Box Score

USAF ACADEMY, Colo. --- The McPherson College men's basketball team fell to NCAA Division I Air Force, 88-71, at Clune Arena on Friday night despite a game-high 18 points from Chris Crook (Oklahoma City, Okla., Millwood HS). 

The game served as the season opener for the Academy, while it was designated as an exhibition for McPherson.

The Falcons grabbed an early 6-0 lead on 3-pointers from Jacob Van and Hayden Graham before the Bulldogs got on the board with a jumper from Grant Raleigh (Hesston, Kan., Hesston HS). McPherson was able to hang close, trailing by only five points at each of the first three media timeouts (10-5, 17-12, and 20-15).

Coming out of the under-8:00 media timeout, though, Air Force began to heat up. A pair of free throws by Van ended a scoring drought of over three minutes for both teams.and sent the Falcons on an 18-2 run over the next 4:03 to take a 38-17 lead before DeAndre Henson (Aberdeen, Md., Cloud County CC) drained a 3-pointer to slow the rally. The Bulldogs followed with a pair of threes by Crook, another by Raleigh and a jumper at the first-half buzzer by Careino Gurley (Minneapolis, Minn., Rochester CTC) to cut the deficit to 14 points at 45-31 at halftime.

Air Force drained threes on its first two possessions of the second half to extend the lead to 18 at 51-33, but an 8-2 run by McPherson allowed the Bulldogs to cut it back to 12 at the first media timeout. The Falcons scored 10 of the first 12 points out of the break to grab a 20-point lead, but the Bulldogs rallied behind a 3-pointer from Jordan Windholz (Hays, Kan., Barton CC) and five more points from Crook to get back within a dozen. Air Force would continue using its size advantage in the low post, while McPherson took its shots from long distance.

The Bulldogs were able to keep the Falcons close, trailing by only 12 with 4:28 to play after a jumper by Reed Rowell (Topeka, Kan., Butler CC). The hosts were finally able to pull away, though, closing on a 13-6 run to lead 88-69 before Crook drained one last jumper with 18 seconds to play to make it a 17-point final margin.

Crook led all players with 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting, while Raleigh added 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting for McPherson.

Graham led Air Force with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting and five rebounds, while Zach Kocur and Frank Toohey had 14 points each.

The Bulldogs shot just 42.9 percent (27-of-63) from the field compared to 56.0 percent (28-of-50) for the Falcons, but did drain 12 3-pointers. Aaron Bachura (Wilsey, Kan., Council Grove HS) accounted for three en route to a nine-point outing, while Henson, Raleigh, Crook and Windholz had two apiece.

Air Force was 8-of-22 from long range and converted 24 of 34 opportunites at the charity stripe. McPherson was just 5-of-9 on free throws. Both teams finished with 33 rebounds. Rowell and Kocur shared game-high honors with six boards each.

"I am very proud of our team," said head coach Tim Swartzendruber. "We competed against an NCAA Division I school to the end. With about four minutes remaining, we were down 12 and had two possessions where we could have gotten closer. We battled the entire game. A big thank you goes out to Air Force for allowing us this opportunity."

The Bulldogs (4-0) return to Kansas and immediately jump into Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference play with a pair of league games next week. McPherson hosts Bethany at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, then makes the trip to Salina on Saturday, Nov. 19 to face Kansas Wesleyan.