AIR FORCE ACADEMY — Just another game?

OK, Jeff Bzdelik admits he might not have been telling the truth when he said Thursday night's game at Air Force wouldn't mean any more than any other game. The man who invested two years of his coaching career with the Falcons knew Thursday night's return would be a difficult one.

"My emotions were all over the map," Bzdelik said after his Colorado Buffaloes ground out a 60-50 win. "I love this place. I have so many friends here. The student body is awesome. ... It was a great atmosphere."

Great atmosphere indeed, but by no means was the Clune Arena greeting a warm welcome for the ex-AFA coach. For the near-sellout crowd, the game was a grudge match, a chance for those who felt jilted by Bzdelik's departure last spring to voice their opinion.

That opinion rang out loud and clear. The AFA student section wore T-shirts emblazoned with "Welcome back, Go Falcons" on the back, and a picture of Bzdelik with a large red "X" on the front. "I wanted one of those T-shirts, but they said I had to buy it," Bzdelik joked.

One sign in the stands read, "Judas. Benedict Arnold. Robert Hanssen. Et tu, Bzdelik?" A Colorado Springs newspaper columnist even got into the act, calling Bzdelik a "snarling creature ... fueled by rage, ready to attack."

But in the end, Bzdelik's Buffs had the last word. They opened up an early lead, withstood an early second-half surge by the Falcons, and collected their second road victory of the year — doubling the number from all of last season.

No doubt, Colorado's players wanted to win for their coach. But even more importantly, the Buffs wanted to atone for a 84-46 loss to AFA last year, when Bzdelik had a seat on the opposite bench.

"The biggest thing was the game last year," said CU guard Marcus Hall, who scored 18 points while playing all 40 minutes of the game. "We remembered it. We marked it on our calendars. When you lose by 40, you remember it."

The Buffs will remember this one, but for all the right reasons. A year ago, this was the kind of game the Buffs gave away all too often. They had a chance in this one to do the same thing — but didn't.

After leading by as much as eight at several junctures in the first half, CU started slowly after intermission. Air Force cut the lead to one, 26-25, and the raucous crowd sensed a major change in momentum.

But the Buffs didn't flinch. Hall hit a 3-pointer to bump the lead to four. A minute later, he drained another trey, followed by a Richard Roby (21 points) three, and the Falcons never came closer than four again.

Even when Roby left with his fourth foul and 8:21 still left on the clock, the Buffs held their composure. The defense rose to the occasion, holding AFA to just three points over the ensuing five minutes. Hall picked up the offensive slack by scoring four points in Roby's absence, and also hitting freshman Levi Knutson on a beautiful drive-and-dish to set Knutson up for a wide-open 3-pointer.

It's the kind of effort in the face of adversity that should serve this team well in the future. Anyone who remembers last season remembers this much: a hostile crowd, a run by the opponent and CU's leading scorer on the bench would have spelled disaster.

This time, however, the Buffs held up. That's a huge confidence boost for such situations down the line.

"I challenged them," Bzdelik said. "I challenged to face those kinds of things and step up. I told our players I've never seen a fan come out of the stands and block a shot or get a rebound. I told them to embrace this atmosphere."

Embrace it they did — and they had the last word in the process.