Air Force Falcons Drop Overtime Heartbreaker to San Diego State Aztecs

The Air Force Falcons forced overtime, but they were unable to close the deal in a tense Mountain West showdown as San Diego State walked out of Clune Arena with a 77-76 victory on Wednesday.
The Falcons (3-16, 0-8) remained winless in Mountain West action, lost their ninth straight game of the season and its 11th straight game to San Diego State (12-5, 5-3).
The Aztecs regained the lead late in overtime on a pair of free throws from Wayne McKinney III and a jumper by Taj DeGourville, the latter coming with 1:36 left. That sequence put San Diego State up, 75-73.
After trading possessions, the Falcons had a chance to tie or win the game with less than 30 seconds left. Ethan Taylor missed a 3-pointer to win, but Yoda Oke drew a foul on the rebound and got two free throws.
Ode made the first free throw but missed the second. As it fell off the rim forward Wesley Celichowski tipped the ball in with 4.5 seconds left to give the Falcons the lead. The tip-in was reviewed and the basket counted.
The Aztecs threw the inbound pass to McKinney, who went coast-to-coast and scored a lay-up as time expired to win.
For Air Force, Taylor led with xx points, including four 3-pointers. Celichowski led with a career-high 22 points in a game in which he made all eight field-goal attempts. Taylor scored 21 points and Luke Kearney added 14 points. Kyle Marshall only scored six points, but he also grabbed 11 rebounds.
McKinney led San Diego State with 18 points. Jared Coleman-Jones scored 14 points and DeGourville added 11 points.
Air Force, which had the lead briefly early in the first half, finally regained it with a 6-0 run with 8:47 left in the game. A free throw and a 3-pointer by Kearney, along with a pair of free throws by Caleb Walker, put the Falcons up, 53-52.
From there, the lead changed hands several times and neither team was ahead by more than one possession for the final nine minutes.
The Falcons scored the final points of regulation, as Marshall’s layup tied the game at 68-68 with 49 seconds left. Both teams had chances to win in regulation.
San Diego State led for nearly the entire first half, but Air Force kept things close. The Aztecs built a nine-point lead at one point, but the Falcons closed the gap to a single point, 32-31, with 1:59 left on Taylor’s two free throws.
San Diego State pushed the lead back to four points, 35-31, on a jumper and free throw by Coleman-Jones in the final minute.
Air Force’s next game keeps the Falcons at home but pits them against one of the best teams in the country as Utah State pays them a visit on Saturday at 2 p.m. mountain. The Aggies, at times, have been ranked in the AP Top 25 this season. In Monday’s poll they received 38 votes, leaving them just outside the poll.