Air Force center Keith Maren has felt a sense of urgency all season.
Because he had only a few minutes of playing time during his first three seasons with the Falcons, Maren has had to live his dream by packing most of his college career into his senior season.
“This season really has been my only chance to play at this level,” Maren said Thursday. “It’s my last chance, so there’s nothing to lose in trying to do what helps out this team.”
With the Falcons feeling urgency to finish strong in the Mountain West Conference, the 6-foot-8 Maren believes he will handle the pressure a little better because of his intense play all season.
The Falcons (12-11, 4-6 MWC) have three critical games in the next eight days — Saturday’s game against visiting Wyoming, Wednesday’s home game against New Mexico and a Feb. 23 trip to Colorado State. Air Force has been above the .500 mark all season and has carried the only winning record among the state’s Division I teams most of the season.
“You have to look at more than just the record to evaluate this team,” Maren said. “We play hard. Our game the other night against UNLV was an epic battle.”
The Falcons lost 58-51 (their third consecutive defeat), but Maren had career highs in rebounds (eight) and minutes played (35) against the Rebels. His 11 points included three 3-pointers.
Maren has come on this season to fill an expected void in Air Force’s lineup. Nick Welch and John Frye had held down the center spot the past two seasons while Maren was playing in a total of 24 games (158 minutes).
“I thought I could have helped out the team the last couple of years with a couple of more minutes here and there,” Maren said. “But it never happened. I got down a little bit at times, but I wasn’t going to quit.”
His junior season began slowly because of a foot injury, and he wasn’t able to get much attention from coach Jeff Bzdelik. But the Falcons posted a program-best 26-9 record last season, so Bzdelik wasn’t looking for much help.
This season, coach Jeff Reynolds won’t call Maren his most pleasant surprise, but Reynolds said he knew Maren would be an extremely important player.
“He takes care of the ball on offense and he can guard any player on the floor on defense,” Reynolds said. “He did a lot of work in the offseason and came into this year in the best shape he’s been in during the three years I’ve been here.”
Reynolds was an assistant coach on Bzdelik’s staff the past two years.
This season Maren has started every game and is averaging 28.7 minutes and 7.9 points. He’s shooting 48.2 percent from the field and 41.5 from 3-point range. His 37 turnovers are the fewest among the five players with the most playing time.
Maren isn’t counting down the remaining games. He would like to see the Falcons go a long way in the postseason, starting March 12 with the conference tournament in Las Vegas.
“I just want to keep this going,” Maren said. “I’m living a dream.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
