Air Force suffering drought

Steve Carp

Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999 | 11:42 a.m.

Rebels at Air Force

When: Saturday, 6:35 p.m.

Where: Clune Arena

TV: KFBT, Channel 6

Radio: KXNT, 840-AM

Things were going so well for Reggie Minton and his Air Force basketball team. They were scoring lots of points and winning games. It was thumbs up at the Academy.

But since the WAC schedule kicked off, the Falcons have crashed and burned. They're birds without wings. A B-17 trying to keep up with an F-16.

Air Force is bringing up the rear in the Mountain Division and its 1-6 first half can be attributed to one important factor -- the Falcons have stopped scoring.

Consider the Zoomies were averaging 80.4 points a game prior to the start of conference play and were 7-4. Then came the WAC season and the numbers dropped like the temperature in Minnesota on Christmas Eve. Air Force averaged just 69.6 points during the first half of its final WAC campaign.

Why the drop-off? Did the Falcons suddenly forget how to shoot? Or was the rise in class from the likes of Doane and Regis to UNLV and TCU too great for Minton's team to handle?

"The people we're playing against has something to do with it," he said. "But we've missed some shots and some opportunities and to be successful, you've got to make shots.

"Our other problem is we struggle to get easy shots inside and we can't take the pressure off our perimeter people."

Teams also have discovered that Tyron Wright and Jarvis Croff can play at this level after spending last season with the junior varsity. And once word got out, teams began paying closer attention to the two Air Force stars.

"Nobody knew who the heck they were," Minton said. "When we went into the WAC, it didn't take long to figure out that these guys are pretty good. So it's up to Jarvis and Tyron to continue to grow."

One thing's for certain. If Air Force is harboring any hopes of a return visit to Las Vegas next month for the WAC tournament, it better start finding the range, beginning Saturday against UNLV at Clune Arena.

In the first meeting with the Rebels Jan. 9, the Falcons shot just 35 percent from the floor, 27 percent from the 3-point arc and lost convincingly, 91-58. Committing 18 turnovers didn't help matters either, nor the fact the Rebels had five players in double figures.

"We definitely have to execute our offense a lot better if we're going to have any success (in the second half)," Minton said. "We've put in a few twists to try and get our offense going."

UNLV coach Bill Bayno knows things will be different playing in the altitude of Colorado Springs. The fact his team is in first and Minton's is in last doesn't mean a thing as the second half of WAC play kicks off.

"We've never had an easy time of it up there," he said. "It'll be a tough game and we've got to be ready for everything."