Air Force 74, BYU 52

By JOHN MOSSMAN

AP Sports Writer

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) Nick Welch scored 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting to lead Air Force to a 74-52 romp over BYU on Saturday.

A.J. Kuhle added 14 points, Tim Keller 12 and Antoine Hood 11 as Air Force (13-2, 3-0 Mountain West) extended its winning streak to 11 games, a school record.

BYU (12-5, 2-2) was led by Mark Bigelow's 19 points. Rafael Araujo, the conference's leading scorer and rebounder, was held to 12 points and six rebounds.

The Falcons shot 73 percent compared to BYU's 43 percent.

Air Force - which entered the game with the nation's best scoring defense, limiting opponents to 46.6 points per game - held the Cougars 24 points below their season average.

Before a record Clune Arena crowd of 6,359, the Falcons never trailed, jumping out to a quick lead, expanding it to 42-19 at halftime and building as much as a 27-point lead in the second half.

Kuhle had 12 points and Welch 11 in the first half as Air Force, using a 19-3 run, took a 23-point halftime lead. The Falcons outshot BYU 73 percent to 29 percent in the half.

Air Force hit its first six shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, while BYU was committing five turnovers as the Falcons forged a 14-4 lead.

Kuhle, Tim Keller and Marcus Jenkins all hit 3-pointers as Air Force stretched its lead to 23-10 midway through the half.

BYU scored the next six points, capped by Luiz Lemes' baseline jumper, to cut the deficit to 23-16 with 8:12 left, but Air Force responded with its 19-3 surge to close out the half.

Welch started it with a pair of driving layups. BYU's Mark Bigelow had a short jumper off the glass, but Air Force scored the next eight points, including Kuhle's layup on a pass from Hood.

Welch had another driving layup past Araujo for a 33-18 lead. Hood beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer and followed with a steal and a slam dunk at the other end for a 40-19 lead.

Bigelow scored the first five points of the second half to cut the deficit to 18, but Air Force countered with a 13-4 flurry, including two layups by Welch, for a 55-28 lead. BYU got no closer than 20 points after that.