Air Force Unable To Overtake #22 Wyoming In 75-67 Setback

LARAMIE, Wyo. - Air Force men's basketball (10-15, 3-11 MW) fell to Wyoming (22-4, 11-2 MW), 75-67, in Mountain West action Saturday afternoon at the Arena Auditorium. Freshman center Lucas Moerman had a breakout game for the Falcons with a career-high 15 points.

In a physical game that featured 39 fouls, the duo of Hunter Maldonado and Graham Ike of Wyoming was too much for the Falcons. Maldonado scored 29 points to go with eight assists. Ike notched a double-double with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Ike was a perfect 11 of 11 from the field.

In the first half, Wyoming built up to a 13 point lead, getting up 28-15 with 8:05 to play. The Cowboys were hot on offense, shooting 70 percent from the field at that point.

The Falcons stepped it up on the defense the rest of the half, clawing their way back with a 13-2 run to make it a four point game at 30-26 at the half. Air Force held Wyoming to one basket over the final eight minutes of the half.

In the second half, the game remained just as physical, with 29 fouls called and 29 free throws attempted. The Falcons stayed within five points of the Cowboys for most the second half. But Wyoming got the game to double-digits with under three minutes to play to pull away.

Moerman went 6 of 7 from the field and 3 of 4 from three. He tied for the team lead with six rebounds and also had two blocked shots.

Senior guard AJ Walker scored 14 points. Walker moved into a tie for seventh place all-time in scoring at Air Force with 1,385 points.

Freshman guard Ethan Taylor scored nine points and sophomore guard Joseph Octave added eight. Taylor also had team-high's of six rebounds and five assists. Junior forward Nikc Jackson scored seven points to lead the Falcon reserves.

Air Force returns to action Tuesday, Feb. 22 at home hosting Fresno State. The game tips at 7 pm MT and will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network.

Footer

The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the u.s air force of non-u.s. government sites or the information, products, or services contained therein. Although the u.s. air force may or may not use these sites as additional distribution channels for department of defense information, it does not exercise editorial control over all of the information that you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this website.