Rebels defenseless in 76-75 loss at Air Force

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Time after time, Zach Kocur spotted up and knocked down 3-point shots. It was as if the Air Force guard was alone on a playground, firing jumpers and feeling no pressure, and that was not far from the truth.

Kocur got hot and shot holes through a zone defense that was designed to stop him but neglected to locate him.

“Our motto as a team has been to finish,” said Kocur, who made three 3-pointers in the final four minutes to finish off a 76-75 victory over UNLV on Saturday at Clune Arena.

A sparse crowd of 1,702 gathered to witness a playground-style game that was all offense and little defense in the second half.

The absence of injured leading scorer Rashad Vaughn was not the story. Scoring was not the problem for the Rebels, who got career-high efforts of 31 points by sophomore forward Chris Wood and 20 points by freshman guard Patrick McCaw.

UNLV (14-11, 5-7 Mountain West) is dwelling near the conference cellar because of its lack of defensive commitment and an inability to finish games.

Kocur made five of Air Force’s nine 3-pointers during a 51-point second half. To put that in perspective, the Falcons were held to 42 points in a loss three days earlier.

The Rebels used 1-3-1 and 2-3 zone defenses as coach Dave Rice stuck to a formula that had been effective. This time, though, it failed miserably.

“Our whole goal is to play them one on one in the middle with our center and to run everyone else off the 3-point line, and we just didn’t do that,” Rice said. “They did a good job of running their zone offense. What they are going to beat us with is 12 made 3-point shots.

“It wasn’t about what defense we ran. It was about our sense of execution. We’ve got to do a better job of running them off the (3-point) line. It was too many defensive execution errors. We know what we’re supposed to do and we didn’t do it, especially in the second half. It’s a credit to (Kocur) getting open, and he did make some tough shots. It’s obvious he’s a very good shooter.”

Kocur scored 15 of his 18 points after halftime, hitting 5 of 7 3s, most times without a hand near his face. But why bother defending a 48 percent 3-point shooter?

The score was tied before Kocur buried a line-drive 3-pointer from the corner with 3:33 to play, and he connected from 3 again to make the score 68-64 at the 2:05 mark. McCaw’s short bank shot closed the gap to two with 1:11 to go.

After a UNLV timeout, Kocur did it again. He found a soft spot in the zone and drained his sixth 3-pointer to put Air Force in front 71-66 with 44 seconds left.

“We had a lot of mistakes on our 2-3 zone, and they made a lot of 3s, so that kind of killed us,” McCaw said.

A poor team defensive performance spoiled an outstanding comeback by McCaw, who was whistled for three fouls and went scoreless in the first half.

“I think the fouls kind of got to me in the first half, but I tried to stay focused,” he said.

McCaw made six 3-pointers in the second half. After the Falcons took their largest lead, 42-34, on Marek Olesinski’s layup with 14:15 to go, McCaw answered immediately with the first of his four consecutive 3s.

“I was locked in. It’s just a rhythm for me,” McCaw said. “I’m a pretty good shooter, and once I get a nice rhythm going, I think every shot I take is probably going to go in.”

McCaw’s back-to-back 3s put the Rebels on top 60-58 with 6:15 to go. The teams continued to trade shots in a game with six ties and 12 lead changes.

Olesinski made two free throws with 10 seconds remaining, and Matt Mooney hit two more with four seconds left for the Falcons (12-13, 5-9). Olesinski finished with 19 points and Mooney 12.

Wood buried a long 3-pointer at the buzzer that was too little, too late. Wood mostly went to work inside, as expected, and dominated at times. He hit all eight of his free throws and finished with nine rebounds and five blocks.

Air Force totaled 24 assists and five turnovers, statistics that stoked coach Dave Pilipovich.

“That’s pretty good basketball. That’s a good win. I’m a little fired up, as you can see,” Pilipovich said. “They are obviously different without Rashad Vaughn in the game, but I think they’re still pretty talented with Wood and McCaw.

“I thought we were composed at the end of the game. I thought we didn’t rattle, we didn’t splinter. I’m not saying they did, but I’m just saying we didn’t splinter or rattle.”

UNLV got strong efforts by freshmen Goodluck Okonoboh (10 points) and Jordan Cornish (six points, six rebounds). On the negative side, Wood and McCaw combined for nine of the team’s 16 turnovers, with Rice calling his players “too casual” with the ball.

“We were pleased with what we did on the offensive end,” Rice said. “It’s the turnovers. We tried to make a few too many highlight plays. It’s hard to go on the road and give up 20 points off turnovers.”

McCaw was not dwelling on what the loss of Vaughn could mean, saying, “We lost a key player, but I think guys are still confident we can win games.”

■ NOTES — In the Rebels’ first game since the death of legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian, the players wore a jersey patch that read “TARK” with the “A” in the form of a shark fin. … The teams split the season series, with UNLV beating Air Force 74-63 on Jan. 31 in Las Vegas.

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyoumans247.