Air Force Drops Overtime Heartbreaker At (RV/RV) Colorado State

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Air Force men's basketball (7-9, 0-3 MW) fell in overtime to (RV/RV) Colorado State (14-3, 2-2 MW), 78-69, in Mountain West play Tuesday night at Moby Arena.

Air Force was unable to hold a double-digit lead as the Rams rallied back. The Falcons allowed CSU to tie the game with six seconds left as the Rams forced a turnover at half court and Nique Clifford finished with the game-tying bucket. Air Force missed the shot on its attempt to re-take the lead, forcing overtime.

In overtime, the Rams out-scored the Falcons 14-5 to pull out the overtime win. It was the second-consecutive overtime game at Moby between Air Force and CSU, with the Falcons having won last year's contest.

Sophomore Rytis Petraitis tied a career-high with 22 points to lead the Falcons. The forward went 9 of 10 from the free throw line, adding seven rebounds and five assists.

Juniors Beau Becker and Ethan Taylor both scored 18 points. Becker made four three's on the night, to go with seven rebounds. Taylor made five three's and tied a season-high with eight rebounds.

Air Force opened the game playing one of its strongest first-half's of the season. The Falcons led for most of the first half and by double digits for a significant portion. An 11-2 run put Air Force up by 12 at 27-15 at the 6:18 mark in the first half.

The Falcons went cold with no points the rest of the half. That allowed Colorado State to go on a 9-0 run to close the cap to three at 27-24 Air Force at the break.

Air Force held the lead for most of the second half, trading buckets with CSU. The Rams took a brief one-point lead at the 6:49 mark, before the Falcons quickly re-took the lead. Air Force was unable to maintain the lead as the Rams went on to tie the game and force overtime.

Clifford led Colorado State with 17 points. Joel Scott scored 13 and Isaiah Stevens added 12 points. Joe Palmer scored 11 points off the bench.

Air Force shot 41 percent from the field on the night and 45 percent from three. The Falcons shot 77 percent from the line.

Air Force returns to action Saturday, Jan. 20, hosting New Mexico. The game tips at 2 pm MT.

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