Four Air Force seniors said goodbye to Clune Arena on Saturday night.

And Clune said goodbye to the last four Air Force players with links to the program’s glory days.

When Grant Parker, Avery Merriex, Mike McLain and Saj El-Amin were freshmen, the Falcons won a program-record 26 games and spent much of the season ranked in the Top 25.

But those days now seem long gone.

Saturday night, in the seniors’ final home game, the Falcons lost to San Diego State, 61-42, in front of an announced crowd of 3,352.

Instead of a triumphant farewell performance for a group that has the fifth-most victories of any class at the academy, there was just another reminder of how far – and how fast – the program has fallen.

Saturday’s loss was the Falcons’ ninth in a row, and with it they finished the regular season 9-20, including 1-15 in Mountain West Conference play. During the past two seasons the Falcons have won just one of 32 league regular season games.

“It’s tough,” McLain said. “It’s tough because we did have such a great program. … But I’m here with my brothers, like I said before, and we’re just going to keep pushing. We’re not done yet.”

Air Force faces Wyoming in the MWC Tournament play-in game on Wednesday in Las Vegas.

As has been the case often this season, Air Force struggled with its shooting, making just 18-of-46 shots from the floor (39.1 percent), including 4-of-18 from 3-point range (22.2 percent). The Falcons were out-rebounded, 30-21. And there were too many prolonged scoring droughts, leading to the lowest point total (42) of the season.

The first drought came early, as five minutes elapsed before the Falcons got their first basket – a 3-pointer by junior Tom Fow. And that actually was an improvement from teams’ first meeting on Feb. 2, when Air Force did not score until the 10:15 mark of the first half.

Fow’s 3 didn’t exactly spark a flurry of scoring, however. Air Force scored on just one of its next eight possessions, and during that time the Aztecs (22-8, 11-5) went on a 12-3 run. When Malcolm Thomas scored on a jump hook with 7:52 left in the half, San Diego State led, 17-6, and – sadly – the result of the game no longer really was in doubt. The Falcons finished the first half with 14 points, their fewest in a half this season, and trailed by 13. They would get no closer than nine the rest of the way.

Air Force guard Avery Merriex shot against San Diego State guard Kelvin Davis during the first half on Saturday. Photo by CHRISTIAN MURDOCK, THE GAZETTE