Wyoming beat Air Force, but more accurately, Air Force beat itself.  

The Cowboys led for all but 3 minutes of Tuesday’s men’s basketball matchup at Clune Arena, and came away with a 68-56 win over Air Force despite shooting just 20% in the second half.

The Falcons’ mistakes aided in Wyoming’s victory, with 26 of the Cowboys’ points coming from 19 Air Force turnovers and 24 coming from the foul line. 

“When you look at the stat sheet, Air Force beat Air Force,” coach Joe Scott said. “They got all their points off the foul line, our turnovers, or second-chance points. We control that. If you’re good in those three areas you are going to get the result you want.”

Still, Air Force kept Wyoming (10-3, 1-1 Mountain West) to a season-low 68 points and kept the Cowboys 18 points below their conference-leading scoring average of 86.4 points. Freshman Kam Sanders, who put up 15 points, said the team never gave up and remained positive despite falling to 3-10, 0-2. 

“Our locker room is very positive,” Sanders said. “We know there’s potential and some guys are prospering. … We can see we can compete and we see what we can be, we just need to start executing down the stretch and being us.”

Junior Caleb Walker led three Falcons in double digits with 17 points and five rebounds, followed by Sanders’ 15 points and five rebounds and Eli Robinson’s 10 points and five rebounds. 

After shooting 1 of 7 from the foul line in the first half, Air Force finished 11 of 20 with Sanders shooting 7 of 10 with all seven made free throws coming in the second half. Air Force shot 50% from the field while Wyoming shot 35% and the Cowboys went 24 of 27 from the free-throw line. 

The Falcons tied the contest at 41-41 with just under 10 minutes left in the second half, but an 8-0 run by the Cowboys allowed Wyoming to start to pull away. The Falcons were within five (55-50) after a pair of free throws by Sanders, but trailed the rest of the contest. 

“It comes down to doing what our offense does, just giving yourself over in that way,” Scott said. “We have to grasp the concept of it’s about us because ‘us’ will stop that. There is not one guy on the team that will do it, it’s got to be us.”

Wyoming ended the first half with a 10-point lead (36-26) after leading for almost the entire half. The Cowboys led by as many as 14 (28-14) after five early Air Force turnovers helped Wyoming go on a 7-0 run and the Falcons trailed by at least seven for the rest of the half. 

Air Force goes on the road to Las Vegas for a matchup with UNLV at 3 p.m. Saturday.

“I definitely see grit from these guys,” Scott said. “I see something in the group. In the individuals. I see improvement in that area, no question. We have to learn how to be consistent. A certain toughness and discipline is required. Where does that come from? Just giving yourself over to the team. Making everything be about us. That’s where consistency comes from.”