Post by Hack on Nov 29, 2004 11:03:58 GMT -6
Game story from the Colorado Springs Gazette:
AFA: Lost in Milwaukee
By TODD JACOBSON - THE GAZETTE
MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin may be famous for beer, bratwurst and big hunks of cheese, but it hasn’t won any fans among Air Force men’s basketball players.
The Falcons finished their four-game tour of Milwaukee with a 50-45 loss to host Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Sunday in front of 4,120 at U.S. Cellular Arena.
The loss comes less than two weeks after Air Force lost to Marquette in the finals of the Black Coaches Association Classic.
Milwaukee’s best?
Well, it’s sure not for Air Force.
“Right now I am not going to lie: I don’t like the city of Milwaukee very much,” Falcons junior guard Antoine Hood said. “Every time we have come out here we have lost. If we could throw it up again and go right now I would, but it’s over now.”
Air Force is 4-2 on the season and 2-2 in Milwaukee — it won two early games in the BCA Classic — and might do better to just forget Sunday’s performance.
The Falcons corralled the free-wheeling Panthers’ highscoring offense and were able to slow the game to an academy-appropriate crawl, but the Falcons endured a dismal shooting night against a defense bent on making them shoot their way to a win.
Air Force shot a season-low 35.7 percent from the field and 28 percent from 3-point range — a figure that would’ve been worse if not for a pair of late 3-pointers by Matt Mc-Craw and Nick Welch.
Tim Keller, Air Force’s normally reliable senior guard, was 0-for-7 and was held scoreless for the first time in 78 games. The last time Keller was held without a point was against Tennessee Tech 11 games into his freshman year.
“We were getting wide-open shot after wide-open shot,” said Welch, who had 14 points. “It wasn’t really anything they were doing. We just couldn’t find the bottom of the basket.”
While Air Force struggled, Wisconsin-Milwaukee forward Joah Tucker did his best to imitate Falcon-slayer Travis Diener, the Marquette guard whose 34 points helped the Golden Eagles win earlier this month.
Tucker had a game-high 17 points, including six in the final four minutes, leading Hood (13 points) to call him “a bigger, blacker version of Travis Diener. He goes off on his own run and we lose by five.”
The Panthers extended a 24-19 halftime lead to 35-26 at the 11:36 mark of the second half, but Air Force used its own run to take its only lead.
The Falcons held the Panthers scoreless for 6:52 and responded with 10 straight points capped by a pair of free throws by Welch to give Air Force a 36-35 lead with 5:06 left.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee grabbed the lead back on a jumper by guard Ed McCants (14 points) with 4:44 remaining, went on a 11-1 run and never trailed again.
“That (10-0 run) needs to be good enough for us,” Air Force coach Chris Mooney said. “They made it difficult for us to score and the one thing we were able to get was open 3-point shots and we couldn’t connect on enough of them. That was our downfall.”
AFA: Lost in Milwaukee
By TODD JACOBSON - THE GAZETTE
MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin may be famous for beer, bratwurst and big hunks of cheese, but it hasn’t won any fans among Air Force men’s basketball players.
The Falcons finished their four-game tour of Milwaukee with a 50-45 loss to host Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Sunday in front of 4,120 at U.S. Cellular Arena.
The loss comes less than two weeks after Air Force lost to Marquette in the finals of the Black Coaches Association Classic.
Milwaukee’s best?
Well, it’s sure not for Air Force.
“Right now I am not going to lie: I don’t like the city of Milwaukee very much,” Falcons junior guard Antoine Hood said. “Every time we have come out here we have lost. If we could throw it up again and go right now I would, but it’s over now.”
Air Force is 4-2 on the season and 2-2 in Milwaukee — it won two early games in the BCA Classic — and might do better to just forget Sunday’s performance.
The Falcons corralled the free-wheeling Panthers’ highscoring offense and were able to slow the game to an academy-appropriate crawl, but the Falcons endured a dismal shooting night against a defense bent on making them shoot their way to a win.
Air Force shot a season-low 35.7 percent from the field and 28 percent from 3-point range — a figure that would’ve been worse if not for a pair of late 3-pointers by Matt Mc-Craw and Nick Welch.
Tim Keller, Air Force’s normally reliable senior guard, was 0-for-7 and was held scoreless for the first time in 78 games. The last time Keller was held without a point was against Tennessee Tech 11 games into his freshman year.
“We were getting wide-open shot after wide-open shot,” said Welch, who had 14 points. “It wasn’t really anything they were doing. We just couldn’t find the bottom of the basket.”
While Air Force struggled, Wisconsin-Milwaukee forward Joah Tucker did his best to imitate Falcon-slayer Travis Diener, the Marquette guard whose 34 points helped the Golden Eagles win earlier this month.
Tucker had a game-high 17 points, including six in the final four minutes, leading Hood (13 points) to call him “a bigger, blacker version of Travis Diener. He goes off on his own run and we lose by five.”
The Panthers extended a 24-19 halftime lead to 35-26 at the 11:36 mark of the second half, but Air Force used its own run to take its only lead.
The Falcons held the Panthers scoreless for 6:52 and responded with 10 straight points capped by a pair of free throws by Welch to give Air Force a 36-35 lead with 5:06 left.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee grabbed the lead back on a jumper by guard Ed McCants (14 points) with 4:44 remaining, went on a 11-1 run and never trailed again.
“That (10-0 run) needs to be good enough for us,” Air Force coach Chris Mooney said. “They made it difficult for us to score and the one thing we were able to get was open 3-point shots and we couldn’t connect on enough of them. That was our downfall.”
