Offensive breakthrough leads Air Force to CIT first-round win

Air Force had a phenomenal first half on offense, and then used its defense to close the show Tuesday night in defeating North Dakota 77-67 in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament at Clune Arena.

Air Force shot a blistering 67.9 percent in the first half and scored 46 points — more than in any first half all season — to lead by 10 at the break.

“I thought we came out with great focus and a great sense of urgency,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. “Early on we really did a nice job of pushing the ball in transition that created easy baskets for us.”

A scrappy North Dakota team made things a bit uncomfortable for the Falcons in the second half. The Sioux cut the lead to 54-50 behind some strong defense and outside shooting.

However, Air Force’s Michael Lyons, who had a team-high 21 points, had an answer. Lyons scored five straight points for Air Force to get the lead back to 59-50. North Dakota would get no closer than six points the rest of the way.

“We were just focused on getting a stop because they were hitting 3s and we had to adjust,” Lyons said. “We did a good job of converting on the offensive end as well.”

Air Force led 54-40 with just under 13 minutes left and then held the Sioux scoreless for the next 6:42, forcing eight straight misses during that span.

The North Dakota offense went one-dimensional for much of the second half, chucking up multiple 3-point attempts.

The Sioux attempted 13 more 3-pointers than 2-point shots, going 13-for-39 from long range.

“North Dakota continually sets ball screens, and we didn’t want to get too spread out,” Reynolds said.

Taylor Broekhuis scored 11 points and Derek Brooks had Air Force’s first double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

“It feels good to get (a double-double); I knew I was close to 10 rebounds but I didn’t know I had a double-double until after the game,” said Brooks, who shot 5-of-6 in the first half and had 12 points to jump-start the Falcons’ offense.

Air Force will now wait its second-round opponent for Friday night. The location also is to be determined.