Air Force outgunned by Santa Clara
SANTA CLARA, Calif. • Air Force certainly shot well enough to win its second-round CollegeInsider.com Tournament game, but the Falcons could control neither the boards nor UC-Santa Clara guard Kevin Foster.
Despite shooting 55 percent from the field, including 10-for-19 on 3-pointers, the Falcons lost to host Santa Clara 88-75 on Friday night.
Foster scored 36 points and hit nine 3-pointers, with seven of those 3-pointers coming in the first half when he had 25 of his points.
"Foster played very well. He controlled the game," said Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds.
Michael Lyons scored 24 points to lead the Air Force.
""It's real tough knowing we're not going to be playing with our seniors anymore," Lyons said. "They brought the program up and we let them down. I'm very upset.
"They were hitting all their shots in the first half and we didn't make adjustments. We knew (Foster) was a shooter. It's a game of adjustments and we didn;t make the adjustments in the first half."
Adding to the Falcons’ troubles was their inability to rebound. That has been a shortcoming for Air Force all season, and it was a major difference against Santa Clara, which collected 20 offensive rebounds to just two for the Falcons.
"They hurt us on the boards," Reynolds said. "When they didn't make the shot, they got the rebound and put it in.
"This is disappointing, but we have made wonderful strides and we have a good bunch coming back."
The Broncos’ second-chance opportunities were enough to offset the Falcons’ shooting.
The loss ended Air Force’s season at an even 16-16, while Santa Clara (21-10) goes on the face the winner of today’s game between San Francisco and Hawaii.
Air Force shot 63 percent in its first-round victory over North Dakota on Tuesday, and continued to shoot well on Friday.
With less than 5 minutes remaining in the first half, Air Force was shooting 62 percent from the field, including 5-for-8 on 3-pointers, had made more free throws than the Broncos and had committed just four turnovers. Yet Air Force trailed by nine.
Part of the problem was rebounding, as Santa Clara had collected nine offensive rebounds to none for the Falcons by that point.
But a bigger issue was Foster, who hit six of his first seven 3-point attempts and had 20 points with more than 7 minutes left in the first half.
He had accounted for all but eight of the Broncos 28 points by that point.
Santa Clara scored 30 of their 43 first-half points on 3-pointers.
The Falcons trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half, but they stayed in the game and trailed by just six at halftime because they were hitting from long range as well.
The Falcons made 7-of-10 3-point shots before halftime, and Derek Brooks made both of his attempts from beyond the arc and had 14 points at halftime.
The two teams combined to shoot 17-for-27 (63 percent) on 3-point shots but just 6-for-21 (28.6 percent) on 2-pointers over the first 20 minutes.
The Falcons still trailed by just six before Foster hit his eighth 3-pointer of the game to help the Broncos lengthen the lead to 14 points with 11 minutes left in the game.
Foul trouble followed for Air Force, and Brooks fouled out with more than 10 minutes left, finishing scoreless in the second half.
Tom Fow had to sit out part of the second half with four fouls, and the Falcons could never threaten thereafter.
