Late Rally Falls Just Short In 81-76 Game At Northern Colorado

GREELEY, Colo. - Air Force men's basketball dropped a 81-76 contest at Northern Colorado (7-5) Monday night at Bank of Colorado Arena. Freshman guard Kyle Marshall led the Falcons with 23 points on the night.

Air Force nearly erased a 17-point deficit with a second half that saw the team score 50 points.

Northern Colorado raced out to a 41-26 lead at the half. The Bears broke open a two-point game by going on a 12-2 run to lead 23-11 at the 9:52 mark. Northern Colorado out-rebounded the Falcons 21-9 in the opening half, with an 8-0 advantage on second chance points. The Bears led by as many as 17 at 36-19 with 3:17 to go in the first half.

Air Force quickly went to work on the UNC lead in the second half, opening with a 7-0 run to quickly cut the deficit to single digits. The Falcons continued to whittle away at the Bears lead by forcing nine second-half turnovers.

Air Force managed to get to within three points on three separate occasions under six minutes to play. A 5-0 run got the Falcons to within three points at 79-76 with 41 seconds to play after a dunk by Marshall off a steal.

But Quinn Denker stopped the Falcon rally with a jumper--his only bucket of the game--with 12 seconds left to put the Bears up five at 81-76.

Air Force nearly pulled off the upset despite shooting 5.6 percent from three (1 for 18). The Falcons shot 51 percent from the field overall and 73 percent on two-point attempts.

Marshall had a career-night for the Falcons, shooting 10-14 from the field. His previous career-high was 11 points. Marshall led a freshman group that combined for 38 points, with fellow freshmen Will Cooper and Sam Springer also notching career-high's for points. Springer scored eight points in 15 minutes and Cooper scored seven in 14 minutes.

Joining Marshall in double-figures scoring, were sophomore post players Wesley Celichowski and Caleb Walker. Celichowski scored 12 points and Walker added 10. Walker went 5-7 from the field and is now 15-18 from the field across his last three games. Celichowski got to the free throw line at will, going 6-9 from the line.

Langston Reynolds led Northern Colorado with 23 points. Zach Block added 15 points, including three big three's for the Bears late in the game.

Air Force returns to action Saturday, Dec. 21, opening Mountain West play at Boise State. Tip time is 1:30 pm MT and the game will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network.

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