Air Force Goes the Long Way, Jolts Aztecs

The first time Chris Lowry came down the court and chucked in a three-point shot for Air Force Thursday night, nobody paid much attention.

When he came down a second time 1 1/2 minutes later, set up to the left of the key and hit another three-pointer, San Diego State began to take notice.

By the time he had let fly and hit nothing but net for the third time in three minutes, the Aztecs already were playing catch-up.

And they were never able to complete the task. Air Force, the Western Athletic Conference’s last-place team, came to town Thursday and clipped the Aztecs, 65-59, in front of 2,455 in the San Diego Sports Arena.

Five of Air Force’s first six field goals--including Lowry’s three--were from three-point territory. The Falcons then settled down and made 19 of 25 free throw attempts in the second half. And that was that.

“We came out very flat, like we thought we could just show up and win a basketball game,” SDSU Coach Jim Brandenburg said. “We just didn’t guard anybody, and the one thing Air Force can do is shoot the basketball.”

The Aztecs (13-12, 4-7) dug a 16-point hole for themselves before making it respectable. Air Force (9-15, 2-9) got its biggest lead with 18:52 left when Raymond Dudley hit a three-pointer to make it 38-22. SDSU eventually cut the margin to four, 63-59, on Michael Hudson’s layup with 24 seconds to play. But after an SDSU timeout, guard Arthur Massey fouled Air Force’s Dale French, who made two free throws to wrap it up.

Although it was Lowry who jump-started Air Force early, Dudley had a game-high 23 points, increasing his career total to 2,017, seventh on the all-time WAC list. He leads the WAC in scoring this season (22 points a game) and has 1,143 points in 50 conference games. That’s the fourth most ever, ahead of former Brigham Young guard Danny Ainge (1,120).

“That’s a tremendous achievement in any institution,” Air Force Coach Reggie Minton said. “We’re very pleased for him. He’s had a multitude of injuries this year, but they haven’t kept him from finishing out in the style he hoped and we hoped he would.”

French finished with 18 points and Lowry 12.

“Dudley is a great player, but his 23 a game is not going to beat you,” Brandenburg said. “But Lowry’s 12 and Dale French’s 18 will beat you.

“Defensively, we were pathetic.”

And if the Aztecs don’t play defense these days, they’re not going to win many games. Center Marty Dow, who was averaging 12 points and six rebounds, is out for the season after undergoing surgery Tuesday for a partially torn tendon.

That leaves 6-8 Shawn Jamison as the Aztecs’ only real threat in the middle. He led the Aztecs with 20 points and 10 rebounds but he was badgered by Air Force’s man-to-man defense every time he got the ball.

“We’re not very big, and in a man-to-man defense the choices are to front you or play behind you,” Minton said. “We decided very early in this game we were going to play behind him and keep him off the boards.”

SDSU outrebounded Air Force, 33-24, and made more field goals, 24-19.

After going seven for 11 from three-point range in the first half, Air Force took just three shots from there--making one--in the second. But another flip-flopped statistic balanced things out: Air Force had no free throw attempts in the first half, then went 19 for 25.

“I was proud of our comeback in the second half,” Brandenburg said. “We outrebounded them, but that damn foul line . . . “

The Aztecs fell into a tie for seventh in the WAC with New Mexico, which upset BYU Thursday night.

SDSU trailed at halftime, 35-21, after its lowest one-half offensive output of the season.

The Falcons grabbed the lead despite making no layups--none from the paint, in fact--in the first half. Their 14-point lead was built as Dudley made six of 11 field goal attempts--including two of three three-pointers--for 14 points.

Air Force built a 15-point lead before going 5:12 without scoring during one stretch midway through the first half. But the Aztecs could get no closer than nine.

The Air Force dry spell came after French hit a 15-footer to give the Falcons a 23-8 lead with 10:48 left in the half.