Air Force 77, Niagara 71

By foxsports
Published

Evan Washington scored 19 points and Tom Fow added 17 as Air Force held off a late rally by Niagara for a 77-71 victory in the first round of the Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational on Monday night.

Taylor Broekhuis had 12 points for the Falcons (7-4), who outshot the Purple Eagles 54.2 percent-37.5 percent.

Tyrone Lewis led Niagara (8-5) with 16 points.

Air Force will play UTEP in the invitational championship game Tuesday.

The Falcons led by as many as 10 and were up 72-65 with 1:56 to play when the Purple Eagles stormed back. Niagara scored the next seven points to pull within 72-71 with 41 second remaining but couldn't get any closer.

Air Force hit 5 of 6 free throws to end the game.