Falcons lack energy, lose to TCU

So much for the fresh start.

Air Force began the second half of the Mountain West Conference season on Saturday, and what happened was pretty similar to what happened during most of the first half of league play and much of last season's MWC slate: The Falcons lost by double digits and in disheartening fashion.

A TCU team that had lost five straight league games beat Air Force, 65-51, in front of an announced crowd of 4,077 at Clune Arena. The Falcons fell to 9-13 and 1-8 in MWC play.

What was most disappointing was how they lost. Air Force – which had ended its 22-game MWC regular season losing streak a week earlier – was listless in front of the biggest home crowd of the league season.

“Our energy level was not what it needs to be,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. “And we did not defend.”

Several Falcons were ill – freshmen Michael Lyons and Taylor Broekhuis were administered intravenous fluids prior to tipoff. But that wasn’t the difference in the game.

“Even if you say some guys are under the weather, that’s maybe one or two guys,” junior forward Tom Fow said. “There’s five guys on the court, and there’s 10 more on the bench. So every single one of us has to play hard.”

As for not defending, the Falcons certainly didn’t do enough against TCU junior Greg Hill. The reserve guard scored a career-high 23 points and made 7-of-10 3-pointers. Overall, TCU made 25-of-41 shots (61.0 percent) from the field.

“You’re going to win a lot of games if you do that,” TCU coach Jim Christian said.

And Air Force won’t win many games with the kinds of scoring droughts it had Saturday.

The Falcons scored on just one of their first six possessions and fell behind, 11-2. And after climbing back into the game and cutting TCU’s lead to 22-21, they scored just three points (all free throws) in the final 4:52 of the first half.

Evan Washington (team-high 16 points) scored on Air Force’s first possession of the second half to cut TCU’s lead to 31-26, but the Falcons scored nine points, including just three field goals, during the next 12:50. By the end of that stretch, TCU led 52-35, and the game was out of reach.

“We were busting our tails all week to try and get a win here to let everyone know we’re going to be the most improved team in conference – someone who everybody fears to play,” Fow said. “So it’s definitely disappointing.”