For the second game in a row, it seemed like Air Force would pull out its first conference win of the season. 

Wyoming basketball had other plans. 

After trailing for most of the contest, Falcon freshman Kam Sanders scored three straight 3-pointers to take the lead with two minutes left in the game. However, Air Force wasn’t able to score again while Wyoming put up seven more points to take a 66-62 win in Laramie on Saturday. 

Sanders had not scored a field goal in the first half, but scored his first with five minutes left in the second half to tie the Cowboys 51-51 and finished with a team-leading 16 points. The sophomore was just short of a double-double with nine rebounds. However, when the Falcons were just two points behind with 35 seconds left, the freshman turned the ball over to allow Damarion Dennis to go 1 for 2 at the foul line. 

A personal foul on Eli Robinson then put Khaden Bennett at the line, who sank the last free throw to solidify a four-point win. The loss comes after an 86-80 loss to San Jose State at Clune Arena on Tuesday that also came down to the last minute.   

“I’m proud of the guys for fighting and not giving up,” Interim head coach Jon Jordan said on AM 740 KVOR. “That game was going in a direction of who has the will to hang in there, and we did. We pushed them to the brink and made enough mistakes along the way that had we not made those mistakes, we would have been up five to 10 points.” 

Air Force (3-26, 0-17) had a poor showing at the foul line, shooting 8 for 21 (38.1%) and 4 for 12 (33.3%) in the second half. Wyoming, on the other hand, went 13 for 16 (81.3%) from the free throw line and earned 22 points from 15 Falcon turnovers while out rebounding Air Force 39-36.

“I’m pleased with the effort, I’m not pleased with the opportunity we had before us, and our ability to understand how important each position was along the way,” Jordan said on the radio.  

The Falcons finished shooting 49% from the field, up from 45% in the first half. Sanders and Robinson were the only Air Force players in double digits, with Robinson putting up 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting with six rebounds. 

Wyoming (16-13, 7-11) had three players in double figures, led by Dennis with 16 points on 4 of 8 shooting. 

Air Force came out strong with an 8-2 lead to open the first half, but after two ties and three lead changes, the Cowboys held the Falcons scoreless for the last two minutes of the half to lead 35-25 into the locker room. Wyoming also led by 10 points with just under 13 minutes left in the second half. 

The Falcons host their last home game of the season against Grand Canyon on Tuesday at 7 p.m., before wrapping up the regular season at Nevada on March 7.