Men's basketball: Nevada rides strong second half to soar past Air Force

Steve Alford said earlier in the week that he likes his teams to learn how to deal with adversity.

Nevada did just that, and got a lesson staying focused throughout an entire game to take a win its Mountain West Conference men's basketball opener. The Wolf Pack beat Air Force, 74-57, Friday night at Lawlor Events Center. Nevada improved to 6-2 overall, 1-0 in conference. Air Force dropped to 2-3, 0-1.

Alford, the Wolf Pack's head coach, said his team played well for the first 12 minutes of the game, and showed good concentration, but then had a breakdown the last eight minutes of the first half.

"In the second half, we got back to doing what we needed to do," Alford said. "If you want to be…