Courtesy of Air Force Athletics

QUEBEC CITY, Quebec, Canada – Air Force men’s basketball defeated defending Canadian National Champion Laval University, 65-58, Sunday afternoon at Desjardins Amphitheatre.  The Falcons wrapped up its Canada tour with a 4-1 record.

In a game of big runs, Air Force withstood a late rally from the defending CCAA National Champions (Canada’s equivalent to NCAA Championships), finding a way to another win.

Air Force led 21-18 after the first quarter of play.  The Falcons built the lead with the help of five three’s made.

Laval tied the game at 21-21 with their lone basket of the second quarter at the 9:34 mark.  The Falcons did not let the Rouge Et Or score the rest of the quarter, going on a 17-0 run to take a commanding 38-21 halftime lead.  Air Force held Laval to 1-of-15 shooting in the quarter.

Laval closed the third quarter on a 5-0 run to cut the Air Force lead to 14 at 54-44.  The Rouge Et Or would then score the first eight points of the fourth quarter to complete a 13-0 run and pull to within eight points.

The game got down to two points with 1:25 to play.  But senior forward Beau Becker hit a three with 23 second left to give the Falcons a five point lead.  The Falcons tacked on two more points to pull away late.

Senior Ethan Taylor scored 18 points, to go with six rebounds and four assists to lead the Falcons.  Senior Byron Brown notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.  Sophomore Wesley Celichowski continued his presence off the bench, with nine points and two blocked shots.

Air Force held Laval to 29.9 percent shooting and 25 percent from three-point range.

Joe Scott recapping the Laval game:
“That’s a good way to finish the trip. I just saw us get better and better over our last two games. Our players showed that they learned what this trip was really about through the games we played.  Our next step to make it a habit.  That competitive mindset. I think our guys got a lot out of this trip.  Back to this game, I thought our guys played well across the board, especially in the first half.  We got strong contribution from our bench.  Those guys all made contributions.  I stressed to them that when you’re just concerned with competing possession to possession, you find yourself playing well.  I think we got  more of that the last few games.  And as we leave here, that’s going to continue to be the theme that we have to develop that competitive mindset and habit.  That’s why we came on this trip and it has helped us be a bit further ahead.  We’ll see where it takes us.”