Air Force Academy
Utah
Offensive Woes Plague Falcons in Loss to Utah
1/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2009
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) -- Utah's Lawrence Borha scored 15 points and Air Force shot a season-low 23.8 percent from the field (10-of-42) as the visiting Utes handed the Falcons their third consecutive loss, 57-36, Wednesday night.
Nothing went right for Air Force (9-7 overall, 0-3 Mountain West Conference), which has now dropped five of its last six games. The Falcons, who entered the game as the nation's third-best 3-point shooting team, connected on just 2-of-19 shots from behind the arc and missed 14 consecutive 3-point attempts after starting the game 1-for-2.
Utah (11-6, 2-1) used a 12-0 run midway through the first half to open a double-digit lead and held a 31-14 advantage at the half.
The Utes held the Falcons without a field goal for 18:31--nearly half the game--from midway through the first half until the 13:07 mark in the second half.
Anwar Johnson paced Air Force with eight points, while Andrew Henke, Evan Washington and Grant Parker each had six.
Air Force Post-Game Notes
-- Air Force is 0-3 in conference play for the first time since the 2002-03 season
-- Air Force's six assists tied the lowest in one game this season (Portland)
-- Utah's 44 rebounds were the most by and Air Force opponent this season
-- Air Force 23.8 percent shooting from the field is the lowest in one game since shooting 21.6 percent at BYU on Feb. 3, 2003
-- Jon Atkins grabbed a career-high four rebounds
Post-Game Quotes
Utah Head Coach Jim Boylen:
"I thought that (Air Force) had some open looks at the five-spot. They tried to exploit Luke (Nevill), but they missed some good looks. I thought that we blocked the ball, I thought we defended the ball, I thought we communicated."
"We made it a war in that first half, you know, with the foul trouble. (Jordan) Cyphers gets three and (Shaun) Green is sitting there with two and Drca is sitting there with two, but we still had the lead. I was proud of my team on that. I thought our depth showed tonight ... in the first half, to build a lead without some main guys out there. I thought Jordan was terrific ... I thought it was a step forward for him.
"(Air Force) is a hard team to guard. This is such a hard place to play and I have great respect for Jeff (Reynolds) and what he does. But sometimes it's your night. Sometimes the ball goes in and sometimes it doesn't. I'm just thankful for the win."
Air Force Head Coach Jeff Reynolds:
"You just have some nights like that. I thought we had a lot of good opportunities but the shots just didn't fall. The guys keep shooting the basketball and they were open and sometimes they will fall. I didn't think that Utah played its best basketball either. Jim's got a nice team. They are very deep and have some nice size. I thought defensively in the first half we did some good things, but we just couldn't make shots."
"When you're not shooting the ball with any confidence that's the first thing and right now our guys don't have any confidence. It's hard to put a thumb on why exactly it is that they are not falling. It's a confidence thing and we just need to keep working."
