Air Force tried to tweak its recipe on Friday night.

It darn near burned down the kitchen in the process.

The Falcons scrapped their changes at halftime, but the damage had been done in a 98-61 loss to San Diego State that saw Air Force fall behind by as many as 52 points on their home court.

The changes, the Falcons insist, weren’t all that major and had to with tweaks in their cuts on offense and the timing of ball screens. But the Aztecs feasted on a team that was out of its comfort zone, forcing 27 turnovers and turning those, along with a 16-2 advantage on the offensive glass, into a 66-40 edge in shot attempts and, at one point, a 50-2 lead in points off turnovers and second-chance points.

“Those adjustments, we’re going to pretend like they didn’t even happen,” senior Chris Joyce said. “We’re just going to go back to the way were playing.”

To their credit, the Falcons did readjust at the break and were outscored just 46-45 in the second half. The 45 points for Air Force were its most in a second half this season and the team shot 70% over the final 20 minutes.

But that first half had the impact of wheels turning suddenly on the interstate. After leading 6-5 about 5 ½ minutes into the game the Falcons were outscored 71-19 over the next 24 minutes.

The halftime score was 52-16.

“I’m going to learn from this myself as a coach,” Falcons coach Joe Scott said. “With this team, as I ask the players to grow and learn, well, I’m going to make sure I do that and I told the guys that so we can come back on Sunday and show that we’re a different team than we showed in that first 20 minutes.”

Junior guard A.J. Walker scored a team-high 17 points for Air Force, which did manage to take some positives from this. There was the improved execution in the second half and the chance for a team that has kept to a short bench to play guys like C.J. Haut, Joe Octave and Mason Taylor for extended minutes.

San Diego State was led by 18 points from Jordan Shakel.

Both teams shot 55%, which marked a season-high for Air Force. But the disparity in shots rendered that inconsequential.

“It’s definitely tough on the guys,” Joyce said. “We’re going to keep our heads up, keep grinding through it. There’s ups and downs with every season.”