Air Force 71, Colorado St. 67

Published Mar. 12, 2009 12:17 a.m. ET

foxsports

Four players scored in double digits to give Air Force its first conference win of the year as it beat Colorado State 71-67 on Wednesday in the opening round of the Mountain West Conference Championship tournament. The ninth-seeded Falcons (10-20) move on and must face the conference's top seed, No. 25 BYU in the tournament's quarterfinals Thursday. Andrew Henke and Evan Washington each scored 18 points for Air Force, while Anwar Johnson had 15 and Grant Parker added 12. Washington's 3-pointer with just over 11 minutes left was part of a 16-5 Air Force run that gave the Falcons their first lead since the opening bucket. The eighth-seeded Rams (9-22) pulled to within a point three times after that, but were unable to retake the lead. Marcus Walker led Colorado State with 20 points. Colorado State led 33-30 at halftime despite being outshot from the field.