Wyoming barely beats Air Force — again

Steve Guiremand

Friday, March 8, 2002 | 9:59 a.m.

For the Air Force Falcons, it was an all-too-common ending.

The eighth-seeded Falcons (9-19) appeared on the verge of a milestone upset victory, leading conference champion Wyoming, 60-57, with 12.7 seconds to go in the first round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament on Thursday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center.

But then Wyoming forward Marcus Bailey drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie it with 4.7 seconds left. A few moments later, Lamoni Yazzie's potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer dipped way down into the basket before spinning out, and the Cowboys regrouped to hand Air Force a bitter 69-67 overtime loss.

If this finish sounds a little familiar, it should.

Joe Scott's undersized squad, whose patient Princeton style offense has caused more than its share of headaches this season, have mastered the art of losing close games this season.

The Falcons lost a conference record four overtime thriller to the same Cowboys in Laramie on Jan. 28. They dropped an emotional 51-48 decision to the Cowboys on Feb. 23 at Clune Arena. Air Force also took conference runnerup Utah to overtime before losing.

"Our whole season was what you saw tonight," Scott said. "Fifteen of our (28) games were one possession games with two minutes to go. Eleven of our 15 league games were like that ... one possession either way. Six of our seven road games went that way. That's saying a lot in a league like this one."

It also says how far Scott has been able to bring the Air Force program along. In most years, the Falcons would lose their tourney first rounder by 20 or 25 points, pack their bags and quietly fly home. Now the young squad, which only loses Yazzie from its starting lineup, is already looking ahead to next season when they should cause even more havoc in the Mountain West.

"Hey, we knew what we were walking into," Wyoming coach Steve McClain said. "I give our kids credit. They stayed focused and they kept believing that they were going to win the game."

The contest featured 22 ties and 21 lead changes. But it was Bailey's 3-pointer from the top of the key that forced overtime that was the biggest play of the game. The 6-5 junior from Cheyenne finished with a game-high 29 points.

Al Faux added 13 points for San Diego State, which led throughout the game.