Forwards put on a show
Clune Arena housed just over 4,900 Wednesday night at it seemed like 1,000 of butts in the seats were BYU fans making enough noise to get on the nerves of Falcon patrons.
But nothing got to AFA and their fans more than BYU’s two forwards, who put on a show in delivering Air Force the most dominating defeat they’d experienced on that floor in seven years.
I heard one AFA fan behind press row complain the entire game about officiating. He protested every call or no-call every time down the floor. But the most comical thing he said when it was apparent this game was not going to be rescued by the pesky Cadets was after Jonathan Tavernari buried one of his patented rainbow 3-point shots that snapped the net and demoralized Air Force.
“That guys just a sophomore. I hate the thought of seeing him for two more years on that team,” he said.
Tavernari and Cummard scored 27 of BYU’s 40 second half points in the convincing 69-53 win. They hit shots from all over the floor. On one possession, with the shot clock winding down to zero, Cummard raised up and hit a 26-foot shot. You could sense the air leaking out of the Falcon players and coaches on the bench. It was a torrid series of shots AFA simply is not used to seeing on their home floor where they soundly defeated UNLV.
At one stage in the second half, Cummard and Tavernari combined to score 23 straight in a nine-minute 26 second span.
The win marked four straight wins over the Falcons by the Cougars. This counts last year’s win in the MWC tournament. It also piled on the resentment for the Cougars by Falcon faithful. BYU has owned the Falcons of late, including the football field.
It must be noted and recognized in wake of Wednesday win. Dave Rose is a very good coach. Not does his staff do a good job of coming up with a game plan, his team digests it well. He told reporters earlier in the week he may not play help defense on the Falcon’s weird offense. He’d leave his defenders on an Island so they wouldn’t slack off and give easy buckets to open shooters when the man with the ball was double-teamed. You have to have a lot of faith in your players to pull it off.
It worked. AFA players continually drove the to hoop, putting their shoulders and head down and bulling their way to the hoop, hoping for a foul or that one instant at the end of the drive where they lean in or fall back and make a short jump shot. This is the cornerstone of what they do. If somebody comes over and helps, they kick it out for an open shot. There were not many open shots for the Falcons and the man on defense was usually very good.
What this did is cut down AFA’s 3-point shot attempts and makes. This is where the Falcons win games at home. They have guys who can’t hit 3-pointers on a regular basis on the road, but at home, they make a living off this.
Because BYU defenders stayed home on outside shooters, AFA’s attempts came rushed and were off target. On the other end, for the second game in a row, Tavernari got hot and Cummard just did his regular hard hat deal. AFA could not keep up. Tim Anderson scored well, he’s their best guy. But the rest of the Falcons got frustrated and in the end, Anderson just cast off shots with little hope of them going in.
BYU outscored AFA by 15 from the trey line.
Brilliant strategy by Rose. Even better execution by his soldiers.