Air Force Academy – What recently looked like mission impossible has turned into a quarterfinal berth in the National Invitation Tournament for the Air Force men’s basketball team.
Reaching back to a time when they played well enough to be 17-1, the Falcons went on similar cruise control Monday night at Clune Arena and beat the Georgia Bulldogs of the Southeastern Conference 83-52.
Playing before a crowd of 5,698, the Falcons (25-8) advanced to a Wednesday night game at Clune Arena against DePaul (20-13), which eliminated Kansas State 70-65 on Monday.
After a 67-62 loss to Wyoming in the Mountain West Conference Tournament left them with four consecutive losses, the Falcons didn’t receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament and had to settle for playing in the postseason NIT for the first time.
“It’s great fun beating Georgia, but it’s on to DePaul now. The fun’s over,” said Air Force senior forward Jacob Burtschi, who scored a game-high 21 points against the Bulldogs (19-14). “We’re still upset about how we finished the year. We’re going to make the most of the NIT. None of the seniors want to go out with a home loss.”
Beating the Bulldogs allowed the Falcons to become the first Division I men’s basketball team in Colorado history to win 25 games. In their NIT opener last week, the Falcons routed Austin Peay 75-51 at Clune Arena.
Air Force led Georgia 43-24 at halftime. After faltering briefly at the start of the second half, the Falcons poured it on down the stretch and led 77-46 with 3:10 to play. At that point, Air Force coach Jeff Bzdelik emptied his bench.
Burtschi grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, finishing with a double-double. Senior forward Dan Nwaelele, an all-MWC pick, contributed 19 points and six rebounds.
The Falcons shot 56 percent from the field, had a 20-9 edge in assists and committed only 10 turnovers. Georgia shot 36.4 percent and had 16 turnovers.
“We were motivated for a lot of reasons and I’ll leave it at that,” Bzdelik said. “Our minds already have shifted toward De- Paul. We played well. We knew we really needed to take care of the basketball. We knew when they scored in the 80s, they usually won. When they scored in the 60s, they had a tough time.”
Georgia coach Dennis Felton saw it coming.
“It was a matchup nightmare for us and I knew it would be as soon as I saw we were playing them,” said Felton, saluting the Falcons. “They’re great at what they do. They have tremendous team chemistry. Their offense is difficult to handle when they have that kind of ability to execute. They shoot it so well, and Burtschi is a handful.”
Maybe the biggest plus for the Falcons was not wilting when the Bulldogs tried to make it a muscle game in the second half.
“We stayed the course,” said Air Force senior guard Matt McCraw, who had nine points and six assists. “Coach always talks about bumps in the road. They made a little run at the start of the second half, but we definitely stayed the course.”
“That was an SEC team,” Nwaelele said of Georgia. “We wanted to show the country we could play against an SEC team. We did that tonight.”
GEORGIA (19-14)
Brown 4-9 1-4 9, Bliss 0-0 1-4 1, Gaines 2-4 4-4 9, Stukes 2-9 0-1 5, Humphrey 1-6 1-2 4, Ndiaye 0-0 0-0 0, Brizendine 0-0 0-0 0, Newman 1-4 2-3 4, Butler 0-1 4-4 4, Woodbury 6-11 1-2 16, Singleton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-44 14-24 52.
AIR FORCE (25-8)
Burtschi 7-11 4-4 21, Nwaelele 6-14 4-4 19, Welch 4-5 0-0 9, McCraw 3-7 2-2 9, Anderson 4-7 0-0 9, Henke 2-3 1-1 5, Hood 0-1 0-0 0, Merriex 0-0 0-0 0, Teets 0-0 0-0 0, Holland 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 3-4 3, Maren 1-1 0-0 3, Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Frye 0-0 2-2 2, Kenzik 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 28-50 16-17 83.
Halftime – Air Force 43-24. 3-point goals – Georgia 6-18 (Woodbury 3-6, Gaines 1-3, Humphrey 1-3, Stukes 1-6); Air Force 11-25 (Burtschi 3-5, Nwaelele 3-9, Welch 1-1, Maren 1-1, Kenzik 1-1, McCraw 1-2, Anderson 1-4, Hood 0-1, Henke 0-1). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – Georgia 28 (Woodbury 8), Air Force 29 (Burtschi 10). Assists – Georgia 9 (Gaines 5), Air Force 20 (McCraw 6). Total fouls – Georgia 19, Air Force 17. A – 5,698.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
