Lobos Outplay, But Do Not Outlast Falcons
Jan. 15, 2005
By JOHN MARSHALL
AP Sports Writer
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Nick Welch scored 19 points and Air Force won its 22nd straight home game, beating New Mexico 64-62 Saturday despite grabbing just nine rebounds and allowing the Lobos to shoot nearly 70 percent.
Air Force (11-6, 2-0 Mountain West) couldn’t stop the Lobos from hitting shots and had trouble getting inside for rebounds, making up for it by harassing the Lobos into 23 turnovers – 16 on steals – that led to 31 points.
New Mexico (14-3, 1-1) shot a staggering 69 percent, had just three players – Troy DeVries, Mark Walters and Alfred Neale – miss shots, and had a 28-9 rebounding advantage. It still wasn’t enough to prevent the Lobos’ 20th straight conference road loss.
Even with the mistakes, New Mexico still had a chance at the end.
The Lobos got within three on DeVries’ layup two minutes into the second half, then went more than six minutes without a field goal as Air Force pushed the lead to 45-36. New Mexico got close again, fell behind by 12, then made a late 13-2 run, taking a 58-57 lead on Neale’s 3-pointer with 46 seconds left.
Air Force took the lead right back with 29 seconds left, when Welch powered inside for a three-point play that made it 60-58.
New Mexico never got a chance to get it back.
Matt McCraw snared another sloppy crosscourt pass by the Lobos and hit two free throws with 21 seconds left to put the Falcons up four, then Welch hit two free throws after David Chiotti scored at the other end.
Chiotti led New Mexico with 17 points and Neale added 15.
New Mexico played without top scorer and rebounder Danny Granger, who had surgery Monday to repair torn cartilage in his left knee.
The Lobos didn’t seem to miss him much in the first half.
New Mexico set a torrid pace at the start, scoring from the post, the perimeter, everywhere. By the time they were done, the Lobos had hit 13-of-16 shots (81 percent) and had an 11-1 rebounding advantage.
It still wasn’t good enough to give them the halftime lead.
Air Force took a different tact, working the ball around the perimeter and out of the high post, and was pretty effective, too.
The Falcons shot 13-of-21 in the first half, including Tim Anderson’s four-point play with seven minutes left, and led by as much as 12. It wasn’t quite as good as New Mexico’s start, but Air Force made up for it with scrappy defense, scoring 20 points off 13 turnovers for a 36-31 halftime lead.