Falcons’ flight goes on

Jacob Burtschi scored 13 points, including the winning basket with 7.7 seconds left to send Air Force (26-8) to the NIT semifinals with a 52-51 win over DePaul (20-14) Wednesday night at Air Force Academy, Colo.

Draelon Burns, who scored 18 points and had five 3-pointers, rimmed out a 3-pointer at the buzzer after Burtschi missed a free throw following his layup.

The usually subdued crowd at Clune Arena stormed the court, their Falcons headed to the NIT Final Four and “New York, New York” playing over the loud speakers.

Matt McCraw also scored 13 points for the Falcons, who nearly saw their 33-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents snapped.

Clemson 74, Syracuse 70: At Clemson, S.C., K.C. Rivers scored a career-high 29 points to hold off a late Orange rally and lead the Tigers to victory.

Syracuse cut a 17-point Clemson lead to 69-68 in the final seconds, but it wasn’t enough.

The Tigers will move on to the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York where they will face Air Force. Mississippi State and West Virginia will play the other semifinal.

Terry expects to play

North Carolina senior Reyshawn Terry has been diagnosed with strep throat, but was expected to play against Southern California in Friday’s night East Regional semifinal.

Terry has been sick for nearly a week, starting when he missed the shootaround because of a headache and fever before UNC’s second-round win against Michigan State.

Memphis star practices

Memphis scoring leader Chris Douglas-Roberts, who sprained his left ankle last Sunday, took part in a private practice.

“He’s doing fine. He wants to play. If he’s capable of playing, he’ll play,” coach John Calipari said of tonight’s game against Texas A&M.

Off the court

Guards Avery Patterson and Ricky Torres will transfer from St. John’s following the spring semester. … After 32 years and 598 wins as a Division I head coach, Drake’s Tom Davis has decided to retire. … The University of New Mexico has been given permission to interview Iowa basketball coach Steve Alford about the Lobos’ head coaching vacancy. … Joe Scott has left Princeton and signed a five-year contract to become the new coach at Denver. … The University of Illinois will not discipline athletic director Ron Guenther for yelling at men’s basketball coach Bruce Weber and Illini players during the team’s NCAA tournament loss Friday.