Air Force Academy – The right answers keep coming up for Air Force.
Take Saturday afternoon when the Falcons’ bench was called on with starting guard Matt McCraw on the sideline with an injured ankle. All the Falcons did was win for the 12th time in 13 games, a 77-42 romp over Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (2-11) at Clune Arena.
Sophomore Tim Anderson filled in for McCraw, Air Force’s second-leading scorer at 12.2 points a game, and did a good job running the offense. He might have scored only five points, but coach Jeff Bzdelik noticed Anderson’s bottom line of five rebounds, four assists and no turnovers in 27 minutes.
“Tim’s been doing a heck of a job for us,” Bzdelik said. “He doesn’t score a lot, but he’s my best screener and he’s a very good defensive player.”
McCraw is expected to be back Thursday, when the Falcons begin Mountain West Conference play with a home game against BYU.
IPFW coach Dane Fife, at 26 the youngest head coach in Division I men’s basketball, was impressed with the Falcons.
“I would say that Air Force is right up there with Michigan State of the teams we’ve played to date,” Fife said. “I think it would be a heck of a game between Air Force and Michigan State. There’s no question this team is going to go far.”
But Bzdelik isn’t in the mood to look too far ahead.
“We have a lot to prove,” Bzdelik said. “You’re only as good as your last game.”
And the first-year Air Force coach can look back on the IPFW game and take some positives.
“Heading into conference (play), we’re going to need depth and people contributing off the bench,” Bzdelik said. “That was a good thing for us tonight.”
Air Force’s bench contributed 17 points, and the Falcons played the last five minutes without a starter.
Junior forward Jacob Burtschi followed Bzdelik’s lead in anticipation of conference play.
“I think we’ve taken care of business in nonconference,” Burtschi said. “What we did in nonconference is good to look at now, but now we’re starting from scratch at 0-0. We can’t go riding into conference on a high horse just because we went 12-1 in nonconference.”
Burtschi was a workhorse for the Falcons, collecting 13 rebounds and scoring 18 points.
The Falcons hit 10-of-22 shots from 3-point range, with Burtschi hitting three and freshman Andrew Henke going 2-for-2.
The Falcons never trailed after pulling away from an early tie on Burtschi’s 3-pointer with 14:07 left in the first half.
IND.-PUR.-FORT WAYNE (2-11)
Scott 1-5 0-0 2, Hawkins 5-8 0-0 12, Best 0-4 3-4 3, Carouthers 2-6 0-0 4, Savely 4-12 0-0 11, Johnson 0-2 0-0 0, Posley 0-5 0-0 0, Pompey 3-4 0-0 8, Esseghir 0-0 0-0 0, Wallace 0-1 0-0 0, Ademi 0-0 0-0 0, Egeric 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 16-49 3-4 42.
AIR FORCE (12-1)
Burtschi 7-10 1-2 18, Nwaelele 5-7 6-8 18, Frye 3-5 0-0 7, Anderson 2-6 0-0 5, An.Hood 5-9 2-2 12, Henke 2-2 2-2 8, Ad.Hood 1-1 0-0 3, Myers 0-0 0-0 0, Teets 1-1 0-0 2, Kenzik 1-3 2-2 4, Walker 0-3 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-47 13-16 77.
Halftime – Air Force 35-27. 3-point goals – Ind.-Pur.-Fort Wayne 7-22 (Savely 3-8, Pompey 2-3, Hawkins 2-4, Carouthers 0-1, Best 0-1, Scott 0-2, Posley 0-3), Air Force 10-22 (Burtschi 3-5, Henke 2-2, Nwaelele 2-3, Frye 1-1, Ad.Hood 1-1, Anderson 1-5, Kenzik 0-1, Walker 0-1, An.Hood 0-3). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – Ind.-Pur.-Fort Wayne 21 (Savely 8), Air Force 34 (Burtschi 13). Assists – Ind.-Pur.-Fort Wayne 5 (Carouthers 3), Air Force 14 (Anderson 4). Total fouls – Ind.-Pur.-Fort Wayne 12, Air Force 12. A – 3,468.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
