COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— Despite strong scoring efforts in the second half, the UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team fell short on the road Friday night to host Air Force 72-60. The Highlanders' offense kept them afloat throughout the game, but UCR struggled to slow an efficient Falcon attack.
The Air Force Academy felt right at home in their own gym Friday night putting up 35+ points in each half on its way to a .556 shooting performance. The Falcons hit half of their threes (8-for-16), and although their defense faltered in the second half, their offense shot .632 in the final 20 minutes to hold off the Highlanders.
"We didn't set the tone from the start," Head Coach David Patrick said. "There were so many things we didn't do to begin the game that it gave them confidence, and you can't expect to win on the road if you don't set the tone in terms of toughness. We had too many lapses and didn't execute the defense game plan."
Both teams traded punches for much of the first half until just under five minutes to go where the Falcons strung together an 8-0 run to head to the locker room up 35-24.
The second half was a closer contest, as the Highlanders were just edged out 37-36 in total scoring, but UCR could not overcome the deficit created in the first half. Air Force stretched its lead out to as much as 17 with under 15 minutes to go. The Highlanders needed lightning to strike to stay in the game and it did in the form of freshman guard DJ McDonald who nailed two triples and collected an "And-1" layup to cut it to single digits on two different occasions.
The Falcons would manage to stay aggressive offensively and hit key free throws down the line to take the game 72-60.
"It's hard to win on the road in college basketball, especially with a young team," Patrick said. "Unless you rebound and defend on the road you aren't going to win many games, so we have to address it quickly."
Junior guard Dikymbe Martin led all scorers with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting and added a season high five assists on the night. Freshman guard Dragan Elkaz finished with 11, hitting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, and also added four rebounds.
The Highlanders will now close out the two-game road trip Sunday afternoon at Western Michigan.
"We have another good challenge on Sunday," Patrick said. "We have to find a way to defend those guys, set the tone early on the glass, and take care of the ball. There is nobody on our schedule that we can't beat, but we have to do those three things."
