During its two games in El Paso, Taylor Broekhuis didn’t play because of a concussion. Michael Lyons missed one game with a lingering knee injury and barely played in the other.

Those absences might help Air Force in the long run. The Falcons’ bench is deeper than it has been all year as they head into conference play.

Taylor Stewart, Mike Fitzgerald and Zach Bohannon, who played his first game of the season in El Paso after a thumb injury knocked him out of the first 10 games of the year, filled in well. Broekhuis and Lyons were back on Sunday and looked sharp, and now coach Jeff Reynolds has more options.

“We learned we’re a little deeper now,” Reynolds said.

Bohannon gives the Falcons a good option off the bench behind Broekhuis. He scored 11 points against Florida A&M.

Broekhuis played well in his return, hitting six-of-seven shots for 15 points. The Falcons have had issues with concussions the past two seasons, but Broekhuis said he felt good.

“The trainers did a good job getting me back into practice and slowly getting me ready for a full-contact game,” Broekhuis said. “Once I got in there I really didn’t have any second thoughts about getting hit.”

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.