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Falcons falter in 2nd half against CSU

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — Learning to win on the road is a tough task for any team, but Colorado State did just that against Air Force Tuesday night.

Andy Ogide scored 12 points and Colorado State made three free throws in the closing minutes as the Rams topped Air Force 51-47.

Evan Washington’s game-tying 3-point attempt for Air Force (9-14, 1-9 Mountain West) with five seconds remaining came up short and Colorado State (15-9, 6-4) hit three free throws in the game’s final 2:10.

Grant Parker scored a game-high 13 points for the Falcons.

Colorado State won for the fourth time in its last five games, while Air Force has dropped nine of its last 10.

Air Force cut Colorado State’s lead to one point on two separate occasions, each time on two free throws by Taylor Broekhuis, but the Falcons never could get even. Broekhuis’ free throws at the 2:36 mark closed the gap to 48-47, but Dorian Green’s free throws gave the Rams a three-point advantage.

After trailing the Falcons 29-21 at the half, the Rams forced Air Force into 4-of-22 shooting in the second half. Colorado State took the lead at the 5:32 mark on a pair of Travis Franklin free throws and never looked back.

“We just found enough stops to win,” Colorado State coach Tim Miles said. “I credit the kids. They really came back, and we really won with defense. You knew it was going to be a tight one and a tough one. Tonight, we learned how to find a way to win, and I thought that was good.”

Colorado State improved to 65-30 against Air Force all-time and swept the season series. The Rams defeated the Falcons 70-48 in Fort Collins on Jan. 9.

“I thought we played hard, but in this league, playing hard is not good enough,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. “We had trouble scoring the whole second half. We can make it when we want, but we had open shots and didn’t hit them. We wanted to drive the ball there at the end because we had 29 seconds left, but we went a little brain dead.”

Freshman Greg Smith had 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench, and Green finished with 10 points.

“I made a few good plays, so I’m pretty excited about that,” Smith said. “I was just at the right place at the right time, and any time you’re around the rim, you really find some boards there.”

Washington had nine points to go along with his career high-tying eight rebounds in the loss. Parker scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half.

“We missed some shots, but we also didn’t attack them the way we needed to,” Parker said. “They just came out in the second half and put pressure on us, and I think we were back on our heels a little bit. We had a chance, but we didn’t execute at the end.”

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