Provo, Utah – The Mountain West Conference men’s basketball team considered least likely to make a crucial mistake made three Saturday.
Against a lesser team, Air Force might have gotten away with them. But against a Brigham Young team playing before a season-high Marriott Center crowd of 16,541 and on a three- game win streak, the Falcons were forced to pay for every error.
The price was a 65-59 loss that dropped the Falcons (18-4, 6-3) into a tie with BYU (14-6, 6-3) for third in the MWC standings early in the second half of the conference season.
First there was the ball Cougars point guard Rashaun Broadus stripped from AFA center John Frye to tie the score and energize the crowd just before halftime. Then there was the telegraphed pass by Tim Anderson and steal by Broadus that basically wiped out half of an eight-point lead the Falcons had built six minutes into the second half. And finally there was the uncharacteristic panic pass by senior guard Antoine Hood that carried Jacob Burtschi over the end line and out of bounds with 42 seconds left when the Falcons, down 60-59, had a chance to retake the lead.
“We had some bad turnovers,” Falcons coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “Even though we only had 12 for the game, those 12 yielded some points.”
Of the three crucial turnovers, none was more damaging than the last one.
With Broadus hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Cougars a 49-48 lead, the game moved to a deafening level of intensity.
Hood hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put Air Force on top 55-54 with 5:17 to play, but 6-foot-11 freshman center Trent Plaisted promptly knocked down two critical free throws and the Falcons played from behind the rest of the way, never getting any closer than that one-point deficit when Hood made the ill-fated pass.
“I take it on myself. I lost the game for us,” Hood said. “I should have just shot the pull-up jumper, but I thought I saw Jake coming open.”
But that, of course, was way too much to lay on one player, especially since the Falcons hit just 9-of-28 attempts from 3-point range.
“No, I’m not saying the game turned on that one play,” Bzdelik said. “Hey, we had open looks, we just had to make them. There’s a fine line between winning and losing; you make shots in a timely manner or you don’t.
“If you look at it, we had about three or four open 3s in the closing minutes. What if we make them?”
Plaisted, limited to five points and no rebounds when the Cougars visited the Falcons to open their MWC seasons, was the most dominant player in this game, scoring 21 points and pulling down nine rebounds, seven on offense.
“He did a great job of keeping us in the game in the first half with his rebounding,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “He’s really starting to mature out there.”
The Cougars extended their home- court winning streak to 10 games and their current win streak to four.
“Right now our guys are making big plays,” Rose said. “Things are going our way.”
AIR FORCE (18-4, 6-3 MWC)
Burtschi 3-8 0-1 7, Nwaelele 4-8 0-0 11, Frye 1-3 0-2 2, McCraw 6-15 2-2 17, An. Hood 5-12 6-9 18, Henke 1-2 0-0 2, Anderson 0-2 2-2 2, Teets 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-50 10-16 59.
BYU (14-6, 6-3)
Young 2-6 2-2 6, Cummard 0-4 0-0 0, Plaisted 7-12 7-10 21, Broadus 5-10 1-3 13, Reichner 2-7 0-0 5, Rose 0-0 0-0 0, Emery 0-0 0-0 0, Ainge 1-2 0-0 3, Malaman 0-1 0-0 0, Balderson 6-11 3-3 17. Totals 23-53 13-18 65.
Halftime – 29-29. 3-point goals – Air Force 9-28 (Nwaelele 3-6, McCraw 3-9, An. Hood 2-4, Burtschi 1-5, Frye 0-1, Henke 0-1, Anderson 0-2), BYU 6-18 (Balderson 2-5, Broadus 2-5, Ainge 1-2, Reichner 1-4, Cummard 0-2). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – Air Force 35 (Frye 7), BYU 36 (Plaisted 9). Assists – Air Force 12 (An. Hood 4), BYU 12 (Cummard 4). Total fouls – Air Force 19, BYU 16. A – 16,541.
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
