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MBK: No. 20 UNLV Gets Victory Over Air Force

Feb. 25, 2012
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS - Chace Stanback scored 21 points to lead No. 21 UNLV to a 68-58 victory over Air Force on Saturday and passed Runnin' Rebels great Reggie Theus on the school's all-time scoring list.

Stanback scored 13 points in the first half while UNLV (24-6, 8-4 Mountain West) kept Air Force from stringing together points.

Stanback, who also had eight rebounds, hit his first three 3-point attempts to pass Theus and move into 23rd place on the career list. He finished 5 of 7 from 3-point range.

Theus, who played for the Rebels in the 1970s, went on to play 13 seasons in the NBA, making two all-star teams and moving on to coach on the collegiate and professional levels.

The Falcons (13-13, 3-9) missed 11 of their first 13 shots, scoring four points in the game's first 10 minutes.

Air Force had an 8-0 run with just over 8 minutes left in the first half, but the Rebels responded with a 17-3 run to go up by 20 points.

Michael Lyons, Air Force's leading scorer with a 15.6 average going into the game, picked up two quick fouls and was unable to play as aggressively as usual.

The Falcons finished the first half with 12 turnovers, which led to 14 UNLV points. Air Force shot 36 percent for the half (9 of 25).

Todd Fletcher made two free throws after a technical foul against UNLV's Brice Massamba, putting Air Force behind by 10 points with exactly 7 minutes left in the game. UNLV had a quick 7-0 spurt after that, and led by more than 10 points until the game's final minute.

Massamba drew the technical foul for confronting Chase Kammerer after a foul underneath the basket. Words were exchanged but no punches were thrown, and Massamba turned to the Air Force bench to talk some more as he made his way to UNLV's side of the court. He wasn't ejected and came back into the game after resting a few minutes.

Lyons scored 18 points and Kyle Green added 17 for Air Force, which finished with 21 turnovers compared with 10 assists.

UNLV also had 21 turnovers in their 16th home win of the season.