Air Force men lead early but fall apart in second half for blowout basketball loss at San Diego State

By Marissa Kraus Marissa.Kraus

Air Force men lead early but fall apart in second half for blowout basketball loss at San Diego State

Despite taking an early first half lead, Air Force's turnovers and shooting woes led to a 67-38 loss to San Diego State at Viejas Arena on Wednesday night.

The output was the fewest points the Falcons (3-11) have scored since 2017 and marked their fourth straight conference loss. It also was Air Force's 17th consecutive loss to the Aztecs in Viejas Arena dating to 2005.

After starting the first half 7-of-11 shooting, the Falcons ended 11 of 36 (30.7%) from the field while SDSU finished only slightly better, hitting 25 of 69 (36.2%).

Air Force had just two field goals in the second half, and its free throw struggles continued as it sank just 50% (11 of 22). The Falcons had 20 turnovers, all in the first half.

Ethan Taylor led Air Force with 11 points, five rebounds and three steals while SDSU had three players in double digits.

"We came out with energy but they turned up the heat and we folded," Luke Kearney said. "We can't do that. There's no such thing as losses, just lessons. We need to just take care of the ball."

After leading 33-24 at the half, the Aztecs did not slow down, opening the second half on a 12-0 run, with 11 of those points coming from BJ Davis, to take a 45-24 lead before forcing a Falcons timeout.

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Air Force remained scoreless for over six more minutes before Kyle Marshall added the first Falcons points of the second half from a pair of free throws.

SDSU continued its dominance to the end. It held the Falcons to 14 points in the second half and led by as much as 31 in the last minute. Air Force only added one point from a free throw in the game's last four minutes.

Taylor started the game hot from 3-point range, going 3 for 3 to help the Falcons gain an early lead. Air Force fed off of this momentum to go on a 12-0 run to go up 20-8 while the Aztecs went cold for over four minutes before calling their first timeout.

However, SDSU came out of the timeout strong. Magoon Gwath's layup ended the Aztecs' drought and sparked a 12-0 run over six minutes to tie the contest at 20. SDSU retook the lead 24-22 with around four minutes remaining and extended its lead to 33-24 at the half.

The Aztecs' half-ending 25-4 run was helped by 13 Falcons turnovers, which led to 20 points for SDSU. Air Force concluded the first half shooting 9 of 20 from the field and 2 of 6 from the free-throw line.

The Falcons return home on Sunday to host San Jose State at Clune Arena at 1 p.m.

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