Air Force Falcons vs Colorado State Rams Basketball Recap

Air Force 74, Colorado State 57

Just when things were improbably yet undeniably beginning to look up once again for Colorado State, a gruesome afternoon at the end of February likely ended its hopes of playing in March Madness.

The Air Force Falcons delivered a potentially devastating blow to at-large NCAA Tournament hopes of the Colorado State Rams with a victory at Clune Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Saturday evening. The Falcons, who had previously played all the top tier teams in the Mountain West close this season without a victory, moved to 5-9 in the conference. The loss dropped head coach Tim Miles’ Rams to 8-6 in MWC play.

Colorado State, as is well documented, seemed to be dead in the NCAA chase – after all, CSU failed to win a single game against BYU and similarly failed to win big home games against San Diego State and UNLV. The Rams’ resume didn’t include a lot of high-value scalps, making Colorado State an NIT team in most college basketball seasons. Yet, the horrid nature of this year’s bubble has not improved in the past week; CSU, despite losing to UNLV on Saturday, Feb. 19, didn’t lose as much ground in the bubble battle as most people (this one included) initially thought it would. Colorado State was still lurking around the cut line on the spreadsheets of many bracketologists; a win over Air Force would have enabled this Mountain West upstart to maintain belief in the possibility of an at-large ticket to Bracketville.

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Now, that trip to college basketball’s promised land seems ever more unlikely. Air Force grounded CSU’s grand plans before they could take flight once more.

The Falcons used two terrific runs, one in each half, to seal the victory. In the first half, Air Force used a 10-2 run to take the lead, getting an advantage right out of the gate that it never did surrender. When Colorado State brought the deficit to just two points on two Adam Nigon free-throws with 13:08 remaining in the second half, AFA head coach Jeff Reynolds saw his ballclub answer with an 18-2 run over the next 10 minutes to put the victory to rest. Michael Lyons scored 21 points to lead the Falcons, but it was the Air Force defense which won the contest. The Falcons held the Rams to just 32 percent shooting and forced their guest to turn the ball over 17 times.

Andy Ogide had 27 points and 10 rebounds and single-handedly tried to keep the Rams afloat. It was simply not enough, however. Adam Nigon and Wes Elkmeier were a combined 4-of-18 on the night.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer