Air Force Academy – Down by as many as 21 points in the first half and 15 at halftime to New Mexico on Tuesday night, the Air Force men’s basketball team’s 24-game home-court winning streak and soaring national ranking were in jeopardy.
But the 18th-ranked Falcons opened the second half with a 21-2 run that fueled their 12th consecutive victory of the season, 65-57 before a Clune Arena-record crowd of 6,511.
Air Force (16-1, 3-0 Mountain West Conference) was held to a season-low 24 points in the first half and trailed 39-24 to the hot Lobos (11-7, 0-3), who shot 69.6 percent from the field.
But it was all Air Force in the second half, when the Falcons outscored New Mexico 41-18.
“That’s a great team, not a good team, a great team,” said Lobos coach Ritchie McKay, saluting the Falcons. “They came out with a ton of energy in the second half. I saw a statistic today in the Florida-Arkansas game, and they were bragging about shot distribution. That’s what Air Force does.
“They don’t play on the East Coast and they haven’t won a national championship, but they’re a great team.”
AFA coach Jeff Bzdelik saw a letdown coming for his team.
“We kind of have been full of ourselves,” Bzdelik said. “Too many pats on the back. Our practices have been sloppy. That coupled with New Mexico, we really dug ourselves a hole. We said at halftime that there had to be a sense of urgency on every possession. If we don’t play with great energy, we could wind up 16-14 for the year.”
Air Force senior guard Matt McCraw and senior forward Dan Nwaelele stepped up. McCraw scored a career-high 21 points and Nwaelele scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half.
The combination of energized AFA defense and suddenly ice-cold shooting by the Lobos (31.8 percent in the second half) turned the tide. New Mexico failed to score a point during a 9:56 stretch of the second half and the Falcons took the lead for good on McCraw’s jumper with 11:24 remaining.
“That’s part of basketball,” McKay said. “They (Air Force) played with great energy. We said they were going to make a run and the crowd was going to get going. We didn’t change anything at halftime. We had some looks in the second half, but they wouldn’t go in.”
McCraw said the Falcons knew they could turn it around.
“Staying the course was chipping at the lead a little at a time,” McCraw said. “Before we knew it was it was 12, then five, but they were capable of turning it around any time. We came out flat and we can’t do that. Our energy wasn’t sufficient in the first half. When you don’t bring it, somebody can bite you in the butt and that’s exactly want New Mexico did.”
Darren Prentice scored 18 points and Tony Danridge added 15 to lead the Lobos.
NEW MEXICO (11-7, 0-3 MWC)
Danridge 7-13 0-0 15, Faris 2-3 1-3 5, Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Prentice 7-11 0-3 18, Toppert 3-7 0-0 7, Johnson 1-1 0-0 2, Henfield 0-1 0-0 0, Kersten 2-5 2-3 7, Martinez 0-1 0-0 0, Walter 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 23-45 3-9 57.
AIR FORCE (16-1, 3-0 MWC)
Burtschi 3-5 0-0 6, Nwaelele 7-14 8-8 22, Welch 3-7 3-4 9, McCraw 5-7 8-8 21, Anderson 2-5 0-0 5, Henke 0-1 0-1 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Frye 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 20-39 21-23 65.
Halftime – New Mexico 39-24. 3-point goals – New Mexico 8-20 (Prentice 4-7, Walter 1-1, Danridge 1-2, Kersten 1-2, Toppert 1-5, Henfield 0-1, Martinez 0-1, Smith 0-1). Air Force 4-17 (McCraw 3-4, Anderson 1-4, Welch 0-1, Henke 0-1, Burtschi 0-1, Nwaelele 0-6). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – New Mexico 23 (Faris 5). Air Force 24 (Burtschi 6, Welch 6). Assists – New Mexico 13 (Kersten 5). Air Force 12 (Burtschi 3, McCraw 3). Total fouls – New Mexico 20, Air Force 15. A – 6,511.
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
