Feb. 10, 2007
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -Jacob Burtschi and Nick Welch combined for a rare four-point trip late in the game and No. 15 Air Force shook off a horrendous start to beat New Mexico 60-51 Saturday.
The Falcons (21-4, 8-3 Mountain West Conference) missed nine of their first 10 shots, but consistently hit key shots in the second half to hand the Lobos (14-11, 3-7) their third conference loss in The Pit this season.
Dan Nwaelele and Tim Anderson each scored 17 points for Air Force, but it was Burtschi and Welch who sealed the win with four points in a span of 2 seconds.
With Air Force ahead 48-45 after New Mexico’s Roman Martinez scored on a short jumper, Burtschi banked in a shot and was fouled by Chad Toppert. Burtschi missed the free throw, but Welch slipped in to tip in the miss for a 52-45 Falcons lead with 2:38 left.
Anderson added two free throws with 40.8 seconds remaining, and free throws by Burtschi and Nwaelele pushed the lead to 58-48 with 15 seconds to go.
Air Force again struggled to score in the first half. The Falcons have not scored more than 23 points in the opening half in their last four games and had lost two of their last three after winning 17 of their first 18.
The Falcons had one field goal – a 3-pointer by Anderson – in the game’s first 8 minutes and went scoreless over the final 4:06 of the first half. Still, they trailed just 23-19 at halftime and would have been closer if they had gotten a call on an obvious hard foul by New Mexico’s J.R. Giddens just before the end of the half.
Anderson stole an inbound pass and went up for a 3-pointer. He was hit hard by Giddens with at least a second remaining, but the referees failed to call it.
New Mexico took a 19-9 lead with 6:31 left in the first half on a basket by Darren Prentice. Air Force then scored 10 straight points. Nwaelele hit a layup, Burtschi hit back-to-back 3s from the same spot at the top of the key and Anderson finished the run by slicing into the lane for a tough 5-footer that got a favorable roll.
Giddens, with 10 points, was the only New Mexico player in double figures.