Air Force Academy
Belmont
Falcons fall to Belmont, 46-38
11/30/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2003
Center Adam Mark shot 11-of-12 from the field and posted game-highs of 24 points and seven rebounds Sunday as the Bruins defeated Air Force, 46-38, in Nashville. Air Force lost its first game of the season and is now 2-1.
Belmont (3-1) jumped out to an early 7-0 lead 3:15 into the game with a three-pointer by Brian Collins and two layups from Adam Mark. Soon thereafter, Mark took an early seat on the bench with two fouls.
The Falcons finally got on the scoreboard at the 16:27 mark with a free throw by Joel Gerlach. Antoine Hood gave Air Force its first field goal with a layup at the 13:50 mark. Two layups and a three-pointer by Nick Welch capped a 10-0 run for a 10-7 lead as Air Force held the Bruins scoreless for more than nine minutes.
Air Force (2-1) suffered from early foul trouble as well, as Welch, Gerlach and backup center David Peterson were each called for two fouls in the first 12 minutes. Welch and Gerlach led the Falcons with nine points apiece. Antoine Hood chipped in with eight.
The Falcons took a 15-12 lead into the locker room at halftime as made buckets were at a premium in the first 20 minutes. Air Force made 6-of-19 while Belmont was 4-17 from the field. The Bruins made just one of its last 12 field goal attempts in the half.
"We played great defense today," said Air Force head coach Joe Scott. "We just missed a lot of shots."
The second half was the Adam Mark show as Belmont looked to get the ball to him in the post as often as possible. He scored the Bruins' first eight points of the half to give Belmont a 21-20 lead. Mark had a stretch of seven consecutive points later in the half as the Bruins extended their lead to 36-28. He had 17 of his 24 points in the second half.
Freshman Dan Nwaelele broke Mark's streak and five scoreless minutes for the Falcons with a three-pointer at the 5:27 mark, cutting the lead to 36-31. Two free throws by Collins bumped the lead to 38-31 with 3:56 left and the Bruins never led by less than six the rest of the way.
Belmont, which shot 64.7 percent (11-for-17) in the second half, finished the game shooting 44 percent, while Air Force shot just 35 percent (14-for-40) for the game.
