AIR FORCE ACADEMY - Try to tell the Air Force Falcons that the National Invitation Tournament doesn't matter.

Try to tell their fans, the ones who engulfed the Clune Arena court in a human wave of uninhibited joy Wednesday night.

Try to tell the six key seniors who will enjoy the fast life in the Big Apple next week, noshing on New York-style pizza and gawking at the skyscrapers.

The cadets, two weeks ago heartbroken by their self-inflicted omission from the NCAA Tournament, beat DePaul 52-51 in a riveting NIT third-round game at a Clune Arena gone bananas.

The Falcons will face Clemson in the semifinals Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York, with West Virginia and Mississippi State playing in the other semifinal. The NIT title game is set for Thursday night.

Air Force is headed east because of another crafty, workmanlike performance. But the drama in the packed-to-the-rafters arena was ratcheted up far higher than in the Falcons' first two NIT games, which became blowouts not long after tipoff.

This one was infinitely more difficult, the cadets trailing for good chunks of the game. In the end, though, it was senior Jacob Burtschi sending the deafening crowd into delirium when he made a layup off an excellent Tim Anderson drive-and-dish with 7.7 seconds left.

Burtschi's basket gave Air Force a 52-51 lead, and after he missed a free throw, the Blue Demons had one more chance. Air Force had fouls to give and fouled DePaul twice before finally clinching the New York trip when a desperation three-pointer by Draelon Burns from the right corner rimmed out at the buzzer.

" 'TA' (Anderson) did an unbelievable job getting to the cup and drawing guys to him," Burtschi said of his winning shot. "Our team did a great job staying with it. This is the greatest team I've ever been a part of."

The game-ending miss by Burns, who scored a game- best 18 points, continued a remarkable two-week turnaround for the Falcons. Two weeks ago in Las Vegas, their NCAA Tournament chances fizzled with a first-round loss to Wyoming in the Mountain West Conference tournament.

"We could've given it up when we missed our chance to play in the NCAAs," Burtschi said.

"We could've just said, 'Let's get this over with.' But we looked at the NIT as another chance to show what we're made of, and we embraced it."

So did Air Force's fans, and the Falcons needed every bit of the crowd's mojo to overcome a resilient DePaul team.

"I knew this game would come down to the end," AFA coach Jeff Bzdelik said. "DePaul's an excellent basketball team. There was no quit in them."

DePaul, in fact, led for a good part of the second half, the Blue Demons going up by seven at one point. But the Falcons kept chipping away, finally tying the score at 41 with nine minutes left before DePaul went back up by four.

A crucial Dan Nwaelele three-pointer from the right wing gave Air Force a 50-48 lead with 2:18 left. After DePaul's Wilson Chand- ler answered with a three of his own, the teams traded turnovers and missed shots until Burtschi's double- pump layup went in off the glass with 7.7 seconds remaining.

Moments later, the reborn cadets had finished the job.

"I'm just so happy for our players and our fans," said Bzdelik, who is rumored to be on the University of Colorado's short list to replace Ricardo Patton but didn't mind making the Buffaloes wait until after the New York trip. "These guys are incredible. They deserved a reward like this."

Broadway bound. The Falcons like the sound of it.

DEPAUL (20-14) - Clarke 1-1 1-1 3, Chandler 4-10 0-0 12, Thompson 0-2 0-0 0, Burns 6-12 1-2 18, Mejia 3-6 1-2 7, Currie 2-2 0-0 5, Green 0-5 0-0 0, Clinkscales 0-0 0-0 0, Heard 2-4 0-0 4, Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Butler 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 19-43 3-5 51.

AIR FORCE (26-8) - Burtschi 6-16 1-2 13, Nwaelele 3-7 2-2 10, Welch 5-9 0-2 10, McCraw 4-8 2-2 13, Anderson 2-5 0-0 4, Henke 0-4 0-0 0, Teets 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 1-1 0-0 2, Frye 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-51 5-8 52.

Halftime - Air Force 29-26. Three- point attempts - DePaul 10-21 (Burns 5-10, Chandler 4-7, Currie 1-1, Heard 0-1, Mejia 0-2), Air Force 5-17 (McCraw 3-4, Nwaelele 2-4, Welch 0-1, Anderson 0-1, Henke 0-1, Frye 0-1, Burtschi 0-5). Fouled out - None. Rebounds - DePaul 34 (Chandler 10), Air Force 25 (Burtschi, McCraw 8). Assists - DePaul 12 (Currie 6), Air Force 13 (Burtschi 4). Total fouls - DePaul 10, Air Force 12. A - 5,672. A - 5,672.

holtzr@RockyMountainNews.com Air Force 52, DePaul 51

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