Air Force Hot Shot Too Much to Handle for San Diego State

When a shooter is on, he feels infallible. It’s more than every shot has a chance to go in; it’s that every shot will go in.

Nothing is sweeter than a hot shooter, and nothing is crueler than when that feeling betrays him.

Raymond Dudley and Tony Ross, two of the best shooters in the Western Athletic Conference, know those extremes well. Thursday, one experienced the best and one lived through the worst of those nights.

Dudley couldn’t miss, scoring a season-high 23 points to lead Air Force to a 60-57 victory over San Diego State in front of 569 at the Cadet Field House.

“I was saying, ‘Fellas, give me the ball,’ ” Dudley said.

Ross was the betrayed; his tying three-point attempt bounded off the rim with 16 seconds left, leaving him with only 9 points on 3-of-12 shooting.

“It was on line; it was just a little short,” said Ross, who had missed 5 of his previous 6 three-point attempts in the game. “That’s the way things go. I thought there would be a little magic tonight.”

Ross based his optimism on an Aztec comeback that brought them from 14 points behind with 13:29 to play to within 58-55 in the final 34 seconds.

Rodney Hawkins was the catalyst, getting 12 of his team-high 16 points and 12 of his career-high 16 rebounds in the second half.

“I’ve never seen a guy stay after it for 40 minutes (actually 34) like Rodney Hawkins did,” said Jim Brandenburg, SDSU coach. “He personally kept us in the game in the first half. In the second half, he came back and kept after us. Pretty soon, we start clicking on all five cylinders.”

But in the end, Ross’ shot did not fall, and Caldin Rogers missed two free throws with 13 seconds to play that could have brought the Aztecs to within a point. Dudley clinched the game by converting a one-and-one with 11 seconds left to give the Falcons a 60-55 lead.

That left SDSU (7-9, 1-4 in the WAC) with its fourth loss in its past five games and its 17th consecutive road defeat over three seasons. Not an encouraging way to start a stretch of six of seven games on the road, continuing tonight at Colorado State.

Air Force is 7-8 and 1-4.

“We came out a step slow again,” Brandenburg said as his way of explaining for Dudley’s fast start. “Dudley had a good game. But you’ve got to defend him. You know he can shoot it.”

The game was a breakthrough for Dudley, a 6-foot sophomore guard who has been slowed since he missed the first two games of the month with a sprained left ankle.

“That was the first time I’ve seen him dunk since he was hurt,” said Reggie Minton, Air Force coach. “It’s nice to see him back.”

Ross started on him. Bryan Williams gave it a try, and so did Ty Walker. Brandenburg did his best to find someone who could stop him.

The defensive attention finally caught up late in the game as Dudley missed his last four shots. But by then, the damage had been done.

Dudley almost single-handedly wrecked the Aztecs in the first half. He scored 16 points and was perfect on four three-point attempts. Every time SDSU appeared ready to take control, Dudley quieted the rally.

He broke an early 6-6 tie with consecutive 20-foot jump shots. He made a 13-foot jumper and scored on a dunk to put the Cadets ahead, 20-10, after the Aztecs had drawn to within six points. And after Ross scored on a layup to make cut it to 27-26 with 2:37 left in the half, Dudley made a 20-footer from the top of key. The Falcons went on to take a 34-26 halftime lead.

Poor shooting plagued the Aztecs for the second game in a row. They made only 25 of 64 attempts (39.1%) and were 5 of 12 (41.7%) at the free-throw line.

Junior center Mitch McMullen, who had 39 points and 17 rebounds in his past two games, played what he called his “worst game of the season.”

He scored 6 points and had 4 rebounds, but he played only 20 minutes, spending the other half of the game on the bench with Brandenburg. McMullen appeared tired and moved lethargically.