Air Force Academy – Air Force had some good moments and some shaky ones, but the Falcons did enough right Thursday night to win their Mountain West Conference opener.
With a blistering performance from starters Dan Nwaelele, Jacob Burtschi and Antoine Hood in the last four minutes, the Falcons won for the 13th time in 14 games this season, defeating Brigham Young 75-59 at Clune Arena.
The Cougars (8-4) made a game of it in the second half but couldn’t halt Air Force’s run to its best start.
Hood led the charge with 22 points, followed by Nwaelele’s 20. Burtschi had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists. Keena Young came off the bench to lead the Cougars with 16 points.
As good as they were in the first half, the Falcons didn’t maintain their edge.
“I was very upset at halftime,” AFA coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “I just didn’t like the way we finished the half. I was deeply concerned because BYU can score a lot of points quickly.
“We had some rough spots. I thought we relaxed at times.”
Early in the second half, the Cougars took advantage of offensive fouls by Nwaelele and Burtschi and a turnover to score eight straight points. That cut Air Force’s lead to 44-31 with 14:28 left.
“We started playing their style of basketball,” Hood said. “We lost our heads a little bit. We lost our poise a little bit.”
A 3-pointer by reserve guard Tim Anderson lifted the Falcons out of a slump, Nwaelele picked up the pace, and the Falcons were back in business down the stretch. Nwaelele hit eight straight points for the Falcons, and Hood’s 3-pointer had Air Force up by 16 points heading into the final 7:17.
It was all Air Force in the first half. The Falcons took charge with a 16-2 run that produced a 26-9 lead going into the last eight minutes.
With a hefty 55.6 shooting percentage from the floor, including 50 percent (8-for-16) from 3-point range, Air Force put on a show. With Hood’s 15 points and Burtschi’s 12 points leading the way, the Falcons led 42-23 at halftime.
Burtschi had a perfect shooting half, hitting all five shots, including two 3-pointers.
Only guard Brock Reichner seemed able to keep up the pace, leading BYU with nine of his team’s 23 first-half points.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
