LAS VEGAS—Four players scored in double digits to give Air Force its first conference win of the year as it beat Colorado State 71-67 in the opening round of the Mountain West Conference Championship tournament Wednesday.
The ninth-seeded Falcons (10-20) advance to face the conference’s top seed, No. 25 BYU, in the tournament’s quarterfinals Thursday in Las Vegas. Air Force had gone 16 games without a conference win in the regular season.
“We’ve been so close the last three or four games and really in every game the last nine or 10,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. “They stayed the course.”
Air Force trailed nearly the entire first half and much of the second, until Evan Washington hit a 3-pointer as part of a 16-5 run that gave the Falcons their first lead since the opening bucket.
Washington and Andrew Henke each finished with 18 points, while Anwar Johnson had 15 and Grant Parker added 12.
“It’s like getting a big burden off of our back,” Washington said.
Eighth-seeded Colorado (9-22, 4-12 MWC) pulled to within a point three times after losing the lead, but was unable to retake it.
“We just couldn’t get defensive stops,” said Willis Gardner, who scored 11 points for Colorado State.
“It seemed like they scored every time they wanted to score, and we couldn’t get good shots,” Gardner said.
The Rams’ Marcus Walker led all scorers with 20 points.
Despite being outshot from the field, Colorado State led 33-30 at halftime by drawing fouls and making 12 of 16 free throws.
The Falcons shot poorly from outside, but kept the game close with several lay-ups, dunks and other inside shots.
Air Force shot over 60 percent for the game with 30 inside points.
“Air Force shouldn’t do that to you. If they are doing that to you, that’s how you lose,” Colorado State coach Tim Miles said. “That’s a recipe for disaster.”
The Falcons improved to 1-9 all-time in the Mountain West Conference tournament and 5-22 in conference postseason play. They had lost 16 consecutive opening-round league tournament games.
