Colorado Springs, CO—The UC Riverside Highlanders (9-6, 0-0) were looking to end the year on a positive note, especially after beating both their prior Mountain West opponents San Jose State and Fresno State on the road, but the Air Force Academy (7-7, 1-1) brought in the aerial assault and handed UCR a,105-56, defeat in Colorado Springs on New Year's Eve.
UC Riverside came into tonight's game tied with the best start in their Division 1 era, but the Falcons proved to be too much from the top off as they led from start to finish in the lopsided affair in front of a good crowd at Clune Arena.
The first half was all Falcons as they connected on eight of 13 from the three-point line and shot a blazing 55% from the field and going 12 for 12 from the free throw line. Air Force was led by Ryan Swan and Caleb Morris, who had 19 and 13 respectively for the Falcons.
Conversely, the Highlanders shot just 35%, going nine of 26 from the field and five for 12 from beyond the arc. George Willborn III was the lone bright spot as Willborn scored eight points to lead the Highlanders who were down 52-29 at the break.
The second half began much like the first for the Highlanders, as the Falcons came out on fire connecting on seven more three-pointers and never looked back. For every basket UCR made, it seemed like Air Force countered and with every Highlander miss, they found the bottom of the net outscoring UCR 53-27 in the second half. No Highlander reached double figures for the first time this season in the loss. George Willborn III and Angus McWilliam both led the Highlanders in scoring with eight points each.
The Highlanders' leading scorer, Arinze Chidom, (16 ppg.) was held to just one point on 0 of four shooting and one for four from the charity stripe. For the game UCR shot 37% going 17 for 53 from the field, but did however manage to connect on 12 three pointers, but only 10 of 18 from the free throw line.
The Falcons were led by Ryan Swan and Caleb Morris who combined for 47 points in the victory. Air Force also connected on 15 of 23 from three, shooting 65% and 34 of 56 from the field (61%).
After the game Head Coach David Patrick said, "Iit's a good lesson for this young team to learn how to handle success. The narrative the last couple of games is we were tough, resilient and competitive and tonight was the polar opposite. I thought we were soft from start to finish on both ends of the floor. Air Force shot fantastic, but we had a lot to do with it. When you have soft hands and soft close-outs, it allows teams to get going. That's exactly what happened tonight."
The Highlanders will look to regroup at home as they play San Diego Christian at the SRC on Saturday, January 4th at 5 pm. The game can be seen and heard on Big West TV on gohighlanders.com
