COLORADO STATE, Colo. – Junior forward Michael Steadman had another big game against Air Force as he finished with his eighth double-double of the season with 21 points and a career-best 17 rebounds, but it wasn't enough as San Jose State men's basketball fell to the Falcons 82-68 in Clune Arena.
The Spartans (3-23, 0-14) played well in the second half as they outscored Air Force 43-34 and shot 47 percent from the field against the Falcons' 30 percent, but were unable to erase the big deficit created by Air Force's 29-9 run to close the first half.
Trailing 13-8 at 15:06 mark, junior Brian Rodriguez-Flores had a nice stretch off the bench as he made two treys and a pair of free throws to bring the score to 16-13 with 10:01 on the clock. Air Force, however, went rattled off a 14-0 run that spanned 3:45 to take a 33-16 advantage.
Steadman made a layup and Noah Baumann drained a triple to end that run, but Air Force responded with yet another run, this time a 10-0 stretch and led 43-21 with just under two minutes to play. The Falcons closed the gap on a 29-9 overall run to take a 48-25 lead into the locker room.
Air Force (12-15, 7-8) pulled down 25 rebounds in the half, including 10 offensive and shot 49 percent from the field with seven made 3s. The Spartans shot 29 percent (8-of-28).
The second half was a different story as SJSU came out hot led by freshman Seneca Knight, who scored 12 second-half points. The Spartans slowly chipped away at the lead as the Falcons went cold and got the deficit to as low as 12 at 62-50 with 8:50 to play as Knight drained a triple. That was as close as SJSU would get, however, as the Falcons found their rhythm and were able to hold off the comeback.
Steadman scored 13 of his 21 points in the second half while Brae Ivey chipped in 12 points. Rodriguez-Flores also finished with 12 points for his second straight game in double figure scoring.
Rebounding played a big factor in the outcome. The teams tied overall with 43 each, however Air Force pulled down 17 offensive boards to the Spartans' 12. SJSU fared better in the second half as they capitalized on the Falcons' missed shots with 27 rebounds in the half.
SJSU saw a big improvement at the free throw line as they finished 16-of-19 (84.2 percent), however they were just 6-of-21 from 3-point range while allowing Air Force to hit 11.
Turnovers, which had been an area of improvement as of late, were an issue once again as the Spartans committed 16 opposed to Air Force's five.
The Spartans return to San Jose for their next game on Tuesday against New Mexico at 7:00 p.m. The game will be televised on AT&T SportsNet.