NEW YORK - This is the "other" tournament, the one no one is supposed to really care that much about. Nick Welch obviously didn't get that memo or else he wouldn't have left half his supply of blood on the Madison Square Garden court Tuesday night.

Welch's effort, which included making all seven of his shots, a broken nose and lasting memories of his trip to New York wasn't enough as the Falcons fell to Clemson 68-67 in the National Invitation Tournament semifinals.

His 16 points led four Falcons in double figures. Matt McCraw scored 15, Dan Nwaelele had 13 and Jacob Burtschi had 12.

The loss ended the careers of a senior class that left an indelible imprint on the program, setting records for victories in each of the past two seasons, winning postseason games for the first time since 1990 and going 57-2 at Clune Arena in their last 59 games.

It also ramped up the speculation about the future of coach Jeff Bzdelik, who is considered a strong candidate for the vacant University of Colorado job.

Bzdelik brushed aside questions about his future, joking "I know my future right now: dinner with my wife."

In a more serious tone, he said, "That's not a question that needs to be addressed right now. It's for this basketball team; this is their moment."

Air Force made the most of its moment even in defeat, nearly stealing the game in the final minutes. Nwaelele's three-pointer with 1.2 seconds left cut the margin to one, but Clemson successfully inbounded the ball to end the game and advance to the final against West Virginia, semifinal winner over Mississippi State.

Air Force never led and trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half.

But the Falcons fought back, tying the score 51-51 on Welch's three-pointer with just less than 7 minutes remaining. But they weren't able to take the lead and eventually succumbed to a team that was bigger, faster and deeper.

"I can't say enough about them," Bzdelik said of his team. "Unbelievable character, unbelievable perseverance. As you saw (Tuesday night), there's no quit in these young men."

Clemson's K.C. Rivers, held to 1-of-5 shooting in the first half, made four three-pointers in the second half, then sank two free throws with 45 seconds left after Air Force had closed the gap to five points. He finished with 19 points, leading four Tigers in double figures.

Air Force looked sunk with four minutes left in the first half after Cliff Hammonds buried the second of consecutive three-pointers to give Clemson a 28-13 lead. The Falcons already were playing without Welch, who had caught an elbow in the nose two minutes earlier and left the court bleeding.

"Yeah, they snapped it back into place," Welch said almost nonchalantly after the game. "It's my first time playing in Madison Square Garden and I don't want to mess up the court, but there I am bent over in front of the cheerleaders, bleeding."

Searching for something to snap his team out of its funk, Bzdelik went to a press and it paid dividends immediately.

Three straight turnovers by the Tigers yielded eight points in a row for the Falcons, and the run could have extended even further if McCraw had been able to corral a defensive rebound.

Instead, Vernon Hamilton snuck in behind him and stripped him of the ball, and after Clemson ran down the clock, Trevor Booker scored in the lane with 5 seconds left to give the Tigers a 30-22 halftime lead.

"They are not the kind of team that's going to quit," Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said of the Falcons. "And as the game goes on, their style wears on you more and more. I thought we really showed some mental toughness and a desire to win this thing."

Clemson 68, Air Force 67

		FG	FT	Reb
CLEMSON	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	Pts
Mays	26	4-6	1-2	3-6	1	3	9
Rivers	35	6-11	2-4	2-6	1	2	19
Booker	29	6-8	1-4	3-6	0	4	13
Hamilton	35	4-8	3-7	1-3	8	2	11
Hammonds	36	4-8	0-0	0-3	5	1	11
Perry	8	0-0	0-0	1-2	0	0	0
Sykes	10	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	2	0
Tyler	10	0-1	0-0	0-2	1	1	0
Potter	11	2-2	0-0	1-1	0	2	5
Totals	200	26-44	7-17	11-30	16	17	68

Percentages - FG .591, FT .412. Three-point goals - 9-20, .450 (Rivers 5-10, Hammonds 3-7, Potter 1-1, Hamilton 0-1, Tyler 0-1). Team rebounds - 1. Blocked shots - 3 (Perry 2, Booker). Turnovers - 17 (Hamilton 5, Hammonds 4, Mays 3, Perry 2, Rivers 2, Tyler). Steals - 6 (Booker 3, Hamilton, Hammonds, Rivers). Technicals - None.

		FG	FT	Reb
AIR FORCE	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	Pts
Burtschi	40	5-11	1-1	2-8	3	5	12
Nwaelele	35	5-11	2-4	2-4	2	1	13
Welch	31	7-7	0-1	0-1	1	3	16
Anderson	39	2-7	0-0	2-5	3	0	6
McCraw	38	5-9	2-4	1-2	5	4	15
Henke	10	1-4	1-2	0-0	0	0	3
Teets	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
Frye	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Johnson	4	1-1	0-2	0-0	0	0	2
Totals	200	26-50	6-14	9-23	14	14	67

Percentages - FG .520, FT .429. Three-point goals - 9-23, .391 (McCraw 3-6, Welch 2-2, Anderson 2-4, Nwaelele 1-4, Burtschi 1-5, Henke 0-2). Team rebounds - 3. Blocked shots - 1 (Welch). Turnovers -11 (Welch 3, McCraw 2, Burtschi 2, Nwaelele 2, Frye, Anderson). Steals - 9 (Burtschi 2, Nwaelele 2, Johnson 2, McCraw, Anderson, Henke). Technicals -None.

Clemson......3038 - 68

Air Force......2245 - 67

A - 7,313. Officials - Bob Donato, R. Greenwood, J.D. Colins.

West Virginia 63, Mississippi State 62

Darris Nichols hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to lift the Mountaineers past the Bulldogs and into the title game of the NIT.

West Virginia came back from a 14-point deficit in the second half.

WEST VIRGINIA (26-9) - Nichols 7-13 1-2 17, Young 6-13 0-0 16, Summers 2-6 0-0 4, Alexander 1-5 0-0 2, Ruoff 3-7 4-5 10, Smalligan 1-7 3-5 6, Butler 2-9 2-4 6, Mazzulla 1-3 0-0 2, Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-63 10-16 63.

MISSISSIPPI STATE (21-14) - Ri. Delk 3-7 2-2 8, Slater 7-12 1-1 18, Rhodes 4-12 2-2 10, Re. Delk 2-5 0-0 6, Gordon 4-11 3-4 11, Hansbrough 0-2 1-2 1, Stewart 3-7 0-0 8, Varnado 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-56 9-11 62.

Halftime - Mississippi State 32-28. Three-point attempts - West Virginia 7-23 (Young 4-8, Nichols 2-5, Smalligan 1-5, Alexander 0-1, Ruoff 0-2, Butler 0-2), Mississippi State 7-19 (Slater 3-5, Re. Delk 2-4, Stewart 2-5, Rhodes 0-1, Hansbrough 0-1, Gordon 0-1, Ri.Delk 0-2). Fouled out - None. Rebounds - West Virginia 41 (Summers 9), Mississippi State 38 (Rhodes 10). Assists - West Virginia 13 (Ruoff 4), Mississippi State 13 (Gordon 9). Total fouls - West Virginia 14, Mississippi State 18. A - 7,313.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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