FORT COLLINS — No one saw this coming. At least not those on the Air Force side of things.
Colorado State was arguably playing its best basketball of the season against an opponent it had dominated in recent years.
But the Falcons paid no attention to those trends. Instead they knocked down a dozen 3-pointers and erased an eight-point second-half deficit to stun the Rams on their home floor, 76-71, Wednesday night at Moby Arena to snap a 12-game losing streak in the series.
Air Force’s Trevor Lyons scored a game-high 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting to lead the Falcons (8-10, 2-4 Mountain West) to their first win at Moby since 2008. Reserves Lavelle Scottie (14 points) and Jacob Van (15) also came up big for the Falcons as they outscored the Rams 37-20 in bench points.
“The game unfolded the way I thought it would. We had a chance to close the door when we were up eight, and … give them credit. They hit three straight 3s, didn’t they?” CSU coach Larry Eustachy said. “Give them credit. They had some spectacular plays to beat us.”
CSU (10-10, 3-4) was unable to follow up road wins last week at Utah State and Wyoming, and surprisingly has now lost three straight home games. The Rams were in control for much of the night and led for more than 29 minutes of the contest compared to the Falcons’ 4:48. But down the stretch they were outscored 11-4 with Van going 4 of 4 at the free-throw line in the final 25 seconds to ice it for the Falcons.
Nico Carvacho had his third double-double in the past four games with 12 points and 13 rebounds to go with two assists. Prentiss Nixon scored in double figures for the 19th straight game in leading CSU with 18 points along with a season-high seven assists. J.D. Paige chipped in 10 points and four assists for the Rams, who shot just 33.3 percent while getting beat 45-38 in the second half.
Nixon answered a jumper by Lyons in the final minute to make it a one-point game, but on the Rams’ next possession he suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury after missing a 3 that would’ve tied the game. Nixon, who was already dealing with a sprained right knee, suffered the injury to his left leg and remained down on the floor for several minutes before needing help off the court.
“It’s swollen really bad. He was in there with crutches after the game, crying,” Eustachy said, adding that he expects Nixon to miss Saturday’s game against UNLV. “I don’t think it’s broken. (He came down) probably on the other player’s foot is usually what happens. … He’s beat-up as it is. He plays hurt. He’s everything you could ask for.”
This was supposed to be a celebration of Eustachy, who was aiming to pass Stew Morrill for second on the program’s all-time wins list. Instead it became perhaps CSU’s most perplexing loss of the season after the Rams had appeared to turn the corner recently.
“It’s very disappointing. Playing Utah State and (Wyoming) and winning those game out on the road, it was good for us. But coming home, we can’t lose those type of games,” said CSU forward Deion James, who had 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. “We’ve got to know what the plan is the whole time. I think we let up a little bit, and they got loose. We didn’t play how we were playing in the first half, and they got some shots and starting getting some momentum.”
The Falcons didn’t shoot a great percentage for the game from behind the arc, finishing 12 of 39 after starting just 1 of 16, but they were good enough in the second half (6 of 17) as they erased the eight-point deficit. Van made three straight triples at one point, as Eustachy alluded to, the final of which gave AFA its first lead of the second half with 2:54 to play.
Air Force took the lead for good on a 3 by Scottie with 1:45 to go, regaining the advantage after a three-point play by CSU guard Anthony Bonner.
“We were supposed to limit (Air Force’s 3-point shooting) the whole game,” Eustachy said. “We were just a little late on all the catches.”
The Rams, likely without their leading scorer, will host UNLV on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Sean Star: sstar@reporter-herald.com or twitter.com/seanvstar
