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Air Force Falcons forward Luke Kearney (3) drives to the basket against Sacramento State on Nov. 17 at Clune Arena.
Sports Reporter
Air Force Falcons forward Luke Kearney (3) drives to the basket against Sacramento State on Nov. 17 at Clune Arena.
Consistency has been the buzzword this season for Air Force men’s basketball as well as the team’s biggest challenge with a young roster.
2024 was a rebuilding year for Air Force, which ended the 2023-2024 season with a 9-22 record and lost its top player to the transfer portal. The Falcons won just two conference games to finish last in the Mountain West Conference.
However, consistency breeds confidence, as coach Joe Scott said after their 63-54 loss to Long Island on Nov. 11, and consistency starts with experience.
Air Force is seeing improvement through 13 games this season and is looking to find consistency in those strengths.
“I’ve seen a team I’m starting to recognize,” Scott said after a home win over Mercyhurst on Nov. 24. “I can see there is belief. I’m starting to see what we are doing in practice, signs of a team coming together. We are feeding that ball like rockets, and they are enjoying playing together. When the ball starts to have energy, players have energy.”
The Falcons had a 3-10 record through the year’s end after going 3-8 in non-conference play. They lost their conference opener 77-59 to Boise State on Dec. 21, then fell 77-58 to UNLV on Dec. 31 in their first home game in 34 days.
Despite their record, Scott said his players have done a good job at “sticking with it” and is optimistic about the remaining 18 games. Nine of those games will be at home. The Falcons get rematches with UNLV and Boise State later in the season and face each of their upcoming Mountain West opponents twice.
“We just have to figure out ways to be more consistent and be tougher,” Scott said. “I see us being tougher than we have been. I like what I see so far.”
The 17 underclassmen on the team are getting experience as conference play begins. At Boise State on Dec. 21, four freshmen saw the court: Kyle Marshall, Sam Springer, Will Cooper, and A.J Patterson. Marshall put in 35 minutes and 13 points in the conference opener. The same four, with the addition of Yoda Oke, played against UNLV.
Marshall, who had a breakout game against Northern Colorado on Dec. 16 when he led the Falcons with 23 points, has made the biggest impact. Although the Bears won 81-76, Marshall helped Air Force overcome a 41-26 halftime deficit, adding 18 of his 23 points in the second half.
Marshall earned Mountain West Freshman of the Week honors for the week of Dec. 23 after averaging 18 points per game and shooting 71.4% from the field against Northern Colorado and Boise State. Marshall was the second-highest Falcons scorer against UNLV with 11 points.
However, veterans still see ample playing time. Ethan Taylor plays 36½ minutes per game, good for sixth in the nation. Taylor averages 14.8 points, six rebounds, and 4.2 assists while starting every game so far. He also scored his 1,000th career point in the Falcons’ win over Mercyhurst.
Air Force had two players enter the transfer portal at the end of last season, including sophomore forward Rytis Petraitis, who led Air Force in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks in the 2023-24 season. He was also the second player in program history, after Taylor in 2022, to record a triple-double. Petraitis did it in the Falcons’ road win over UNLV last January.
Pretraitis committed to California in April. The other transfer, Kellan Boylan, now plays for Lipscomb University.
Air Force retained plenty of experience, starting with five seniors who are in their fifth season together, including one in the prep school: Taylor, Jeffrey Mills, Byron Brown, Beau Becker and Chase Beasley.
Despite its slow start this season, Air Force started to see improvement, particularly in pace of play, in a 69-61 win over Stony Brook on Dec. 7. The win over the Seawolves snapped a three-game losing streak.
In that contest, Air Force (3-7) shot 57.1% (24 of 42) from the field, helping it overcome 22 turnovers, while holding Stony Brook to just 37.3% (22 of 59). Wes Celichowski had a career-high 22 points, including 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, while Taylor added 17 points.
Air Force played seven of its first eight games at home then went 34 days, from Nov. 27 to Dec. 31, with no home games and five road games.
“The way it fell out is the way it fell out in terms of being at home and being on the road for a long time,” Scott said. “I did want to go on the road, play a harder non-conference schedule so that we have that tough experience being in those environments before league play starts. We don’t have one game in league play that isn’t a major battle.”
Taylor said being on the road while juggling school work can be difficult sometimes, but he mostly enjoys it because it’s a chance to get outside of the Academy and see new places. The co-captain thinks his team has handled it well.
Improvement doesn’t happen overnight, but the team is optimistic moving forward. For the seniors, it’s all about enjoying every moment with their teammates.
“Basketball is too fun not to love it,” Taylor said. “You have to have fun sometimes and basketball is a built-in fun time. I look forward to every game.
“The results are the results but you can’t bog your head on that. Just keep your head up and continue playing the game. Just do what you got to do and the results will end in your favor and if they don’t, tip your hat to the other team.”
Sports Reporter
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