Air Force men's basketball team finds 3-point rhythm

There were times last season when Air Force was stuck in a scoring drought, and a 3-pointer could have at least kept the tide from turning completely against the Falcons.

The problem was, that 3-pointer was tough to find. The Falcons shot 31.3 percent from behind the arc last year. That ranked 250th in Division I last season. On a team that doesn’t have a lot of size, getting points on 3-point shots is necessary.

In Sunday’s season opener, there were signs of improvement. Air Force hit eight of its first 16 3-point attempts, before missing its final three in the late stages of a double-digit win over Colorado-Colorado Springs. The Falcons will try to keep that going on Wednesday against Colorado College.

“With what we do and our lack of size this year, we’ve got to shoot the ball,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said.

Air Force shot well from behind the 3-point line Sunday, and it didn’t come from just one player. Tom Fow was Air Force’s best 3-point shooter last year, hitting a team-best 45. He had three of them in the first game, but Derek Brooks added two, Michael Lyons hit two, and even Taylor Broekhuis hit one. Broekhuis, who was 1-for-25 on 3-point shots last year, hit his first 3-point attempt of the season against UCCS.

“A lot of the guys have more confidence in themselves because of experience last year,” Fow said. “You don’t have one guy shooting well, you have everybody shooting well and it’s tough to guard.”

If there are multiple threats on the perimeter, that opens up the floor for backdoor cuts and layups. When UCCS started slowing down Air Force players cutting to the basket, their offense bogged down a bit. The Falcons passed up some 3-pointers in the second half, Reynolds said, but as the Falcons get more comfortable and confident this season those shots should be a big part of the offense.

“If we continue to shoot it well, that’s going to open up a lot of options for us,” Fow said. “It’s a morale booster when people are hitting on all cylinders.”