Fort Worth, Texas – The crowd at the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum was small enough to warrant the dreaded “played in front of close friends and relatives” wisecrack. Imagine, then, if the 85 friends and relatives of Air Force forward Jacob Burtschi hadn’t shown up.
That was the number of Burtschi boosters who turned out to see visiting Air Force rout Texas Christian 63-45 on Wednesday night before a crowd of 3,555.
The Burtschi contingent had a lot to cheer about, as the junior was a major force for the Falcons (20-5, 8-4 Mountain West Conference).
Burtschi scored 16 points with a team-high seven rebounds as Air Force stayed alive for the conference title.
“Everything was clicking, we were knocking down shots, and we got what we wanted,” Burtschi said. “I think we were the most relaxed on the road we’ve been this season.”
There wasn’t much to cheer for the few Horned Frogs fans on hand. The biggest whoop of the night was a halftime appearance by the conference-winning TCU football team.
The Horned Frogs (5-20, 1-10) were a dismal 6-for-22 (27.3 percent) from the floor in the first half, scoring just 17 points. Air Force didn’t apply much of a high-pressure defense, but the Horned Frogs shooters missed often, and badly, and threw the ball away. It all added up to a lot of hands-on-hips, frustrated posturing on the TCU sideline by coach Neil Dougherty.
Air Force’s 35-17 lead at the half was extended to 41-20 early in the second. Burtschi (12) and guard Antoine Hood (14) combined for 26 of the Falcons’ first-half points. TCU cut the lead to 41-25, but a Hood 3-pointer built the lead back to 21.
The Horned Frogs didn’t quit, cutting the lead to 13 with seven minutes left, which didn’t make Air Force coach Jeff Bzdelik too happy. Bzdelik called timeout with 6:42 left and lit into his team.
The message?
“We knew they’d make a run,” Bzdelik said. “We wanted to keep playing hard in the second half. The score was 0-0 in my mind. We wanted to stay aggressive.”
Hood made a nice reverse layup to stem the TCU momentum at 53-38 with 5:14 left. Matt McCraw made another layup to up the lead to 17, and that was that. Jason Stubbs led TCU with 11 points.
Hood finished with a game- high 23 points for the Falcons on 9-for-16 shooting. He also had four steals and five rebounds.
“He fills up a stat sheet,” Bzdelik said of Hood.
Most of Burtschi’s friends and family took a bus down from Oklahoma City. The native of Chickasha, Okla., wished they could all come to Saturday’s big game in Utah, as this visit turned out so well.
“It’s going to be a huge game in Utah,” Burtschi said.
AIR FORCE (20-5, 8-4 MWC)
Burtschi 7-11 2-3 16, Nwaelele 2-6 0-0 4, Frye 3-5 0-2 6, McCraw 2-6 0-0 4, An. Hood 9-16 2-2 23, Henke 0-1 0-0 0, Anderson 3-6 1-2 9, Teets 0-0 0-0 0, Kenzik 0-0 0-0 0, Holum 0-1 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 1-2 1, Maren 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-52 6-11 63.
TCU (5-20, 1-10 MWC)
Chinweze 2-4 1-2 5, Pierce 0-2 1-2 1, Hackett 3-8 0-0 9, Murry 2-6 3-4 7, Owens 2-5 1-2 5, Ibikunle 1-2 0-0 2, Dougherty 0-3 0-0 0, Stubbs 5-9 0-0 11, Markley 0-2 0-0 0, Adams 0-1 2-2 2, Staky 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 16-43 8-12 45.
Halftime – Air Force 35-17. 3-point goals – Air Force 5-20 (An.Hood 3-5, Anderson 2-5, Henke 0-1, Burtschi 0-2, McCraw 0-3, Nwaelele 0-4), TCU 5-21 (Hackett 3-8, Stubbs 1-1, Staky 1-1, Adams 0-1, Pierce 0-1, Owens 0-1, Markley 0-2, Murry 0-3, Dougherty 0-3). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – Air Force 31 (Burtschi 7), TCU 25 (Stubbs 7). Assists – Air Force 17 (McCraw 5), TCU 14 (Owens 5). Total fouls – Air Force 10, TCU 14. A – 3,555.
Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-820-5454 or adater@denverpost.com.
