Air Force Academy
San Diego State
Falcons Fall To Aztecs 61-42 On Senior Night
3/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 6, 2010
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AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) -Being on the "bubble" is a tough thing for any team, but San Diego State perhaps took one step closer to an NCAA Tournament berth Saturday night.
Malcolm Thomas and Kawhi Leonard each had 18 points as Aztecs (22-8, 11-5 Mountain West) won for the sixth time in their last seven games with a 61-42 victory over Air Force. Despite its second consecutive season with 11 conference wins, San Diego State coach Steve Fisher isn't sure his Aztecs have sealed their fate just yet.
"We better win a few more," Fisher said. "We've got a good team, but there are a lot of good teams out there. We're hopeful that we'll go to Vegas, win three games and take all the doubt out of it. This is a really good league with, in my opinion, four NCAA-deserving teams. I told our players, just win the next one and eventually, you will wake up and you're in."
Air Force cut the lead to nine on two separate occasions midway through the second half, but the Aztecs used a 9-0 run to pull away. San Diego State shot 57.9 percent from the field -- including 65 percent in the second half -- in the win.
The Aztecs beat the Falcons (9-20, 1-15) for the fifth consecutive time. Air Force had a season-low points total against the Aztecs and ended the regular season on a nine-game skid and has lost 15 of its last 16.
"We weren't able to get over the hump," Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. "I thought the kids played really hard and the effort of the kids coming off the bench was really good. It was really difficult for our players to change gears tonight, but you've got to give credit to San Diego State because they forced us to do that."
Senior Mike McLain led the Falcons with 10 points, Tom Fow had nine and Derek Brooks added eight on Senior Night at Clune Arena. Air Force's leading scorer, senior Grant Parker, was held to four points on 2-of-10 shooting in his final home game.
"They're a very good team, and we had some good looks that just didn't go down," McLain said. "I thought we had a great game plan, but we just didn't execute it as well as we would have liked. You learn a lot from adversity, and it's taught me a lot as a person. It's been a great four years."
San Diego State will be the No. 4 seed in the Mountain West Conference Championships at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas and will play Colorado State in the first round on March 11. The Aztecs won both regular-season matchups against the Rams.
Air Force, the No. 9 seed, will play No. 8 seed Wyoming on March 10 in the first round. The teams split their two regular-season games, with both teams winning at home.
San Diego State swarmed Air Force in the first half, holding them to 25-percent shooting and a season-low 14 points. The Aztecs led 27-14 at the break.
San Diego State will be the No. 4 seed in the Mountain West Conference tournament and will play Colorado State in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Air Force, the No. 9 seed, will play Wyoming on Wednesday in the first round.
