AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.—Colorado College coach Andy Partee said his post-game locker room felt “like we’d just won the Super Bowl” after handing Air Force its first loss to a Division III school on Wednesday.
Nick Rose scored 18 points and Brady Ohlsen 14 as the Tigers rallied to upset Air Force 60-57 in overtime.
“This means a lot,” Partee said. “I told the seniors that I am proud of them, because they were freshmen with zero wins. Now, in their first game as seniors, they knock off a D-I, and that’s a heck of a lot of growth.
“It’s a win that paints a picture about the direction of our program.”
The Tigers (1-0), a Division III school, trailed 49-41 with 6:42 left in regulation before going on a 12-4 run to send the game into overtime tied at 53. In the extra period, Ryan Milne scored on a layup with 2:28 remaining to put Colorado College up 57-55, and a pair of free throws extended it to 59-55.
A jumper by Evan Washington pulled Air Force (1-1) within 59-57 with 10 seconds left. After another Colorado College free throw, Rose stole the ball on the Falcons’ final possession to seal the win.
“It’s a surreal feeling right now,” Rose said. “When we saw these guys on our schedule, we thought it’d be a good experience, but never really thought a W would be coming out of this. But 15 minutes into the game, when we were right there with them, we started to really believe with our hearts that we could beat these guys.”
Tom Fow had 17 points and eight rebounds for Air Force before fouling out with 3:54 left in overtime. Washington added 13 points, and Taylor Broekhuis had 10 points and a career-high nine rebounds for the Falcons.
It was Air Force’s first loss to a non-Division I school since falling to Division II Denver University 63-53 in 2001.
“They just out-scrapped us,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. “They played with an arrogance about them, and they deserved to win. I think our guys became anxious. We had numerous open looks and layups, but they just didn’t go down. You hate to lose a game like this, but you hope you learn from it.”
After a lethargic first half, the Falcons clamped down on defense in the second half. They held the Tigers to 8 of 29 shooting, including 2 of 10 from 3-point range, but could not hold their lead.
The Tigers’ late rally gave them a 53-51 lead on a hook shot by Ohlsen with 2:14 remaining in regulation. Broekhuis tied the game with a pair of free throws with 1:15 remaining. Rose had a chance to win it in regulation, but his 3-point attempt rimmed out at the buzzer.
Air Force helped itself at the free-throw line, hitting 16 of 17 shots, but shot 37.3 percent (19 for 51) from the field. The Falcons started cold, hitting just one of their first seven shots and missing their first seven 3-point attempts.
Colorado College also had its problems from the field, shooting 32.8 percent (19 for 58).
In the first half, Colorado College got out to a 27-21 lead, but Air Force closed the half with a 6-0 run that tied the game at 27-27.
