Air Force flies past Utes

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Utah basketball team discovered what a dozen other teams have found out this year: This is not your father's Air Force team.

This Falcon team knows how to win ball games, which is what they did Monday night with a convincing 62-49 victory over the Utes before a near-sellout crowd of 5,788 at Clune Arena.

The win was the 12th straight for Air Force, which improved to 14-2 overall and 4-0 in the Mountain West Conference. The Utes dropped to 3-2 in MWC play and 15-5 heading into this weekend's game with BYU.

"We're playing very well right now, but tonight we made a statement," said Air Force coach Joe Scott. "I have so much respect for the Utah program and I've used them as an example to my guys. Tonight we were able to play just like Utah has."

A.J. Kuhle led all scorers with a season-high 17 points, while Tim Keller added 16 and Nick Welch 13. Utah only had two players in double figures as Tim Frost scored 13 and Nick Jacobson 10, but only one 3-pointer in the final minute, in the second half.

Both teams shot well — Air Force shooting 55.3 percent from the field and Utah 51.4 —but the big difference were turnovers. The Falcons had only nine, while Utah committed 20 with 11 coming off Falcons steals.

"Twenty turnovers is a lot, but I take my hat off to Air Force," said Utah coach Rick Majerus. "Air Force beat us with toughness and they mismatched our drives. They have five guys who can shoot and they're very cohesive and play together."

Every year, the Falcons give the Utes all they can handle, but this year's team has obviously learned how to win. They beat BYU by 22 on Saturday night and have defeated their last seven opponents by an average of 23 points.

The stream of cars heading to Cadet Fieldhouse and the enthusiastic crowd showed that this was not going to be your typical Air Force basketball game. The Utes have probably never played in front of more than about 2,000 here in the past.

After a fast start by Air Force, the Utes hung in there and took the lead at 40-38 on a 3-pointer by Richard Chaney with 10:02 left. In past years, the Falcons would have probably faded at this point, but this time they fought back.

Keller hit a layup after a pair of free throws and Kuhle posted up and made a layup to make it 44-40. After Tim Drisdom hit a couple of free throws, Kuhle made perhaps the key play of the game after he and Keller both missed shots.

The ball went through the hands of a couple of Utes on the rebound, but Kuhle was there to grab it, put it up and get fouled as the ball went through the net.