Air Force Rallies To Gritty Road Win At Fresno State, 51-48

FRESNO, Calif. – Air Force men's basketball (11-7, 2-3 MW) rallied from a double-digit deficit to take down Fresno State (6-11, 2-4 MW), 51-48, in a Mountain West game Saturday night at Save Mart Center. The Falcons won its second-straight conference road game for the first time since 2018 and its 11 wins already matches its win total from last season.

Air Force struggled early against Fresno State's zone defense, finding itself down 20-8 with 5:26 to play. The Falcons began to figure out Fresno State's zone and finished the first half on a 12-6 run to cut the lead to six at 26-20 at the half.

Air Force was held to 26 percent shooting from the field in the opening half. The Bulldogs built its lead by out-scoring the Falcons 24-2 in points in the paint as forward Eduardo Andre had 10 points and 11 rebounds in the first half.

In the second half, the Falcons slowly chipped away at the Bulldogs lead. The Falcons utilized an 8-0 run to take the lead at the 11:04 mark, capped by the go-ahead bucket on a three by Ethan Taylor that made it 37-34.

Fresno State then went back up and led by five points with eight minutes to play. Air Force followed by taking control of the game with an 11-0 run to jump ahead 48-42 with 4:01 to play. The Falcons were able to hold Fresno State off the rest of the way for its first win at Save Mart Center since 2019. It was also the first time since 2014 than Air Force held a conference opponent below 50 points on the road.

Sophomore guard Ethan Taylor, who missed the last game at Colorado State due to injury, led Air Force with 15 points and five assists. Taylor hit a career-high five three's.

Freshman Marcell McCreary added 13 points, six rebounds and two steals. McCreary hit a pair of three's and was a perfect 5 for 5 from the free throw line. Senior Camden Vander Zwaag was the top scorer off the bench with nine points on 3 of 5 shooting.

The Falcons won despite shooting just 31.5 percent from the field and leading scorer Jake Heidbreder being held scoreless. Heidbreder did add season-high's of seven rebounds and four assists. Freshman forward Rytis Petraitis had a team-high eight rebounds, including five offensive boards.

Andre led Fresno State with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Guard Donovap Yap added 14 points and guard Jordan Campbell 10. Air Force held the Bulldogs to 38 percent shooting and 13 percent from three.

Air Force returns to action Tuesday, Jan. 17, hosting Wyoming. Tip time is 7 pm MT and the game will be broadcast by Altitude2 and streamed 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.