Air Force men’s basketball’s second-half struggles continue.   

Host New Mexico held the Falcons scoreless for 10 minutes in the second half Tuesday night to run away with a 98-61 win in front of 12,291 fans in the Pit. Air Force started strong for the first 13 minutes of the first half, only trailing by four, but the Lobos controlled the rest of the half to lead by 22 points at the break and led by as many as 42 points in the second half. 

It is Air Force’s (3-23, 0-15 Mountain West) sixth conference loss by at least 30 points this season, and second-straight loss by at least 30 points after falling to Fresno State 93-63 Saturday.

“We put pressure on (New Mexico) to play a higher level of basketball, and when they went to that higher level, particularly offensively, we started to struggle a little bit,” interim head coach Jon Jordan said on KVOR AM 740 radio. “They weren’t doing anything particularly fancy against us, but because we weren’t sustaining a fairly high level of basketball, the game started to get away from us.”

The 37-point loss is just shy of Air Force’s 42-point loss to New Mexico in January, which is the Falcons’ biggest loss of the season. However, the Falcons’ 12 turnovers Tuesday were 10 fewer than the first meeting (12 to 22).

Air Force shot 46% in the first half, but worsened to 37.5% in the second half to finish with 38% from the field. New Mexico (20-6, 11-4 MW) fell from 68% to 55% shooting between halves, but outrebounded the Falcons 48-23. 

Freshmen Lucas Hobin and Kam Sanders were the two Falcons in double-digits with 10 and 13 points, respectively, with Hobin going 5 of 5 from the foul line. Freshman Ethan Greenberg put up nine, all from 3-pointers. Junior Caleb Walker did not play after being ruled questionable due to injury. 

New Mexico had four in double figures, led by Antonio Chol with 20 points, with 15 coming from the first half. Tomislave Buljan nearly had a double-double with seven points and 10 rebounds. 

A 14-2 run in the last four minutes of the first half handed the Lobos a 22-point lead. Each team ended the first half with five turnovers, but New Mexico outrebounded the Falcons 22-5.  

Air Force returns to Clune Arena for a rematch with UNLV at 1 p.m. Saturday.