It's been a long wait for AFA seniors

Joel Gerlach and A.J. Kuhle, the two seniors on the Air Force Academy's basketball team, know too well what it's like to play hard, come close and still lose. The Falcons did that with regularity during their first three years at the Academy.

So it's been sweet to them that the ball has been figuratively bouncing their way this season.

The ball literally bounced Air Force's way in the final seconds on Saturday in the Huntsman Center. With Utah looking like it could do no worse than overtime, the rebound of Tim Drisdom's missed shot in the final seconds was tipped all the way to midcourt where a streaking Gerlach caught up to it in stride. He would have had a layup or dunk at the buzzer — if he hadn't gotten fouled.

"The ball bounced off the backboard, hit a hand and just took off bouncing down the court," said Gerlach. "When I saw that, I was out of the gates going after it."

His two free throws with 1.4 seconds left game gave the Falcons a 59-57 win over the Utes.

"Good fortune just shined on us by the ball just bouncing out to where our guy was," said Air Force coach Joe Scott.

Gerlach and Kuhle's teams were a combined 0-21 on the road in the Mountain West Conference before this year. Few of those 21 straight road losses were blowouts. The Falcons usually stayed close, only to lose in the end.

But this year has been different.

"Each year we got better and closer," said Gerlach. "This year it's just happening for us."

It is indeed. With four games remaining, the Falcons are 2 1/2 games ahead of Utah and the MWC field. Regardless of what happens Monday night in the Marriott Center against BYU, Air Force will win the MWC title outright if it can take care of business at home.

"Utah has a great team," said Kuhle, who finished with 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting from 3-point range. "It's a great feeling to knock off a great team on their home court."

Air Force trailed by eight at the half when Kuhle got them off to a fast start out of the locker room. He nailed three straight 3-pointers in the opening three minutes of the second half to pull the Falcons to within three. it was tight the rest of the way.

Gerlach, meanwhile, finished the game with a team-high 15 points — none as big as the free throws at the end. He has struggled at the line at times this season, making just 65 percent.

"I just didn't want to let my team down," he said.