Air Force cruises by Wyoming

Over the past few years, there haven’t been many times when Air Force was clearly the best team on the floor in a conference game.

A combination of an improved Falcons team and a dreadful Wyoming squad led to a rare blowout for the Falcons on Saturday. Air Force led 6-0 to start and the Cowboys rarely showed any signs of life after that. Even though Wyoming cut the Falcons’ lead to single digits a few times in the second half, there was never much doubt Air Force would win, and the Falcons pulled away for a 72-51 win at Clune Arena.

Air Force is 11-7 (2-3 Mountain West). The Falcons have already surpassed their win total from the last two Mountain West seasons combined. Wyoming is 8-11 and 1-4 in the conference.

The 21-point win was Air Force’s largest against a Mountain West opponent since it beat TCU 57-36 on March 5, 2008.

“Last year it definitely didn’t happen, so we’re making progress,” said guard Todd Fletcher, one of four double-digit scorers for Air Force.

Air Force came out firing against a Wyoming zone defense that doesn’t defend the 3-point line well. The Falcons hit 6-of-9 3-point shots in the first half and led 38-25 at halftime. That was their biggest halftime lead in a conference game in almost four years. They led Wyoming 46-18 at halftime on Feb. 3, 2007.

The Cowboys tried getting back in the game with six straight points to start the second half, but the Falcons regained control when Fletcher hit a 3-pointer to stop Wyoming’s run.

The Falcons had 22 assists on 26 field goals, against a unique matchup zone defense that Air Force isn't used to facing. When Air Force’s usual zone offense wasn’t working early in the game, the Falcons found ways to get open shots.

“Their zone is different than any zone you play, so you can’t run your normal stuff,” coach Jeff Reynolds said. “Our players adapted very well.”

Michael Lyons was the star of the first half, scoring 17 points. He didn’t score after halftime, but that was a great sign for the Falcons. Other players started to score, and Tom Fow, Fletcher and Evan Washington joined Lyons as double-digit scorers.

“That’s big – it’s good when we have a lot of people that can score,” Lyons said. “We don’t depend on one person to score every night. I just happened to be the guy in the first half. Tom, Todd and Evan second half. That was enough.”