In a game that shouldn't have been close, Tulsa gave Air Force life, and it ended in a disaster.

Key shots went in-and-out in the final minute for TU, and an Air Force cadet was left wide open for a three with Tulsa up by two.

What resulted was a heartbreaking 59-58 loss to Air Force Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of 2,538.

With TU Leading 58-56 and less than a minute on the clock, Tim Dalger's close-in backboard shot spun out and looked like it went out-of-bounds off an Air Force defender. But the original call of the ball to Air Force with 38.9 seconds left stood after the officials looked at it on the monitor.

The TU crowd saw the replay on the video board at the game and didn't agree, voicing their displeasure.

On the ensuing possession, Camden Vander Zwaag hit his three-pointer with 24 seconds remaining, giving Air Force the 59-58 lead. After a Tulsa time-out at 21.3 seconds remaining, Sam Griffin milked the clock down to under 10 seconds before driving the ball trying to create a shot.

Griffin's shot from about 10 feet hit the front rim, back rim, and popped out with a second remaining. No tip-in for TU, and Air Force left celebrating a game they were fortunate to win.

"Sam's shot just went in-and-out," said TU coach Frank Haith. "He had a good look at it, a clean look, and just missed it."

Tulsa (1-1) was led by Griffin, who was often spectacular with 21 points, going 5 of 8 on three's and 8 of 16 from the floor. Jeriah Horne added 15 points and 9 rebounds.

The Golden Hurricane shot just 37.3 percent from the field, while the Falcons shot 49 percent while outrebounding Tulsa 34-27. But Tulsa won the turnover battle 19-8.

A frustrating first half saw TU start extremely slow, trailing 16-9 before going on a 14-2 run to take a 23-18 lead with 5:26 left in the half. Griffin got hot, hitting three consecutive three-pointers to jump start the Golden Hurricane.

But just like that, Tulsa's offense went cold, and TU trailed 30-25 at halftime.

"Too much standing around in the first half," Haith said.

Dalger was inserted into the lineup to start the second half, replacing Curtis Haywood, and TU came out a different team. A steal and subsequent layup by Keyshawn Embery-Simpson 19 seconds into the half ignited the Golden Hurricane.

"I thought we needed a little spark with our starting lineup there in the second half, and Tim did a good job," Haith said.

That started an 11-0 run to start the half, and TU was suddenly up 36-30 less than three minutes into the half. Tulsa increased the lead to 46-35 at the midway point in the half and looked like it was going to blow Air Force out.

But poor shot selection and poor defense got Air Force back in the game, and the Falcons finally tied the game at the 3:21 and 1:49 marks. Each time Tulsa responded until the end of the game.

"When we went up 11, we took some plays off on offense," Haith said. "Our veteran guys have got to play better. We had a veteran guy get back-cut, another veteran guy didn't guard the ball and let him drive on him. We just didn't do what we needed to do with some of our veteran guys.

"And we missed a lot of chippies around the basket. A lot of bunnies."

Air Force (5-20 in 2020-2021) amazingly had no players in double-figures, with Vander Zwaag hitting 3 of 4 three-pointers as one of three Falcons with 9 points.

Tulsa played much of the end of the second half with a small lineup of Horne, Griffin, Dalger, Darien Jackson, and Embery-Simpson. The noteworthy exception was on Air Force's game-winning possession, Griffin was subbed out for Haywood.

Dalger ended up with 4 points and 6 rebounds in 21 minutes. Jackson was 4 of 7 for 8 points, and Embery-Simpson had 6 points on 2 of 3 from the field.

Playing against the deliberate, back-cutting "Princeton" offense that Air Force runs can be maddening, especially when they use most of the shot clock on each possession and limit the number of possessions per game.

But still, this was a tough one to lose since Tulsa should be a much better team than Air Force.

The game was part of the Sunshine Slam tournament, where Tulsa will play in Daytona Beach, Florida next Saturday and Sunday.

Tulsa next plays Monday night at home against Oregon State, a team that made the Elite 8 last season.