AIR FORCE ACADEMY — Only one team showed up for the second half of Wednesday night’s Mountain West Conference showdown at Clune Arena, and it wasn’t Air Force.
After leading just 29-24 at halftime, defending MWC champion Brigham Young shot 62.5 percent during the final 20 minutes and pulled away for a 69-53 victory. It was Air Force’s worst home-court loss in MWC play in eight years.
The Cougars (16-5, 5-1) never trailed, closed with a 16-5 run during the final seven minutes and kept pace with MWC co-leader UNLV, which won 70-58 at Texas Christian.
Lee Cummard, a 6-foot-7 junior forward, played a key role in helping the Cougars extend their win streak to four games. Cummard, who finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists, hit a 3-pointer that just beat the shot clock with 10:02 remaining. That gave the Cougars a 48-41 lead and got them off and running.
“Lee has hit a lot of clutch baskets for us,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “When you work the shot clock down and get a shot it gives the whole team confidence. The more confidence you have in an environment like this, the better. Both Lee and Jonathan (Tavernari) did a good job of picking their spots.”
Tavernari, a 6-6 sophomore forward, led BYU with 22 points. Cummard and Tavernari combined to shoot 16-of-27.
The Falcons hadn’t suffered a worse MWC loss at home since a 98-73 drubbing by UNLV on Jan. 15, 2000.
“They shot the ball extremely well in the second half,” AFA coach Jeff Reynolds said of the Cougars. “But we missed seven layups and two dunks. The drives were open, but we couldn’t finish. I don’t know if I have an answer. We had eight days to prepare. I was disappointed in our execution.”
Senior guard Tim Anderson led Air Force with 22 points and senior center Keith Maren scored a career-high 15. But they didn’t have much help. No other teammate scored more than five points, and the Falcons shot only 39 percent for the game.
Anderson blamed some lapses on defense. BYU scored on six straight possessions during one stretch of the second half.
“The key to our game was getting stops, and we didn’t at times in the second half,” Anderson said.
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
