AFA basketball notes: Lyons ends drought

Heading into Wednesday’s game, Air Force freshman guard Michael Lyons had missed 15 straight 3-point attempts, dating back to the Falcons’ game at New Mexico on Feb. 20.

Lyons missed his first attempt (on Air Force’s first possession), but he drained a 3 with 9:34 left in the first half, and a weight seemed to be lifted. On the Falcons’ next trip down the court, he made a pull-up jumper.

“It was a big confidence booster,” Lyons said. “When you hit one of your first shots, it just helps you out for the rest of the game.”

Lyons finished with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting and put an exclamation point on the game with a one-handed dunk with less than a minute to play.

Wyoming lacks Luster
Wyoming played without sophomore point guard JayDee Luster, who injured his groin in the Cowboys’ regular season finale at UNLV on Saturday.

During the regular season, Luster averaged 5.7 points and a team-high 4.3 assists.

“I just felt like the big difference in the game was the fact that JayDee Luster didn’t play and they weren’t able to push their transition nearly as quickly, and we were able to make them have to attack our half-court defense,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said.

The Cowboys struggled with their shooting against that defense, missing 14-of-16 3-pointers. They also missed 11-of-19 free throws.

“When you shoot 12 percent from the 3 and 42 percent from the free-throw line and miss three front ends of one-and-ones, you’re not going to win,” Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said. “You know, really at the end of the day, it’s that simple.”

Sign him up
During a timeout in the first half, there was a shooting competition between a fan from Air Force – senior Ryan Gonzales, a starting offensive tackle on the 2009 football team – and a fan from Wyoming. The fans were asked to make a free throw, 3-pointer and half-court shot. Gonzales needed two tries to make his free throw and two tries to make his 3. He then drained his fourth half-court attempt to win the competition.