Air Force's comeback a toe short in Wyoming

LARAMIE, WYO. • Todd Fletcher made a great move to get separation and nailed a long shot with less than 5 seconds left, but the Air Force guard forgot to drag his right big toe behind the 3-point line.

Nothing went quite right for Air Force on Wednesday night.

Fletcher’s long shot was just worth two points because he was barely on the line, so Air Force didn’t tie the game with 4.6 seconds left. After Wyoming hit just one free throw, Zach Bohannon’s final 3-point attempt was blocked at the buzzer and Wyoming had a 63-61 win at Arena-Auditorium.

“I thought I had it when I took it, but … ” Fletcher said with a shrug. “They deserved to win, we didn’t.”

The Falcons (13-13, 4-9 Mountain West) made many mistakes before Fletcher almost tied the game. Air Force should have known it was in for a bad night based on the first sequence of the game. Wyoming (10-17, 3-10) won the tip and got four shots on its first possession.

The Falcons proceeded to play perhaps their sloppiest half of the season. Air Force averaged a little more than 12 turnovers per game before Wednesday. The Falcons had 13 turnovers in the first half, and just two assists. The final turnover came on the last play of the half, on an inbounds pass with 1.8 seconds left. Air Force was 6-of-19 from the field in the first half, hit just 1-of-7 3-point attempts. Yet, even though Air Force was so poor on offense, it still trailed 29-18 at halftime.

Even though the game tightened up in the second half, there was always some breakdown for the Falcons, whether it was the inability to grab an offensive rebound, leaving a Wyoming player open for 3 or another turnover.

Air Force cut Wyoming’s lead to 48-42 on Lyons’ bank shot in the lane. But Air Force allowed an open 3-pointer, turned it over and gave up a fast break layup, and the Cowboys had a double-digit lead again.

Wyoming refused to put Air Force away, and the Falcons cut Wyoming’s lead to two points when Tom Fow hit a 3-pointer with 2:08 left. But Amath M’Baye, who scored 27 points, hit a jumper. Air Force was within two points again with less than a minute to play when Wyoming’s Desmar Jackson got behind the defense for a full-court pass and layup.

Air Force still had a shot to at least send the game to overtime at the end, but Fletcher’s foot was ruled to be on the line after a lengthy review by officials.

“They go to the monitor, they’re going to make the right call,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said.