament high of just five points. Wednesday night, he went for a blazing 23 points with seven 3s, which was just one short of tying the tournament record.
Four of his 3s came in the first half as Air Force held a 25-21 lead. Then Rebels coach Kevin Kruger had an idea: play inside out.
Simple, but effective. Cherry was the beneficiary on the way to tallying 13 points, nine fouls suffered and two blocks. His five free throws made were a DI career high for the junior.
“I think it feels good because (his teammates) have trust in me,” Cherry said. “Jalen came into a meeting and he was telling the whole team, ‘We’ve got to give (Cherry) the ball.’ It really makes me feel good and confident.”
He played a larger role in orchestrating a more connected and opportunistic offense, which scored 47 points in the second half — the team’s most in the tournament since 2016.
It showed in that 19-0 run, when players like Jailen Bedford, Hill and Jaden Henley each hit multiple shots and sparked confidence it didn’t seem like the team had up to that point.
“In the second half, after having that first half of those repetitions going through it, Bear was obviously the difference-maker,” Kruger said. “He drew so much attention in the paint and we were able to throw it down to the paint cleanly or down the gut, middle of the paint to him. And he was able to finish and make his free throws.
“When you have somebody like that who is always going to draw that much attention around the rim, it opens other things up — Bedford hits his two 3s — so you can start playing a little more of an inside-out.”
Hill, who played all 40 minutes, led the way with 18 points and nearly recorded a triple-double with 10 rebounds and seven assists. Bedford and Henley added 13 and 12, respectively, and combined for 15 more rebounds and seven more assists.
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