NIT roundup

Temple defeats Fresno St., possibly ends Tark's career

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Lynn Greer scored 37 points, including six 3-pointers, as Temple defeated Fresno State 81-75 on Wednesday in the first round of the NIT.

Temple (16-14) advanced to Tuesday's second round at Louisville. The Cardinals defeated Princeton 66-65 in another first-round game.

Fresno State's season ended amid uncertainty over the future of coach Jerry Tarkanian, who is not expected to return next season.

Grabbing a microphone before leaving the court, Temple coach John Chaney praised Tarkanian to Bulldogs fans gathered around the coach.

"I'm saddened to see him leave ... and we all wish him well," Cheney said. "Tark, I love you."

The university has made no official announcement regarding Tarkanian.

Temple led throughout the second half, but Chris Sandy's 3-pointer with 3:20 left pulled Fresno State to 69-67. Greer responded with a driving layup and two free throws on consecutive possessions.

Fresno State (19-15) never got within three points the rest of the way.

Greer sealed the victory on an uncontested dunk with 31 seconds left.

Damon Jackson led the Bulldogs with 23 points, including seven 3-pointers, and Melvin Ely added 19. David Hawkins had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Owls.

Temple led 36-35 at halftime, thanks largely to Greer's 20 points, including 6-for-7 from 3-point range.

South Carolina 74, Virginia 67

Aaron Lucas scored 16 points and Jamel Bradley added 14 for South Carolina (19-14), which shot 61 percent in the second half. The Gamecocks will meet UNLV in the second round.

Virginia (17-12) has lost 12 straight postseason games.

South Carolina, down 33-27 at halftime, used an 8-0 run midway through the second half to take the lead for good.

Lucas scored on a 12-foot jumper to make it 54-52, and added a three-point play. Moments later, Bradley hit a 3-pointer to make it 60-52.

South Carolina held Virginia's Roger Mason Jr. scoreless in the first half. He finished with eight points, the first time he has been under 10 points all season.

Travis Watson led Virginia with 26 points and 13 rebounds. He was 11-of-13 from the field.

LSU 63, Iowa 61

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Ronald Dupree scored 19 points and hit the go-ahead basket with 1:22 left as LSU beat Iowa 63-61 Wednesday night in the first round of the NIT.

LSU (19-14) blew a nine-point lead in the first half. But the Tigers came back from eight down in the final 20 minutes to end a disappointing season for Iowa (19-16), which lost 13 of its last 20 and finished eighth in the Big Ten after being expected to contend for the title.

Dupree's 17-footer from the right side gave LSU a 58-56 lead. Iowa's Glen Worley then lost the ball going up for a shot, LSU's Torris Bright picked it up, sped down the court and dunked to make it 60-56 with 58.4 seconds remaining.

Duez Henderson's two free throws drew Iowa to 60-58, and the Hawkeyes got a chance to tie when Bright made only one of two free throws to put LSU up 61-58. But Luke Recker, who won two games for Iowa in the Big Ten tournament with last-second shots, missed a 23-footer from the right side.

Jermaine Williams made two final free throws for LSU, rendering a 3-pointer by Iowa's Chauncey Leslie at the buzzer meaningless.

Bright finished with 18 points, 15 in the second half, and Williams scored 10. Pierre Pierce led Iowa with 13 points and Recker scored 12 but was only 4-of-16 from the field.

Syracuse 76, St. Bonaventure 66

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Preston Shumpert scored 28 points and Hakim Warrick had 14 as Syracuse beat St. Bonaventure 76-66 Wednesday night in the first round of the NIT.

The victory snapped a four-game losing streak for Syracuse (21-11), which had not won in the Carrier Dome since Feb. 4. Syracuse will play the winner of the Butler-Bowling Green game Thursday night, but the site of the Orangemen's second-round game was not yet determined.

St. Bonaventure (17-13) had been a menace all season with its long-range shooting. The Bonnies entered the game with 307, tops in the nation, but never found the range consistently on this night.

J.R. Bremer led the Bonnies with 29 points and Marques Green had 19.

St. Bonaventure finished 7-for-32 from long range and was done in by a barrage of five straight 3s by Syracuse in the second half.

After the Orangemen went 0-for-8 on 3-pointers in the first period, Shumpert and Kueth Duany each hit a pair to key an 18-9 spurt that gave Syracuse a 51-37 edge with 12:06 left.

The Bonnies fought back gamely behind Bremer and Green. A 3 by Green from the top of the key narrowed the gap to 61-54 with 4:51 left, but Shumpert's three-point play 11 seconds later nullified that.

Bremer, who was 2-for-13 to bring his 3-pointers for the season to 88, hit his final one from the left corner to again move the Bonnies within seven points. Again Shumpert answered with another 3 from the left corner with 3:34 left to make it 67-57 and the Bonnies were finished.

Dayton 80, Detroit 69

DAYTON, Ohio -- Ramod Marshall scored 23 points to lead Dayton to an 80-69 victory over Detroit on Wednesday night in the opening round of the NIT.

The Flyers advanced to a game Friday against Tennessee Tech, a 64-62 winner over Georgia State.

Marshall's play spoiled a 25-point performance by Detroit's Greg Grays. Willie Green added 18 points for the Titans.

Dayton (21-10) shot 52 percent from the field and 47 percent from behind the 3-point line, hitting seven of 15 3s.

Detroit (18-13) cut Dayton's lead to 68-64 with 4:30 remaining, but Brooks Hall responded with two 3-point baskets and a driving layup to put the game away for the Flyers.

In the first half, Dayton used a man-to-man defense, a motion offense and Marshall's 3-point touch to open a 13-point lead. But Grays scored 11 points in less than three minutes to cut Dayton's lead to five at the half.

Detroit knocked Dayton out of the NIT in the third round last year with a 59-42 victory.

Richmond 74, Wagner 67, OT

RICHMOND, Va. -- Mike Skrocki scored four straight points to give Richmond the lead late in overtime Wednesday night and the Spiders beat Wagner 74-67 in the first round of the NIT.

Richmond advanced to meet Montana State on Friday night.

The Spiders (20-13), who trailed by as many as 11 in the second half, were 9-for-10 from the free-throw line in the extra period, with Skrocki's two with 1:36 left giving them a 68-67 lead they never relinquished.

After Chris Jackson was called for goaltending with 1:08 remaining for Wagner (19-10), Skrocki scored on a driving bank shot with 48 seconds to play and Reggie Brown added four late points to seal the victory.

Brown led Richmond with 19 points and Skrocki had 17 on a night when Scott Ungerer and Jeff Myers fouled out for Richmond. Myers had eight points in the Spiders' second-half rally, and Ungerer is the team leader.

Wagner also lost its key player when scoring leader Jermaine Hall fouled out with 3:35 to play in overtime. Hall had 19 points, repeatedly hurting Richmond inside, and grabbed 11 rebounds. Jackson had 14 points.

Vanderbilt 59, Houston 50

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Reserve Sam Howard scored 14 points as Vanderbilt beat Houston 59-50 Wednesday night in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament.

Vanderbilt (17-14) will play Louisiana Tech in the first round, with the location and day to be decided later Wednesday night.

Houston (18-15) was making its first postseason appearance since 1993, and it showed. The Cougars had won six of their last nine games coming in but suddenly couldn't find the basket. They led only once in each half.

When Patrick Okafor hit the first of two free throws to put Houston up 37-36 with 9:32 left, Howard jumpstarted a 17-0 run with 11 points. His 3-pointer gave Vandy, which has NIT banners from a 1990 championship and a runner-up finish in 1994, a lead it wouldn't lose again.

Russell Lakey capped the run with a free throw for Vandy's biggest lead at 53-37 with 5:34 remaining.

Houston had four players averaging in double figures, but only Louis Truscott came close to matching his usual production with 13 points as the Cougars shot only 30 percent (18-of-60).

Vanderbilt didn't shoot much better. Center Darius Coulibaly turned in his best game with a career-high 24 minutes and a season-best seven points in only his third start of the season.

Minnesota 96, New Mexico 62

MINNEAPOLIS -- Travarus Bennett had 23 points and 15 rebounds, and Jerry Holman scored a career-high 22 points Wednesday night as Minnesota dominated New Mexico inside in a 96-62 victory in the first round of the NIT.

The Golden Gophers (18-12) advance to the second round, where they'll play host Monday to either Richmond or Montana State.

Rick Rickert added 18 points for Minnesota, which closed the game with a 36-10 run over the last 10 minutes. The Lobos went scoreless for a six-minute stretch.

Ruben Douglas had three first-half 3-pointers among his 22 points for New Mexico (16-14), which finished its third straight season in the NIT under coach Fran Fraschilla. Eric Chatfield added 19 points for the Lobos, who lost their last four games and went 2-9 on the road this season.

Holman played well in spurts this year but faltered down the stretch -- scoring just 38 points over his last six games.

But he, Bennett and Rickert were too much for perimeter-oriented New Mexico to handle around the hoop. The Gophers outrebounded the Lobos 49-26.

Holman hit consecutive baskets, then got a steal to set up Kerwin Fleming's 3-pointer, which made it 74-55 Minnesota with 7:37 left and caused Williams Arena to erupt quite loudly for a crowd of 4,097.

Tennessee Tech 64, Georgia St. 62

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Cameron Crisp scored 17 points, including a leaning jumper with 4.8 seconds left, to give Tennessee Tech a 64-62 win over Georgia State on Wednesday night in the opening round of the NIT.

Tennessee Tech, which reached a postseason tournament for the first time since the 1985 NIT, advanced to a meeting Friday night with Dayton, an 80-69 winner over Detroit.

Georgia State (20-11) trailed most of the second half until rallying to take a 54-53 lead with 6:17 left as Tennessee Tech (25-6) didn't score for 31/2 minutes.

Jason Harrell ended the Golden Eagles' scoring drought with a 3-pointer. Tennessee Tech never trailed again.

Georgia State tied it at 60 on Lamont McIntosh's driving layup with 1:19 remaining and again at 62 after Bam Campbell scored.

Campbell was fouled on the play but missed the free throw, giving the ball back to Tennessee Tech.

The Golden Eagles let the clock run down before Crisp took an off-balance shot from the left wing. Georgia State got the ball back, but McIntosh threw the ball out of bounds.

Joey Westmoreland added 12 points for the Golden Eagles while Damien Kinloch had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Brent Jolly 10 points.

 

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