Colorado Zooms Past Air Force, 93-56

USAFA, Colo. – On an afternoon when Colorado's leading scorer was held in check in the points column and its leading rebounder was forced to exit early with an injury, the Buffaloes went to their "go-to-player" – the open man.

Colorado shot nearly 60 percent from the field and four players scored in double figures as the Buffaloes sprinted to a 93-56 win over Air Force Saturday at Clune Arena.

Junior forward Lucas Siewert tied a career-high with 17 points to lead four double-digit scorers as Colorado, 3-1 overall, emphatically put an end to a six-game losing streak in true road contests that dated back to last season.

Colorado drilled a season-high 14 3-pointers, hitting 48 percent beyond the arc. Namon Wright had 13 points while D'Shawn Schwartz and Daylen Kountz each had 11.

Leading scorer McKinley Wright IV was held to five points, but dished out five assists and grabbed six rebounds. Tyler Bey played only seven minutes after taking a rough fall on his right shoulder on an alley oop attempt in the first half and did not return.

So step up Siewert, and the rest of the Buffaloes whose depth took center stage.

"The go-to-guy on this team is the open man," Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said. "Some nights we're going to need McKinley to score for us and other nights he needs to distribute for us. He rebounded the ball well, especially when Tyler went out."

Siewert was a perfect 6 of 6 from the field, including three from 3-point range. He also matched his personal best with eight rebounds.

AJ Walker scored 13 points to lead Air Force, which dropped to 2-4 overall.

HOW IT HAPPENED: Boyle implored his team to put the foot down on the gas pedal, and keep it there. Minus a brief lapse late in the first half, the Buffaloes did just that.

Colorado came out firing from long range, making five of its first six 3-point attempts to build an early 17-4 lead in the first six minutes. Siewert made two of those, with another coming from Bey, the first of his career.

Colorado's first seven field goals were all 3-pointers. Air Force missed 13 of its first 16 shots, which allowed the Buffs to run. When they did, they moved the ball fast, and well, which led to open looks.

After the early success outside, the Buffaloes began to attack the paint. Evan Battey scored a pair of baskets on post moves and Kountz had a driving layup to give Colorado a 33-18 advantage.

The Falcons made a run toward the end of the first half, after the Buffs had cooled off. Air Force used an 8-0 run to trim CU's lead to seven at 33-26 with 1:31 left in the half.

McKinley Wright IV ended that run with a driving layup with just under a minute left. He finished off the half with a free throw and Colorado was back up to double digits, 36-26.

Once the second half started, Colorado put down the gas pedal, and left it on for good. The Buffaloes opened on an 18-3 run and doing so at an incredibly efficient pace. Colorado missed its first field goal attempt of the period, but made its next 12 before its next miss.

Schwartz, who played limited minutes early with two quick fouls, began the run with five straight points. From there the floodgates opened. Colorado scored on six of its next seven possessions, culminating with a Siewert steal and coast-to-coast dunk that gave Colorado its largest lead of the game at 55-29.

"We talked about not taking our foot off the gas, and I thought we did that a little bit in the first half," Boyle said. "We were making some 3's early and got out to a big lead. Sometimes guys think it's going to be like that all game. Now the 3's don't go and we soften up on the defensive end, and now it's down to single digits. We talked about getting our foot back on the gas and keeping it there."

Siewert's perfect night at the field was nice comeback from a 3 for 9 performance at San Diego Tuesday. Overall he's shooting 66 percent on the season including 10 of 14 from 3-point range. His 17 points matched his career-best, set at home against Stanford last season.

"We knew the offense was going to come, so that's not something we talked about," Siewert said. "We focused on defense and getting guys, shots. We have the saying 'Our go-to-guy is the open guy,' so that's what we tried to do in the second half."

Gatling hit a pair of 3-pointers, his second capping off Colorado's string of 12-straight made field goals and gave the Buffaloes a 64-38 advantage with 10:19 remaining in the game. Colorado ended up shooting 73.3 percent in the second half (22-30) alone and totaled 18 assists on 34 baskets overall.

TURNING POINT: Colorado made 12 of its first 13 shots of the second half and never looked back.

WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffaloes can put the road losing streak talk behind them and get ready for four home games over the next two weeks.

CU STANDOUTS: Siewert's perfect night from the field – he also made both free throw attempts – was the highlight of the night. Kountz was 5 of 6 from the floor with three assists to go along with his first double-figure scoring effort. Schwartz scored all 11 of his points, on 5 of 8 shooting, in the second half.

KEY STATISTICS: Colorado out-rebounded Air Force 44-25, limiting the Falcons to just six offensive boards and four second-chance points.

NOTEWORTHY: McKinley Wright IV scored his 500^th career point and recorded his 26^th game with at least five assists…Colorado's 93 points are its most in 28 meetings with Air Force and its most in a true road game since scoring 98 in a triple overtime win at USC on Jan. 29, 2015. It was the most in regulation since a 104-95 loss at Texas on Feb. 9, 2002.

QUOTE WORTHY: "Lucas is really coming into his own as a post player. The thing that makes him so dangerous is he can shoot the 3 and he can also score on the block. We have to understand when Lucas has a smaller guy on him, like he had at times tonight, we have got to get him more post touches," Boyle on Siewert.

NEXT UP: Colorado starts its four-game home stand with Portland on Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m. at the CU Events Center.

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Team Stats

Lucas Siewert

Namon Wright

Daylen Kountz

D'Shawn Schwartz

Players Mentioned

Evan Battey

Tyler Bey

D'Shawn Schwartz

Lucas Siewert

Namon Wright

McKinley Wright IV

Players Mentioned

Evan Battey

Tyler Bey

D'Shawn Schwartz

Lucas Siewert

Namon Wright

McKinley Wright IV