To play college basketball, one needs to learn how to play 40 minutes.

It seems simple, but as the new-look Air Force men’s basketball is learning, it’s not. Still, just three games into the season, the team is on its way there. 

“That’s the game, is who can play 40 minutes,” coach Joe Scott said after the Falcons lost 76-72 Tuesday. “The games are telling us things. Today we were much better against the press. We made changes. I made changes. We have to change so we can learn that we have to play for 40 minutes.”

After leading by as many as 11 points, Air Force (0-3) allowed Long Island University (2-1) to tie the game 30-30 with about 30 seconds left in the first half. Despite the Falcons’ 33-32 lead at halftime, its first such lead of the season, the Sharks went on to lead by as many as 15 in the second half at Clune Arena. 

Air Force shot 43% from the field overall after shooting 39% in the second half. The Sharks shot slightly better with 46% shooting and 19-for-35 from the free-throw line from 24 Falcons fouls. 

“We are making a lot of progress,” sophomore Kyle Marshall said. “We started out strong, almost ran out of gas at the end. We need to maintain our energy and we should win a couple games. We need to find it in ourselves to keep pushing.” 

Rebounding and foul shooting kept Air Force from earning its first season win. The Sharks outrebounded Air Force 41-32, 21 of those coming in the second half. 

“If we played tougher and rebounded we would have won,” Marshall said. 

“Against Austin Peay, we couldn’t play 40 minutes because of turnovers and missing fouls; foul shooting keeps you in the game,” Scott said. “Today is foul shooting again. If we were a better foul-shooting team it never would have gotten to a 15-point lead.”

The Falcons had three players in double digits, led by freshman Kam Sanders with 18 points, followed by Eli Robinson with 16 points and seven rebounds, and 13 points and four rebounds from Wes Celichowski. 

Marshall had a career-high seven assists in addition to his eight points Tuesday. 

Air Force held senior Greg Gordon, who averaged 20 points in the Sharks’ previous two games, to nine points, but LIU still had four players in double digits, led by Jamal Fuller and Malachi Davis who each put up 14 points. 

“You gotta play defense for 40 minutes,” Scott said. “We are doing good things in terms of defense but it’s not good defense if you don’t get the rebound.”

“But this is a new team. They have to learn what I’m saying. They’ve played three games, and every practice has been about playing 40 minutes.”

After Ethan Greenberg made a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to put the Falcons on top 33-32, the start of the second half was back and forth. 

However, LIU began to pull away with about 7 minutes left and built its lead to 15 points (70-55) at the 2-minute mark after holding Air Force scoreless for almost four minutes. 

Back-to-back layups by Lucas Hobin and Robinson cut the Sharks’ lead to six points with about 18 seconds left. A last-chance tip-in from Marshall wasn’t enough to catch up to LIU, which made five of its last seven shots. 

“We saw progress from the first game to now,” Robinson said. “Definitely from Saturday to today. Beating the press we did a lot better. We need 40 minutes of sustained effort if we want to change the result.”