What goes swish-clank, swish-clank?

New Mexico and Air Force trading 3-pointers Wednesday night at Clune Arena.

The Lobos riddled the Falcons with 3-point daggers, making 13-of-27 – including 7-of-10 by sophomore guard Phillip McDonald – and cruised to a 73-50 victory in front of an announced crowd of 2,156.

While New Mexico seemed at home with the Clune Arena rims, Air Force made just 3-of-24 shots from behind the 3-point arc. Take away Evan Washington’s performance, and the Falcons were 1-of-21.

“That’s probably the difference in the game,” New Mexico coach Steve Alford said of the 3-point shooting. “We’re right at 50 percent, and they’re at 12 percent. So that’s a big difference. I thought we did a good job of defending the arc, and then shots that they got that we weren’t there, fortunately they missed, and we got in a rhythm and made some shots.”

“They’re very capable of making threes,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said of the Lobos. “They made theirs, and we didn’t make ours. Theirs were uncontested, so were ours.”

With the loss, the Falcons fell to 8-9, 0-4 in the Mountain West Conference, and established a dubious league record. They’ve now lost 20 consecutive regular season MWC games, more than any program in the league’s 10-plus year history. And there looks to be little relief on the horizon, as Air Force is staring at back-to-back road games at Utah and UNLV.

“That’s going to be tough,” Reynolds said.

Air Force led mid-way through the first half and trailed just 31-26 early in the second half after a pair of free throws by freshman Michael Lyons (10 points). But McDonald (game-high 25 points) hit back-to-back 3-pointers to ignite a 19-6 run as the Lobos (17-3, 3-2) took control.

“We didn’t do a good job of contesting,” shots, Lyons said. “We were getting out late on the shooters, and therefore they were hitting all their shots.”

While the 3-point shooting disparity was glaring, it was far from the Falcons’ only problem. They were out-rebounded, 38-29, they had more turnovers (14) than assists (eight) and they forced only nine turnovers.

“I think we lost the game on the defensive end of it,” Reynolds said. “I think sometimes when you don’t make shots, young teams, they don’t like to defend.”

Air Force forward Tom Fow (20) and guards Avery Merriex (22) and Evan Washington left the court following their 73-50 loss to New Mexico on Wednesday at Clune Arena. Photo by KEVIN KRECK, THE GAZETTE