"All I was thinking is I had to make these," said Plaisted, who made all four of his free throws in the closing nine minutes.

This is when Young took control of the game, scoring eight straight points on four consecutive Cougar possessions to put BYU ahead 56-55 with 5:07 to play. In that stretch, BYU outscored Air Force 18-4.

The Falcons had no answer for Young, failing to complete their patented drives and misfiring from the 3-point line. After Jacob Birtschi knocked down a trey at 4:50 to give the Falcons a 58-56 lead, the Cougars scored the next six points and held AFA scoreless.

The comeback from 11 down was nothing new, said Ainge.

"We've been doing that all year, sometimes it's worked, sometimes it hasn't," he said. "We've been fighting all year. Coach Rose has been telling us in every practice, in every huddle to keep fighting, keep fighting and the score will take care of itself. That's what happened."

The Cougars outshot the Falcons 51 to 45 percent from the field including 57 to 38 percent from beyond the arc. After getting out-rebounded in the first half 15-12, the Cougars, thanks to Young's dominance in the final three minutes, held the edge on the boards 29-25.

The loss ended AFA's 30-game win streak, enabling the Cougars to post the best home record in the nation with a win over Utah on Saturday.

The Falcons have now gone 3-4 in their last seven games, a disappointing end to the careers of this senior laden and ranked squad.

"Everybody is so worried about the consequence of each and every game," said AFA coach Jeff Bzdelik. "Let's worry about playing the game. That's what I told my team. All of that other stuff will take care of itself. Hey, BYU is 22-7 ... we're 23-7, RPI, strength of schedule ... we're all in the same ballpark. Yeah, we've hit a couple of bumps here, but you know what, everybody hits some bumps. We're going to have to respond in the tournament."

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com