COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- BYU guard Jimmer Fredette pulled up at the top of the key and took a shot no coach would advise, falling away from the basket with an Air Force defender right on him. But Fredette isn't a typical player. He drained the 3-point shot.
That was the first possession of the game, and it never got any better for the Falcons.
Fredette, a player of the year favorite, was a factor in Air Force's 90-52 loss to the No. 7 team in the country, but Air Force's offensive droughts were a bigger issue.
The Falcons (13-10, 4-6 Mountain West) couldn't score with any consistency, and a sellout crowd of 6,028 -- or at least the two-thirds of the fans who were rooting for Air Force -- had little to cheer about. BYU hit 15 3-pointers and shot an astounding 69 percent in the second half. Even the positive strides for the Falcons were washed away.
"We did a good job on defensive rebounds," guard Evan Washington said. "But when they're making every shot it's hard to get a defensive rebound."
Just like their previous home game, against New Mexico, Air Force dug itself a huge hole right after tipoff. Fredette started the game with the off-balance 3-pointer, then hit a layup and assisted on another basket and BYU led 7-0.
Air Force gave some life to the crowd, scoring on five straight possessions, and cut the Cougars' lead to 15-12 before another onslaught. BYU went on a 16-0 run.
Air Force kept it respectable in the first half, and trailed by just 11 at halftime. Washington's dunk was the first basket of the second half.
Then the Cougars (23-2, 9-1) decided to finish any suspense. By the time play was stopped for the first media timeout of the half, BYU led by 23. In a sudden burst of offense, the Cougars hit 7 of 9 shots and scored 16 points in a little more than four minutes. Fredette, who finished with 25 points, had seven of those points.
The Cougars pushed their lead to as many as 40 points as the many BYU fans at Clune Arena loudly made their presence known with every basket.
"In the second half, we played very, very well," Fredette said.
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