Las Vegas – Memories don’t win basketball games, but the Wyoming Cowboys do when they come ready to play in the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
For the second consecutive year, a determined Wyoming team taught Air Force the lessons of tournament basketball on the way to a 67-62 victory Thursday in the quarterfinals at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The loss not only added another blemish on Air Force’s record of not winning a postseason game but clouded the Falcons’ chances of gaining a spot in the 65-team NCAA Tournament field, which will be announced Sunday.
“The last few games have been rough. There are a lot of teams that go though rough times,” Air Force senior Jacob Burtschi said. “You have to look at the big picture. We had a chance to take it out of the committee’s hands and do it ourselves. But we’re in the same place we were in last year. It’s up to the committee.”
The once-proud Falcons were ranked as high as 13th in The Associated Press poll and appeared to be a lock for a third NCAA berth in four seasons. But after starting the season 17-1, the Falcons have lost seven of their past 13 games, including the past four. The program has not lost four consecutive games since a five-game skid near the end of the 2002-03 season.
Wyoming coach Steve McClain beat the drum for the Falcons to be selected to the tournament. Air Force made it last year after the Cowboys had eliminated them in the MWC Tournament quarterfinals.
“People keep talking about Air Force and that it has lost four straight,” McClain said. “What they should be talking about is the fact that this league is really good….Air Force should be in the tournament and will be in the tournament.”
Wyoming guards Brandon Ewing (29 points) and Brad Jones (19) teamed up for 48 points, and the Cowboys lost the lead only once in the game. A layup by forward Dan Nwaelele gave the Falcons to a 21-20 lead with 4:25 left in the first half, but the advantage last only 22 seconds.
The Cowboys advanced to the tournament semifinals today against top-seeded BYU.
“You’re not going to win big games if you don’t shoot free throws well, you miss open shots and don’t rebound the basketball,” Air Force coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “In addition to that, we had difficulty containing their guards from penetrating into the paint.”
The most glaring difference in the game was at the free-throw line. The Cowboys made 22-of-27, including their last 13 points of the game, but the Falcons hit only 18-of-32. They missed nine free throws in the final 5:23 of the game, including four in a row by Burtschi.
“We’re a 70-some-percent free throw-shooting team overall and we barely broke 50 percent,” Burtschi said. “There were a handful of things, but if you don’t make free throws, you don’t win games.”
The Cowboys also had a 32-21 edge in rebounding.
Bzdelik elected to play a small lineup in hopes of generating more aggressive play. Sophomore Andrew Henke got most of the extra playing time and scored a team-high 16 points.
McClain said his team worked the shot clock, especially in the second half, to force Air Force to spend more time on defense. The Cowboys shot 53.8 percent from the floor.
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
