A year after taking down Fresno State in overtime, the Bulldogs returned the favor.  Air Force stayed close with Fresno State and was down by five at half time, but went cold after the intermission while the Bulldogs ran away to a 79-62 win at Clune Arena on Saturday. Fresno State outscored the Falcons 35-23 in the second half and held Air Force without a field goal for 7 minutes.  “Sometimes when you have a cooling off period, when it’s just emotion and just passion, it kind of evaporates,” the Falcons’ interim head coach Jon Jordan said. “We need to figure out how to retain that. Our habits and our framework that we are training under we need to trust better so we can go from the first half, have a cooling off period and start the second half.” The Bulldogs (10-11, 4-6 Mountain West) led by as many as 22 points in the second half after a 14-3 run, but went without a field goal for the last 3 minutes and 46 seconds while sophomore Elliott Tate scored two 3-pointers in the final 2 minutes.  “They were more conditioned than us and were able to get up the floor quicker,” Freshman Riley Dering, who had eight points, said. “Just from a holistic standpoint we couldn’t keep up with how fast they were playing. It eventually caught up to us, which was reflected by the score.” Six Air Force freshmen accounted for 44 of Air Force’s points Saturday, led by Ethan Greenberg with 11 points and six rebounds. Air Force (3-18, 0-10) shot 39% overall after shooting 55% in the first half.  “It’s hard on our best players to go the distance,” Jordan said. “You start picking up fouls, turning the ball over, and a lot of that is due to fatigue. Our young players can give us a little bit of relief in that area. We are seeing some glimpses of quality performance from some of our freshmen.”  The Falcons were without their top-scorer, junior Caleb Walker, for the fourth straight game due to injury. Walker averaged 11.9 points and 5.1 rebounds a game while shooting 73% from the field.  “Proud of our players, the team, and the coaching staff of how we are helping them improve and help them stay motivated to continue on this road,” Jordan said. “It’s not easy, these circumstances are difficult. Walker is arguably our best player statistically. We will continue working and hopefully we can get better at coming out of halftime.” David Douglas Jr. paced three Bulldogs in double figures with 21 points, 15 from 3-point range, while former Falcon Jake Heidbreder put up 14 points for Fresno State. Heidbreder, who was held to six points in the first half, is the top scorer for the Bulldogs with an average of 17.2 points per game after a stint at Clemson.  Fresno State finished with 47% overall scoring after a 55% first half, and went 12 of 29 (41.4%) from beyond the arc.  Justin Hinds tied the contest 39-39 with 2 minutes left in the first half, but the Falcons did not score again to give the Bulldogs a 44-39 edge into the break. There were 10 lead changes and four ties in the first half and Air Force didn’t trail by more than six points.  Air Force travels to Phoenix on Tuesday to face Mountain West newcomer Grand Canyon at 7 p.m. MT.  The Falcons had a full week of practice last week, allowing them to go back to the basics.  “It was fun and that’s what we are trying to focus on,” Jordan said. “With young players sometimes they think everything is supposed to be about fun. That’s a big part of it, but it’s a lot more fun when you’re focused and have a collective goal. Going back to basics showed up in the first half but we still have work to do to maintain that for 40 minutes.” ...read more read less