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No. 24 Falcons Rip Norfolk State, 70-47
Burtschi and Nwaelele lead Air Force with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Dec. 13, 2006
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) - This time, Air Force should stick around a while. The 24th-ranked Falcons celebrated their return to the rankings by routing Norfolk State 70-47 Wednesday night behind 14 points from Jacob Burtschi and 12 from Dan Nwaelele. The Falcons (11-1) moved into The AP Top 25 Monday. The only other time Air Force made the rankings was in the poll of March 9, 2004. They were gone the next week after losing to Colorado State in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament. The Falcons, who have won seven straight since losing to Duke in the CBE Classic semifinals, don't play again until Dec. 23 at Northern Colorado following finals. Falcons guard Matt McCraw returned from a sprained ankle that kept him out two games and showed very little rust or nerves, hitting three 3-pointers and an athletic one-handed putback among his 11 points. Andrew Henke also scored 11 points for Air Force, which extended its home winning streak to 23, third-best in the nation. Seven Falcons made at least one 3-pointer and Air Force was 15-of-29 from long range, led by Nwaelele's 4-for-6. Tony Murphy led Norfolk State (1-5) with 15 points. Although the Spartans weren't much of a challenge, they did more of a fight than the Falcons' last opponent, Colorado College, which went 10 1/2 minutes before scoring and had just six first-half points, an NCAA record for lowest output in any half since the shot clock was introduced 21 years ago. Air Force, which starts four seniors and a junior, and has five players averaging between 11 and 14.5 points per game, was at full strength for the first time in a week with the returns of McCraw and John Frye (viral pneumonia). Frye scored three points.
The Falcons jumped out to a 35-19 halftime lead on the strength of seven 3-pointers. The Spartans were just 7-of-19 overall and made one 3-pointer, Murphy's in the opening seconds, a basket that was followed by nine straight misses by the Spartans, just the kind of thing coach Jeff Bzdelik has been aiming for since Texas Pan American and IPFW shot close to 50 percent against Air Force earlier this month. The Spartans were 15-for-41 (36 percent) overall. Air Force center Nick Welsh caught an elbow to the nose in the opening minutes of the second half and didn't return. He finished with eight points. |
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