FORT COLLINS, Colo.—Air Force’s Anwar Johnson, one of the top defenders of the Mountain West, locked on with conference-leading scorer Marcus Walker, in crunch time.
No contest.
Walker turned the ball over once, threw up a wild shot and sank only a free throw in the final two minutes of Colorado State’s 61-59 loss Saturday night.
“You win games with defense,” Johnson said. “All I did was use my length against him.”
“Walker is a great scorer and great driver as well,” Johnson said. “So I can easily catch his moves and catch up to him and contest his shots.”
Johnson and Andrew Henke scored 14 points each as Air Force dealt Colorado State its 13th consecutive loss.
Johnson sealed the win with two free throws in the last 13 seconds for Air Force (14-12, 6-7 Mountain West), which also beat the Rams for the 12th consecutive time in the regular season. The Falcons last lost to them in the regular season on Jan. 18, 2003, 51-49.
Air Force took its first lead with 5:45 to play. Walker’s jumper and free throw tied it at 57, but Henke made two free throws to give Air Force the lead, 59-57 with 2:23 left.
The Rams had a chance to tie or take the lead on their next two possessions, but Walker made 1-of-2 free throws and then turned the ball over with Johnson defending him.
Air Force gave the ball right back when Keith Maren missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity, but Walker missed wildly with 12.7 seconds left.
“That’s why Johnson is the best defender in the league,” said Henke, who also had 10 rebounds.
Johnson sealed the game with two free throws that made it 61-58.
“We got defensive stops at the end, but couldn’t do anything with them on offense,” Colorado State coach Tim Miles said. “We missed a layup, we forced an inside shot and Adam Nigon got fouled and the only chance we had was to miss the last free throw on purpose.”
Walker scored 18 points for Colorado State (6-20, 0-12).
The Falcons also did something differently defensively in the second half. They shut down Colorado State’s 3-point game in the second half after allowing 10 3-pointers in the first half.
“We did nothing significantly different in the second half,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. “We extended our defense a little bit more to push out on Marcus Walker and force him to catch the ball farther out on the floor.”
Colorado State made 10-of-15, 3-pointers in the first half and led 35-27 at the break.
The 13 straight losses are within one of the Rams’ all-time record for futility. Colorado State lost 14 consecutive games spanning the final 12 games of the 1918-1919 season and the first two games of the 1919-20 campaign.
