Nov. 18, 2001

Box Score

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - Tom Bellairs led all players with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and the Air Force Academy held off a furious Denver rally as the Falcons posted a 52-44 win at Clune Arena Sunday afternoon.

The Pioneers (1-1) were led offensively by junior B.J. Pratt (San Antonio, Texas / Converse Judson HS), who had nine points. Joel Gerlach added 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting for the Falcons (2-1).

Air Force came out of the gates on fire, hitting eight of their first 10 shots, including four 3-pointers and several back-door layups, in the first 10 minutes. The Pioneers struggled from the floor, meanwhile, and were down 20-11 with 9:29 to play in the first. Joel Gerlach hit his first three field-goal tries in that span, and A.J. Kuhle hit another three with 9:01 to go to make the lead 23-11. The Falcons also controlled the boards early on, outrebounding the Pioneers 10-6 in the first 13 minutes.

Denver's shooting woes continued through the half, finishing the stanza hitting just six of their 22 attempts (27.3 percent) of their attempts. Air Force, meanwhile, made 62.5 percent (15-of-24), including 8-of-15 from beyond the stripe, to take a 38-15 lead into the locker room. Eight first-half turnovers also hampered Denver's efforts to cut the Falcon lead.

The Pioneers opened the second half with a small 7-2 run to trim the lead to 18 (40-22) with 15:54 to play, yet Air Force held that margin through the next four minutes. The game's turning point came when freshman Erik Benzel (Spokane, Wash. / Ferris HS) forced a 5-second count on Lamoni Yazzie with 10 minutes to play, and Bellairs was sent to the bench after drawing his fourth foul with 8:45 left. Denver had chopped nine points off of the halftime deficit at that point, and then forced a turnover coming out of the 8-minute media timeout. Denver held the Falcons scoreless for over seven minutes and held them to just three points in an over 10-minute span, and got within nine with 5:37 to play.

A putback by freshman Taylor Lay (Oklahoma City, Okla. / Southeast HS) with 4:02 to go cut the lead to eight, and Benzel cut the lead to five at 47-42 with 3:05 left. Denver then pulled within three when senior Sherman Rochell (Oklahoma City, Okla. / Northern Oklahoma College) got a steal, was fouled, and hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 1:50 left. Yet Gerlach ended the Pioneer hopes by converting Air Force's only successful back-door cut of the second half to push the lead to 49-44 with 1:28 to play.

"Just like the first game, we didn't start the game with the intensity we needed, and we gave Air Force a lot of extra possessions," said head coach Terry Carroll. "We really stepped up the intensity in the second half with the full-court press, but that takes a lot of energy out of you, and it cost us in the end."

The Pioneers are off for the next eight days before resuming play next Monday, Nov. 26, with a 7 p.m. tipoff against Front Range rival Wyoming. The game will be televised live on FOX Sports Net Rocky Mountain.