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Air Force Tops Saint Mary's Matt McCraw scores 15 points in the win.
Dec. 13, 2005
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) -- Matt McCraw scored 15 points and Jacob Burtschi and Antoine Hood added 14 each as Air Force won its seventh straight by beating slumping St. Mary's 63-51 Tuesday night. Dan Nwaelele also had 12 points for Air Force (9-1), which trailed 25-23 at the break, held St. Mary's without a field goal for nearly eight minutes in the second half. Daniel Kickert paced St. Mary's (1-4) with 11 points. Reda Rhalimi had 10 points, all in the first half. The Gaels turned the ball over 23 times in losing for the fourth consecutive time. Kickert put St. Mary's ahead 32-30 with a jumper and free throw with 14:51 left in the second half, but the Gaels didn't have another field goal until Brett Collins' layup with 6:57 left. By then Air Force had built a 52-38 lead as the Falcons shot 60 percent from the field in the half. Burtschi provided a 3-pointer, a layup, and two assists in the 22-6 run. St. Mary's managed only one field goal over the final fix minutes. With six lead changes and three ties the teams played nearly dead even for a half. St. Mary's shot 52 percent for the first 20 minutes, but had 13 turnovers. Nwaelele, 3-for-4 shooting, hit two free throws with 2:48 left in the half to tie it at 23-23, before Rhalimi's dunk with under a minute left broke it and sent St. Mary's into the break with a lead.
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