AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.—Falcons senior Tim Anderson took off with the basketball.
He simply didn’t want it to get lost. He knew how much it meant to a certain coach.
Anderson presented the ball to coach Jeff Reynolds in the locker room after Air Force’s 67-38 win over Dartmouth on Friday night in the Air Force Classic.
After all, debuts don’t happen every night, especially successful ones.
“He deserves this,” Anderson said.
Reynolds was touched by the gesture after his first Division I win. He took over the program for Jeff Bzdelik, who bolted for the University of Colorado last spring.
“This is exciting to me,” said Reynolds, whose team will play Northern Colorado in the championship game Saturday night. “We played with consistency.”
The Falcons may have a new coach, and a new ensemble, but they still play the same way they always have, relying on stifling defense and precision passing.
“What great effort and energy,” Reynolds said. “The kids played with passion.”
Reynolds was nervous before the game. Not because it was his first one in charge of the Falcons, but because of Air Force’s 66-63 loss to Brock University in an exhibition game on Halloween.
Between that and a bad week in practice, Reynolds was highly concerned.
“I told them, ‘Let’s be solid. Don’t be fancy,'” Reynolds said. “We had consistency.”
The Falcons certainly did that. They had four players score in double figures, including Andrew Henke who came off the bench to score a game-high 15 points.
“I was really into the flow of the game,” he said.
Never more than early in the first half. The Big Green jumped out to an early 8-3 lead only to see the Falcons go on a 29-5 run to take command of the game. Henke helped ignite the run by scoring eight straight points.
“We need guys to step up and he did that,” said Anderson, who finished with 13 points.
Air Force started the second half by hitting its first nine shots, running the lead to 55-19 and putting away a Dartmouth team that shot just 27.7 percent from the field.
“We didn’t execute well,” Big Green coach Terry Dunn said. “I’m disappointed in my team’s performance.”
Reynolds was part cheerleader at times on the sideline. Reynolds, who has been an assistant at Air Force the last two seasons, hardly ever sat down. He vigorously applauded whenever one of his players hit the floor pursuing a loose ball.
Reynolds did a lot of clapping.
“He’s a fireball,” Anderson said. “He’s a good fit for us.”
The Falcons are coming off a season in which they set a school record with 26 wins. The team advanced to the semifinals of the NIT, where they lost to Clemson at Madison Square Garden.
However, Air Force lost four starters off that team.
The Falcons have a young cast this season, and wins like this help provide a nice confidence boost.
“Some big wins are going to help us,” Henke said.
Dartmouth was led in scoring by DeVon Mosley with 10 points. Alex Barnett added eight and Robby Pride had six points on two 3-pointers.
Anwar Johnson finished with 11 and Keith Maren 10 for the Falcons.
“I’m very happy with the way we played,” Reynolds said. “We’ve got to continue to play the Air Force basketball we’ve played in the past. I tip my hat to the kids tonight.”
In return, they brought him his first game ball at Air Force, which he’s going to have all the players and coaches sign and then store it in a glass case.
“It’s going to be a nice keepsake,” Reynolds said with a grin.
