Air Force center John Frye, left, and Brigham Young's Lee Cummard tangle underneath the basket during the first half.

Men's Basketball Home   HEADLINES New Mexico's Tony Danridge Drafted by Harlem Globetrotters Former New Mexico Standout Danny Granger Named NBA's Most Improved Player BYU's Lee Cummard and Utah's Luke Nevill To Play in NABC Hershey's College All-Star Game; UNM's Tony Danridge to Compete in Slam Dunk Contest RELATED LINKS • Follow all of the college basketball action at CollegeSports.com • Email this to a friend

Air Force Downs BYU, 75-59

Hood's 22 leads Falcons to 11th straight win.

Jan. 5, 2006

Stats

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) - Antoine Hood scored 22 points and Dan Nwaelele got 20 in leading Air Force to its 11th straight win, 75-59 over Brigham Young in their Mountain West Conference opener Thursday night.

Jacob Burtschi added 14 points and set the tone for the blowout by sinking his first five shots, two of them from three-point range, as the Falcons jumped out to an early lead and were never really threatened.

Under first-year coach Jeff Bzdelik, Air Force (13-1) is off to its best start in school history and won for the 34th time in its last 35 games at Clune Arena. Brigham Young, also led by a new coach in Dave Rose, fell to 8-4.

BYU got 16 points and 11 rebounds from Keena Young and 13 points from Brock Reichner.

The Cougars averaged nearly 79 points in their non-conference schedule but ran into trouble against Air Force, which has the stingiest defense in the country, allowing an average of 52.3 points.

The Falcons led 42-23 at halftime and it was only that close because the Cougars scored the last seven points, including a 3-pointer by Young and a buzzer-beater by Rashaun Broadus.

Led by Burtschi, the Falcons raced out to a 32-11 lead by sinking 12 of their first 18 shots and going 7-for-11 from beyond the arc. Air Force inevitably cooled off, but BYU couldn't capitalize because the Cougars' own shooting didn't get any better. They shot just 36 percent from the field to Air Force's 56 percent and were also whistled four times for traveling and once for palming in the first 20 minutes.

The halftime buzzer didn't thwart BYU's momentum as the Cougars opened the second half with an 8-2 run with Burtschi and Nwaelele both on the Falcons' bench with three fouls, pulling to 44-31.

Tim Anderson's 3-pointer ended the drought for Air Force, and a Hood breakaway made it 49-31. Hood's 3-pointer with eight minutes left gave the Falcons a 60-41 lead.

BYU had one run left, pulling to 61-53 on Mike Rose's 3-pointer with 5:54 remaining. Hood, however, sank two free throws and fed Burtschi for an easy bucket and Nwaelele's 3-pointer made it 70-53.

Air Force trails in the series 42-12 but has won four of the last five meetings. The Falcons, who won their conference home opener for just the fifth time in 26 tries, are two wins shy of their longest winning streak, which came in 2003-04.