Las Vegas, NV -- (Sports Network) - Evan Washington and Andrew Henke scored 18 points each, as ninth-seeded Air Force collected its first-ever win in the Mountain West Conference Tournament with a 71-67 victory over eighth-seeded Colorado State in the opening round of the tourney.

Washington added seven rebounds for the Falcons (10-20), who will play top- seeded BYU in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Anwar Johnson ended with 15 points and Grant Parker finished with 12 for Air Force, which had lost all of its conference games this season, but on Wednesday snapped an 17-game overall skid, winning for the first time since December 28 at Dartmouth.

Marcus Walker poured in a game-high 20 points and six rebounds to pace the Rams (9-22), who finished the regular season with three consecutive losses. Willis Gardner had 11 points and five helpers. Andy Ogide ended with 10 points in defeat.

Trailing 45-38 with over 13 minutes left in the final frame, the Falcons ripped off 10 straight points to take a three-point lead. Parker's layup culminated the surge with just over 10 minutes remaining.

Ahead 57-55 with over two minutes to go, Air Force essentially sealed the victory with five straight points. Washington made a pair of foul shots to cap off the flurry with just over a minute left.

Colorado State never got closer than four points the remainder of the way.

The Falcons made 60.5 percent of their shots from the field in the game, while the Rams shot 45.7 percent. Air Force had 30 points in the paint, compared to 16 for Colorado State.

The Rams shot 12-of-16 (75 percent) from the stripe in the first half to take a 33-30 edge into the locker room. Meanwhile, the Falcons went just 2-of-4 (50 percent) from the foul line in the half. But Air Force made up for that by shooting 61.9 percent from the field, compared to 45 percent for Colorado State.