Air Force’s challenging men’s basketball season ended in a 35-point loss to Nevada on Wednesday. 

The No. 5-seeded Wolf Pack led the No. 12 Falcons by 29 points at halftime and went on to lead by as many as 44 points in the second half to beat Air Force 80-45 in the first round of the Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championships. Nevada’s win at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas advances it to the quarterfinals to face No. 4 Grand Canyon. 

“What we’ve gone through this season, one thing we know for sure is we did it together, did it all the way to the end,” interim coach Jon Jordan said.  “A scoreboard will tell us the score of the game, but there’s a bigger game in life, and I’m so proud of these young men … in the game of life, we didn’t lose.”

“Our intent was to win a basketball game today, but life doesn’t always give you what you want, and you just have to keep pushing.”

The Falcons end the season 3-29 and winless (0-21) in conference play. Air Force’s last tournament win was in 2020 over Fresno State. Its last win this season was Nov. 23 over IU Indy, making Wednesday its 25th straight loss. 

In Nevada’s third win over the Falcons this season, the 21-11 Wolf Pack limited Air Force to 10 points in the first half, a program-tying low. Nevada also beat the Falcons 75-59 on Saturday and 81-66 in January. 

After being limited to just 17% shooting in the first half, Air Force finished 28% from the field. The Falcons had no free-throw attempts in the first half, but went 11 for 11 from the line in the second. The Air Force averaged 63.4% shooting from the foul line this season. 

Freshman Kam Sanders led the Falcons with 12 points, 10 in the second half, on 4-of-14 shooting and went 3 of 3 from the foul line in 34 minutes. Junior Kolby Gilles put up 10 points after posting 12 Saturday, and went 6 of 6 from the free-throw line.

“I truly can say, man, these guys, this coaching staff, it’s truly a brotherhood,” Sanders said. “It’s always positive times. We just recognize how much better we’ve gotten throughout the year.  It’s not one clear positive, because every day we can feel — I mean, it’s not reflected in the score, but I’m just grateful to have these men around me.”

All-Mountain West first-team guard Corey Camper Jr. led the Wolf Pack with 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting in 23 minutes. Nevada finished with 46% shooting from the field and 23 for 30 (77%) from the foul line. 

The Wolf Pack earned 25 points from 17 Air Force turnovers and outrebounded the Falcons 44-31. 

Similar to Saturday’s game against Nevada, the Wolf Pack came out with a 13-0 run, with Air Force’s first points coming from Kam Sanders at the 14:27 mark. Air Force went nearly nine minutes without scoring to help Nevada to a 39-10 halftime lead. 

With the conclusion of the season comes a search for the Falcons’ next head coach. The team could look different next year with the transfer portal opening April 7, but Jordan hopes the current roster can build from this year. 

“We are building something here,” Jordan said. “As time goes on, these guys will be the constant, and we are asking them to do their very best to be that constant so that as the pieces get added, it grows. You got to start somewhere, and that’s where we are at right now.”