David met Goliath tonight in Clune Arena, and while David gave it his all he did not slay the giant. Air Force hosted CSU tonight in the second meeting of the season for the two teams, after CSU won the first by 39 points. Even though CSU won the initial matchup in a lopsided manner, they knew better than to take Air Force lightly and indeed the Falcons made it a game losing at the end by three points. Although the MWC scoreboard lead story is that of CSU's win, the headline act of the night was Air Force's Mike Lyons who had a career high 45 points tonight, second in the AF record books to Bob Beckel in 1959 (more on Lyons below).
A look at the numbers for the game:
AF FG 53%. 3pt 42%. FT 59% 7-12. Reb 22. Ast 19. Stl 7. Blk 2 TO 7. PF 24
CSU FG 55%. 3pt 35%. FT 76% 26-34* Reb 39 Ast 13. Stl 4. Blk 1. TO 11. PF 17
This game was a physical game from the tipoff with both teams attacking the lane and both teams battling inside on defense. Credit goes to the starting lineup of the #24 CSU Rams who are now 21-4/8-2 MWC on the season. All CSU starters were in double scoring figures in the final stats. This makes it difficult for an opposing teams defense to "pick their poison" on who or what to defend. CSU as a team is the leader in offensive rebounding in the NCAA at the current time and it showed tonight having a rebounding edge 39/11offensive to AF's 22/5. AF did their best to combat the rebounding duo of Iverson and Hornung, but they still combined for 21 rebounds, 16 of them by Hornung.
The Falcons worked hard on both ends of the court. Running their offense and looking to penetrate versus the bigger CSU team. It seemed to be effective but the Rams still denied the Falcons good looks inside throughout portions of the game resulting in AF taking 31 3pt shots making 13. But with all said and done, AF competed inside with CSU scoring 32pts in the paint as compared to 34 for CSU. The biggest scoring differences and concerns for AF were second chance points and points from the free throw line. Due to the significant number of offensive rebounds, the Rams ended up with a 18 to 4 advantage in second chance points. Likewise, CSU shot 22 more FTs than did AF making 26pts from the line.....and Air Force lost by three.
While the Rams seemed to be in control of the game as the clocked clicked down in the second half by countering the different AF runs, there were moments and opportunities for the Falcons. It was a three point game with more than three minutes to play, but CSU makes one, AF misses two then CSU hits a three. The Falcons also missed four FTs down the stretch in the last 1:38 which just might have made the difference. Fans on both teams appeared to question the officiating, but from this one spectator, the Falcons were not allowed to play as physical as the ranked Rams were without getting whistled. Still, the Falcons had their opportunity to win in their own hands.
Hats off to Mike Lyons who finished with 45 points on 17-25FG/6-13 3pt/5-8FTin 33 minutes of play. It did not feel like he monopolized the ball at all, just one of those nights when he shot when it was there and they went in. In fact AF shot a total of 62FG (compared to 52 for CSU) with 37 attempts by Lyon's teammates. Todd Fletcher had 11Pts all in the second half on 4-8/3-5 3pt shooting plus 6 assists and no turnovers. Kam Williams solid again on 3-5 7pts shooting, 7 pts for Taylor Broekhuis who battled a foot injury all night and only play 17 minutes. The remaining Falcons were inconsistent shooting a combined 6-17 from the field, many on good looking shot opportunities.
While there are no moral victories, the Falcons did play tough and aggressive basketball for 40 minutes vs the #24 team in the nation. As with their loss to ranked Wichita State (also by 3 pts) at Clune Arena they know they can play with anyone. As Coach Pilpovich said in post game remarks, the team just needs to learn to do 'one more thing...one more offensive rebound...one more made shot...one more stop to get over the hump to secure a victory against this type of competition.
Notes: 14 points off the bench for AF in a good showing as compared to only 4 points off the bench for CSU. A shout out to Fitz's Grandpa Joe who closely follows Mike and the Falcons. And an equally or bigger shout out to the Cadet Wing and Section 8. Great attendance, great emotion, great noise. It was Section 8's energy that helped keep the Falcons playing to win. Thanks from all us 'older fans' and we cannot wait to see and hear you at the next home game vs Wyoming.
The MWC is now stacked up in thirds with the top two, the middle and the bottom. Current standings with Air Force in a three-way tie for 3d (but having the tie breaker over SDSU)
Big game looms ahead on Wednesday for Air Force vs BSU.
