Despite career night for Jackson, Tulsa survives

Jhivvan Jackson did all he could for UT-San Antonio, but it just wasn't enough.

Junior Etou scored 20 points, Sterling Taplin added 18 and Tulsa held on for a 100-96 victory at Reynolds Center.

Jackson, a freshman guard, scored a career-high 29 points, part of a 57-point night for the UTSA bench. The visitors got to within 93-88 on a 3-pointer from another freshman guard, Keaton Wallace, with 46 seconds left. Tulsa hit 11-of-14 free throws over the final two minutes to seal the win.

Both teams shot the ball well in the opening half. UTSA made 47%  of its field goal attempts and knocked down seven three-pointers, while Tulsa hit half of its field goals attempts (21-of-42) and three-point tries (7-of-14) and led 53-45 at the break.

Tulsa led by as much as 13 points in the second half, the last instance coming at the 3:57 mark on an Etou free throw.

Jackson, a Trinity High School (Euless, Texas) graduate, is averaging 18.4 points through his first five collegiate games.

Elsewhere in the American Athletic Conference...

No. 8 Wichita State 112, Savannah State 66

Samajae-Haynes Jones poured in 31 points off the bench to lead six in double figures as the Shockers rolled.

Haynes-Jones, a first-year transfer from Hutchinson Community College (Hutchinson, Kansas), went 11-of-17 from the field and added five assists. Darral Willis, also a reserve, added 14 points, while Rashard Kelly and Austin Reaves scored 12 each.

Savannah State came into the night last of the 351 Division 1 teams in scoring defense and the numbers didn't improve on Tuesday. Wichita had 25 assists on 41 field goals and shot 54% from the field. The Shockers out-rebounded their over-matched visitors from south Georgia 67-31.

Savannah State, which got a career-high-tying 18 points from Alante Fenner, knocked down 13 3-pointers, but on 55 attempts.

SMU 95, UT Rio Grande Valley 64

The Mustangs had no trouble winning their 27th consecutive game at Moody Coliseum.

Shake Milton scored 22 points and Jarrey Foster added 19 for SMU, which hasn't dropped a game at home since an 82-77 loss to Tulsa in February, 2016.

Milton assisted on a 3-pointer by Ethan Chargois with about 6 1/2 minutes to play in the opening half that put the Mustangs up 35-14. The lead wouldn't fall below 20 points the rest of the night.

Jimmy Whitt added 18 points on 9-of-12 shooting (part of a 55% day from the field for SMU), and Chargois scored 15.

Taylor's big day leads Aces past UNCC

Ryan Taylor scored 29 points and Evansville improved to 2-0 with a 68-55 victory over NC Central in a Monday matinee.

Taylor hit half of his 16 field goal attempts, part of a 51% shooting performance by the hosts. The junior knocked down consecutive three-pointers to give Evansville its largest first half lead at 35-18 with just under five minutes until halftime.

Evansville led 48-30 at the 15:28 mark of the second half on a pair of Taylor free throws.

It was Taylor's highest-scoring output since a 38-point effort against Norfolk State in December, 2016. 

NC Central, coming off a MEAC championship and appearance in last year's First Four, fell to 0-2 despite shooting 47% from the field. The Eagles turned the ball over 26 times.

Kent State transfer Raasean Davis led the visitors from Durham, North Carolina with 12 points. Sophomore Dru Smith handed out a career-high 11 assists for Evansville.

GSU men clinch Sun Belt regular season title, top Southern

ATLANTA, Ga. - The Georgia State basketball team was missing an important contributor when Ryan Harrow went out with an injury midway through the first half. But GSU still had R.J. Hunter, and as a result, the Panthers are still the regular season kings of the Sun Belt Conference.

Hunter scored 23 of his 35 points in the second half and was a perfect, 16-of-16 from the free-throw line for the game as GSU repeated as regular season conference champions with a 72-55 victory over Georgia Southern at a raucous GSU Sports Arena on Saturday afternoon.

GSU (22-9, 15-5) already had a bye to the semifinals of the league tournament wrapped up before the day began, but now the Atlanta school will be the top seed during the league tournament in New Orleans hoping to get to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2000-2001 season.

The regular season crown also guaranteed GSU a spot in the National Invitation Tournament should it suffer a defeat in New Orleans.

Georgia Southern (21-8, 14-6), which will be the No. 2 seed and also not play until Saturday’s semifinals, never led, though the Statesboro school pulled to within 38-34 on consecutive 3-pointers by Jelani Hewitt and Curtis Diamond 4 1/2 minutes into the second half.

The Eagles wouldn’t get any closer and Hunter was the main reason why.

The junior hit a jumper, then two free throws and buried a pair of threes, the last of which put the Panthers up 48-34 at the 12:22 mark. It was down to a 10-point cushion at 54-44 when Hewitt (team-high 17 points) knocked down a pair of charity shots, but Isaiah Dennis had a beautiful, reverse lay-up turn into a three-point play and it was a 57-44 game at the 8:19 mark and GSU’s lead never fell below 12 points the rest of the day.

One of the reasons Dennis (five points on 2-of-3 shooting) and Rockdale High School graduate Kevin Ware (three points and two assists) played a bit more than usual was due to Harrow’s injury.

The senior guard went down with what appeared to be a left hamstring injury with 7:53 to go in the first half and only returned for a brief moment later in the period. GSU coach Ron Hunter did not know the severity of Harrow’s injury postgame, though he did say he expected the Marietta native back at practice Sunday morning.

“Don’t know what the injury is (but) we expect him to be back,” Hunter said of Harrow, who was averaging a Sun Belt-best 20.8 points coming into the day.

“That’s my scoring partner, and when he’s down you just have to do a little more,” said R.J. Hunter, who was two points short of a season-high 37 points he scored against Troy on January 10.

Hunter took a bit to get going and he missed all four of his first-half three-point attempts, though his 6-for-6 effort at the line helped him go into halftime with 12 points and GSU up 32-21.

The Indianapolis native, who came to Atlanta with his father four years ago, knocked down a jumper nine seconds into the second half, a sign of things to come for the eventual two-time Sun Belt champions. Hunter checked out with 37 seconds to play to a thunderous ovation from a jubilant, sell-out crowd.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Ron Hunter. “Four years ago, as a family when we decided to make this journey, I had so many people tell me this was a bad move, a bad decision. First thing (R.J.) said (when he came out of the game) was ‘dad, we proved them wrong.’”

Curtis Washington, who along with Harrow and Ryann Green were honored on Senior Night, was a big contributor, adding 12 points on 6-of-11 shooting and grabbing three of GSU’s 14 offensive rebounds.

The Sun Belt Tournament, which is played at Lakefront Arena, opens Thursday with first-round play. With the victory, Green, a former walk-on, won his 84th game as a player, setting the school’s all-time four-year record.

“I came into this program, coach Hunter didn’t know who I was,” said an emotional Green. “All yesterday and all this morning, I thought ‘(Georgia State) gave me that chance’. It’s been a journey to say the least.”

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Davis, Tech women upend Duke to snap long losing spell

ATLANTA, Ga. - The Georgia Tech womens basketball team finally got the best of Duke.

Kaela Davis scored 24 points to lead four in double figures as the Yellow Jackets upset the Associated Press No. 16 Blue Devils 71-62 Thursday at McCamish Pavilion.

The win snapped a 37-game losing streak in the series for Tech (16-13, 6-9 Atlantic Coast Conference), which won against the Durham, North Carolina school for the first time since February, 1994.

“Especially with a young team…for them to be able to beat a team like Duke with that tradition, I think it’s a huge deal for us,” said Tech coach MaChelle Joseph, who as Tech coach had lost her first 16 games to Duke.

The Yellow Jackets led by as many as 18 points in the second half, then saw their cushion trimmed to six at 60-54 when Rebecca Greenwell knocked down a jumper for Duke (19-9, 10-5) at the 3:16 mark. Zaire O’Neil converted a lay-up and later, Katarina Vuckovic hit one of her three shots from three-point land and Tech led 65-54 with 1:48 to play.

Greenwell, who along with Azura Stevens led the Blue Devils with 16 points, hit a three to make it a 67-60 game with 48 seconds left, but over the next half-minute Duke had a pair of turnovers and a missed 3-pointer, helping Tech end a long series losing streak.

"It’s huge,” Davis said of the win. “We can figure out a way to fight against anybody.”

Duke scored the first four points of the game on lay-ups by Amber Henson and Elizabeth Williams, but starting with O’Neil’s bucket at the 18:12 mark, Tech went on a 21-4 run and held a 21-8 advantage after Aaliyah Whiteside buried a three at the 10:20 mark.

The Yellow Jackets stretched their lead out to 33-19 at halftime, holding Duke to just 21 percent (7-of-34) shooting through the first 20 minutes. O’Neil’s two free throws allowed Tech to build its largest cushion of the night at 37-19, which came 40 seconds into the second half. O’Neil, a 5-11 freshman from Newark, New Jersey, chipped in with 12 points, while Whiteside also added 12, Vuckovic, 11 and Rodreka Rogers grabbed 13 rebounds.

“I’ve never seen a rebounder like Rodreka Rogers,” said Joseph. “She’s undersized every night in this league and she’s able to come through on both ends of the floor.”

Cooper scored 11 points and Williams finished with a double-double (10 points and 14 rebounds), though the senior center hit just 4-of-12 from the field, well below her season shooting percentage of 51%.

Louisville comes back to defeat Tech in mens hoops

ATLANTA, Ga. - Not even a 13-point lead with less than 10 minutes to play was enough for Georgia Tech to pull off a major upset on Monday.

Terry Rozier scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half, including the go-ahead bucket with 20 seconds to play as Associated Press No. 17 Louisville snuck out of McCamish Pavilion with a 52-51 victory.

Rozier, who came into the night averaging 17.6 points, fourth-best in the Atlantic Coast Conference, converted a lay-in with one minute to play that gave the Cardinals (22-6, 10-5 ACC) a 48-46 advantage, their first lead since the 11:58 mark of the first half.

Three possessions later, Marcus Georges-Hunt drove for a bucket that tied the game with 24 seconds left, but almost immediately, Rozier went coast-to-coast for the go-ahead lay-in. Louisville coach Rick Pitino said he would’ve preferred to have Rozier bring the ball up slowly, but watched his sophomore guard drive nearly the length of the floor to put the visitors up for good.

“There was no stopping (Rozier) at that point, he was going,” said Pitino. “Offensively, I give our guys the green light.”

After Montrezl Harrell missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity, Travis Jorgensen drove and his running floater was blocked by Chinanu Onuaku. Wayne Blackshear rebounded and put the game away with a pair of free throws.

“Well, I’m as proud of this basketball team as (in) any game I’ve ever coached,” said Pitino, whose in his 29th season on the collegiate sidelines. “They just focused on one thing - winning the game.”

Tech (12-16, 3-13), which fell to 0-6 against top-20 teams, led 34-28 after Rozier knocked down a jumper at the 13:24 mark. Four different players scored as the Yellow Jackets followed with a 7-0 run and led 41-28 when Demarco Cox converted a tough shot in the lane over two Louisville players with 9:40 to go. Louisville held Tech to just four made field goals over the final 9 1/2 minutes.

“They’re learning valuable lessons, defense is winning it for (Louisville),” Pitino said.

Meanwhile, Rozier had an outstanding stretch, draining consecutive 3-pointers to pull the Cardinals to within 41-34 with just under eight minutes to go. After a time out, Harrell (lay-up) and Blackshear (3-pointer) capped an 11-0 spurt and it was a 41-39 contest at the 6:45 mark. It was still a three-point Tech lead when Blackshear knocked down a three to even things up 46-46. Georges-Hunt had one of his six turnovers on the ensuing possession, which preceded Rozier’s heroics.

Tech put on a riveting display of dunking ability through the first 20 minutes to build its halftime cushion.

The game was tied at 14-14 when the Yellow Jackets converted three consecutive dunks - Robert Sampson off a pass from Travis Jorgensen, Tadric Jackson was on the receiving end off a nice outlet pass by Cox, then Cox had a follow-jam to put Tech up 20-14 with 6:36 left.

That forced a Louisville timeout, and though the Cardinals pulled to within 20-17 on Quentin Snider’s lay-in at the 3:18 mark, Jackson saved the half’s top highlight for the final scoring possession. The freshman drove baseline and threw down a one-handed dunk over the 6-10 Onuaku, which sent the Yellow Jackets into the halftime locker room up 24-17.

Jorgensen assisted on that dunk as well and he had three of the Yellow Jackets’ nine first-half helpers.

Neither team shot the ball well in the first half, though Tech’s 38 percent (11-for-29) looked other-worldly compared to Louisville’s 7-of-28 performance. It was also the third time this season Tech allowed less than 20 points in a first half (Rhode Island on November 30 and Northwestern on December 3).

Georges-Hunt had a team-high 13 points for Tech, which was playing Louisville for the first time as conference rivals and the first time overall since the Cardinals’ victory in the second round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament.

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Wolfpack nip Tech in ACC battle

ATLANTA, Ga. - Len’Nique Brown’s free throw with 1.8 seconds left was the difference in N.C. State’s 65-64 victory over Georgia Tech Thursday at McCamish Pavilion.

Tech (14-11, 4-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) had gone up 64-62 after two free throws by Kaela Davis, then the Wolfpack tied it at 64-64 on Dominique Wilson’s runner with 33 seconds to play. Davis, who along with Zaire O’Neil finished with a team-high 17 points, was hit with her fifth and final foul on a charge call with 26 seconds to play. Brown was fouled while driving to the basket, and after missing the second free throw and a Tech timeout, Aaliyah Whiteside wasn’t close on a running jump shot from about 40 feet as the buzzer sounded.

N.C. State (14-10, 5-6) built a lead as large as 44-32 on a lay-up by Miah Spencer with 14 1/2 minutes to play. Tech fought back and took its first lead since the 7:47 mark of the first half when Davis hit a pull-up jumper to make it 62-60 at the 1:44 mark.

Spencer, who had a game-high 25 points, converted a lay-in off a nice feed from Carlee Schuhmacher, which tied the game at 62-62 with about a minute and a half to go.

Wilson added 14 points for N.C. State, which won for the third consecutive time in Atlanta. Two other Tech players reached double figures as Roddreka Rogers finished with 12 points to go along with 12 rebounds and Katarina Vuckovic came off the bench to chip in with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Other womens games of local interest from Thursday.

Tennessee State 66, Tennessee Tech 57

Tennessee State and Brianna Lawrence turned a three-point halftime lead into a comfortable victory Thursday afternoon.

Lawrence, a Rockdale High School graduate and junior guard, scored 13 points as the Tigers won their third consecutive game and improved to 8-4 in Ohio Valley Conference play and 11-12 overall.

Lawrence’s lay-up at the 18:40 mark of the second half got Tennessee State started on a 15-7 run that made it a 44-33 game with about 12 minutes to play. Chelsea Hudson led Tennessee State with 15 points, while Candace Parson had game-highs in points (20) and rebounds (13) to pace Tennessee Tech (5-20, 2-10).

Kentucky 92, Mississippi State 90 (2 OT)

Victoria Vivians scored 39 points, but it was not enough as Associated Press No. 13 Mississippi State fell to No. 10 Kentucky in Lexington.

Makayla Epps scored a career-high 42 points, including the game-winning putback of her own miss with less than a second to play in the second extra session.

Kentucky (19-5, 8-3 Southeastern Conference) won for the third consecutive time overall and defeated Mississippi State (23-4, 8-4) for the eighth straight time. Epps, who went 18-of-30 from the field, fell one point short of teammate Jennifer O’Neill’s program-record 43 points.

Vivians was nearly as good, hitting 13 of her 29 field goal attempts, including a 5-of-10 night from three-point range. Rockdale graduate Breanna Richardson chipped in with seven points and seven rebounds for Mississippi State, which last defeated Kentucky in 2009.

Florida 51, Georgia 48

The struggles continued for Georgia as the Gators erased a 14-point deficit and won at Stegeman Coliseum.

Georgia (17-8, 5-7 SEC), which is on a five-game losing streak for the first time since February, 2009, led 38-24 after Tiaria Griffin knocked down a 3-pointer with 15:09 left in the game. Florida (12-12, 4-7) kept chipping away, eventually taking the lead for good at 46-45 on a three from Cassie Peoples (team-high 11 points) with 1:15 to go.

Erika Ford led all scorers with 14 points off the bench for No. 24 Georgia, which is averaging just over 50 points during its losing spell.

Alabama 67, Missouri 64

Alcovy graduate Ashley Williams was one of three in double figures as the Crimson Tide snapped a four-game losing streak.

Williams, a sophomore, scored 10 points and added seven rebounds, while Karyla Middlebrook led the way with 17 points and Sharin Rivers added 12 for Alabama (13-13, 2-9 SEC).

Sierra Michaelis was outstanding in a losing effort for the Tigers (13-12, 3-9), scoring a game-high 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go along with 13 rebounds.

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Texas State upends GSU in double-OT thriller

ATLANTA, Ga. - Emani Gant was fairly quiet through regulation, but once a pair of overtime sessions began, Texas State’s leading scorer came alive.

Gant hit a tying 3-pointer at the first overtime buzzer, then had two key baskets in the second extra session in the Bobcats’ 77-74 over Georgia State Monday at the GSU Sports Arena.

The stunning loss was GSU’s first setback at the Sports Arena in nearly two years, since Northeastern also won in overtime in the Panthers’ final game as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association in February, 2013.

Early in the first overtime, Gant hit a bucket and went 1-of-2 from the free-throw line, then Ethan Montalvo hit a 3-pointer in the corner to pull the teams even at 64-64. Cameron Naylor hit what throughout the night was a patented 10-foot, baseline jumper for the last of his team-high 18 points and the Bobcats led 66-64 with 1:23 to play. Texas State had the ball again a half-minute later, but turned it over, which preceded Ryan Harrow’s floater in the lane that turned into a three-point play and a 67-66 lead.

Rockdale graduate Kevin Ware contested Kavin Gilder-Tilbury’s three-point attempt at the other end and Ryann Green’s two free throws put the Atlanta school up by three with 10 seconds to play.

GSU defended well on the final possession of regulation, guarding perimeter threats Montalvo and D.J. Brown, but Gant, a junior who hadn’t even attempted a 3-pointer in 41 games over two seasons with Texas State, banked in a three from the top of the key to force a second overtime.

The Bobcats didn’t trail after that. R.J. Hunter had a lay-up in transition at the 2:50 mark that got Georgia State (9-5, 2-1 Sun Belt Conference) even at 71-71. But Gant followed with a pair of fadeaway jumpers along the baseline and it was a 75-72 advantage with 1:50 left.

Hunter, 15th nationally in scoring coming in, struggled throughout the night, missing 13 of his 16 field goal attempts, including all 10 of his three-point tries. Two of those long-range misses came in the second overtime, one of which could’ve tied the game with 1:32 to play and the other could’ve gotten the Panthers to within one point with nine seconds to go.

“(Hunter is) in a really bad slump right now and it’s affecting him mentally,” said GSU coach and R.J.’s father, Ron Hunter. “He’s just in one of those slumps that every player has to figure it out. He’s just mentally frustrated a little bit.”

GSU forced the initial extra session, thanks to Ryan Harrow (game-high 29 points), who went behind the back with his dribble and converted a tough lay up with six seconds left to tie the game at 57-57.

“Ryan Harrow really tried to carry us,” said Ron Hunter.

Over the final four minutes of regulation, Texas State (8-4, 2-1) had chipped away at a six-point deficit when Montalvo picked up two of his six assists on a lay-in from Naylor and Brown’s 3-pointer. And after T.J. Shipes’ baseline dunk and a Markus Crider put back had put GSU back up by four, the Bobcats erased that deficit as well when Montalvo and Brown hit consecutive threes, the last of which put the San Marcos school up 57-55 with 16 seconds to play.

It was an ugly start to the game as neither offense could get anything going through the first 12 1/2 minutes, though after five unanswered points - four of which came from Naylor - Texas State led 10-9 at the 7:40 mark.

GSU had missed six of its first seven shots, but Ware got the Panthers going a bit with a lay-up in transition to put them up for the remainder of the half at 11-10. Later, Ware picked up one of his career-high five steals and fed Crider for a jumper and the Conyers native added a nice, pull-up jumper for a 19-15 cushion at the 3:39 mark.

The teams combined for 20 first-half turnovers and GSU held its guest to just 7-of-22 shooting through the first 20 minutes.

There were 10 lead changes through the first 15 minutes of the second half, with GSU going up 44-43 on Ware’s lay-up at the 5:04 mark. That was the last of a 14-point night for Ware, a redshirt-junior transfer from Louisville, who was coming off a career-high 21 points last Saturday in a win over Arkansas-Little Rock.

“Kevin did a nice job. I think he’s getting comfortable in what he’s doing now,” Ron Hunter said.

The Panthers eventually capped a 7-0 run when Hunter grabbed an offensive rebound and fed Harrow for a three; then Hunter had a steal and lay-up to make it a 49-43 game with about four minutes to play.

Gant added 17 points and Brown, 13 for Texas State. Hunter finished with 10 points, while Crider (nine points) was the only other significant offensive contributor for the Panthers.

“I think we got a major league wake up call,” Hunter said. “I didn’t think we played well at all (and) Texas State did a good job. Our whole team has to play better.”

GSU has a great chance to get better, and exact a bit of revenge when it visits Louisiana-Lafayette on Thursday. The Ragin’ Cajuns upset the top-seeded Panthers in the championship game of the Sun Belt Tournament last March to earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Said Hunter: “The week doesn’t get any easier for us.”

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Ware celebrates birthday in style, leads GSU past Little Rock

ATLANTA, Ga. - It was a very happy birthday for Kevin Ware.

The redshirt-junior scored a career-high 21 points on his 22nd birthday, leading Georgia State to an 82-69 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock Saturday afternoon at the GSU Sports Arena.

Ware, in his first season at the Atlanta school after transferring from Louisville, had perhaps his finest game as a collegiate, and his day began a little sooner than expected.

Starting guard Ryann Green exited a little over a minute into the game when he took an accidental elbow to the mouth and had a tooth displaced. The senior from College Park never returned to the court, but the Panthers (9-4, 2-0 Sun Belt Conference) didn’t miss a beat, thanks to Ware.

The Rockdale High School graduate set or equaled career-bests in several categories, including eight made field goals (in 14 attempts), and a career-high-tying five assists.

“(Ware’s) confidence was really, really high today,” said GSU coach Ron Hunter. “Couldn’t be happier for him.”

“I know I just had to step up,” said Ware, who has his first double-digit scoring game since his previous career-best of 15 points November 26 against Oakland. “I don’t have a lot of celebrating to do, just want wins right now.”

Ryan Harrow led all scorers with 22 points as the Panthers extended their home winning streak to 18 games and defeated Arkansas-Little Rock (5-7, 0-2) for the fourth consecutive time.

GSU’s defense also had a lot to do with that streak continuing. The visiting Trojans went eight minutes without a field goal in the second half, which turned a one-point GSU lead at the 10:39 mark into a 74-55 cushion on R.J. Hunter’s dunk with 2:50 to play. The Panthers had 13 steals with a trio of players, including Ware, grabbing three each.

“As long as we were getting it done defensively, we were fine,” Ware said. “It all starts with our defense.”

“This is a veteran group (and) our defense is going to be pretty good,” said Ron Hunter.

It was an extremely-tight start to the second half, and Arkansas-Little Rock led 48-47 on Ben Dillard’s 3-pointer with 13 minutes left. Harrow answered with a floater in the lane, then Ware assisted on Jalen Brown’s three and GSU held a 52-48 advantage. J.T. Thomas knocked down a 3-pointer to get the Trojans to within 52-51, but they wouldn’t get any closer.

Harrow banked in a runner, then was fouled driving for another basket, and on the play, Arkansas-Little Rock’s Josh Hagins was hit with a technical foul. Hunter and Harrow combined to go 5-of-6 from the free-throw line to put the Panthers up 59-51 with eight minutes to play.

Ware capped his great day with a put back of his own miss and his only 3-pointer of the day (on his only attempt), which preceded Hunter’s dunk on a fast break.

“The last couple weeks (the feeling was) ‘Kevin is going to have one of these coming-out games,’” said Ron Hunter. “If he keeps playing this way I’ll buy him cake.”

Arkansas-Little Rock hit seven of its first 11 shots and went up by as much as five points in the opening half, grabbing a 17-12 cushion on a Dillard 3-pointer at the 12:44 mark. GSU erased that deficit, thanks to Ware, who hit a baseline jumper and Harrow, who took a pass from Hunter and knocked down a three to tie things up at 17-17.

The hosts were up seven in the first after Harrow scored seven quick points, two of which were lay-ins off steals and another when Ware picked up one of his four first-half assists. Then Harrow drained a 3-pointer on an inbounds play and the Panthers took their largest first half lead at 34-27 with 3:13 left.

GSU led 37-32 at the break despite leading scorer Hunter behind held to three points, though the junior finished the day with 14 to pass Devonta White for third on the school’s career scoring list with 1,394 points.

Dillard and James Reid led the visiting Trojans with 14 points each.

GSU hangs on against Umass in holiday tourney

ATLANTA, Ga. - Georgia State had just enough to hold off Massachusetts Friday.

Makeba Ponder and Kayla Nolan scored 17 points each as the Panthers won 71-66 in the Hoops and Holiday Classic at the GSU Sports Arena.

Massachusetts (5-5) secured its first and only lead of the night when freshman Cierra Dillard (15 points) drained a 3-pointer with three minutes to play in the game. Ponder hit the last of her five 3-pointers 14 seconds later and GSU (5-3) went back up for good at 64-62. The Panthers stretched the lead out to 67-62 when Haley Gerrin had a pair of offensive rebounds that led to Gerrin’s free throw and a Logan jumper.

Rashida Timbilla hit a field goal and had a steal and put back and was fouled with 27 seconds to play, though she missed the free throw and it was still a one-point GSU lead. Massachusetts rebounded the free throw miss, but Ciara Rosten traveled to turn the ball back over to GSU. Ponder hit two free throws for a 69-66 lead, then Nolan stole a pass and hit two more at the line to help the Panthers hang on.

“I was really proud of our basketball team to be able to win a tight game and make some plays down the stretch,” said State coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener. “We came together. (Massachusetts) took the lead and we settled down.”

Brittany Logan had a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds for GSU, which won its second consecutive game after suffering through a three-game losing streak. Kim Pierre-Louis led the Minutewomen with 17 points, though none came after the 6:44 mark of the second half.

In the opening half, State led by as many as 11 points at 35-24 on a pair of free throws by Ashley Watson with 3:21 to play.

The Panthers went the final 3:50 without a field goal, though despite the late drought hit 5-of-11 from three-point range - Ponder had a pair and three others knocked down a trifecta - during the first 20 minutes. GSU ended the night hitting half of its 18 attempts from behind the arc.

“We’ve been in the gym shooting a lot,” said Baldwin-Tener.

Emily Mital had an excellent shooting half off the bench and she hit the last of her four 3-pointers at the buzzer, helping Massachusetts close on a 7-2 run and trail just 35-31 at the break. Mital, a senior guard, was held to just two second-half points.

It was an extremely tight second half as GSU’s lead never grew above five points and the teams were tied at 59-59 - the first tie since 2-2 - when Dillard hit a three at the 3:58 mark.

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Croone, Paladins fall to Liberty

LYNCHBURG, Va. - A year ago, Stephen Croone had one of his finest nights as a collegiate as Furman defeated Liberty. In the rematch Monday, Croone and his teammates struggled and his counterpart in the back court instead set a new career high.

Joe Retic handed out a career-best 10 assists and Liberty pulled away in the second half of a 66-52 victory at the Vines Center.

Croone, a junior guard from Newton High School, had scorched the Flames for a career-high 40 points last December, but this year’s edition was a different story. Croone still paced the Paladins (1-4) in scoring with 13 points, exactly his team-leading average coming into the game, but he hit just 3-of-11 shots from the field.

The visitors from Greenville, South Carolina hit only 33 percent of their shots with a lot of those struggles coming over the final 20 minutes (9-for-32). There were nine lead changes during an eight-minute stretch in the second half, including after Croone’s steal and difficult lay up - one of just nine team field goals in the second half - though it turned into a three-point play and gave the Paladins a 41-39 lead at the 11:46 mark.

It was tied at 43-43 before Retic assisted on Peter Moller’s three that put Liberty (3-4) up for good at 46-43. Furman closed to within 48-45 on Kendrec Ferrara’s lay up with five and a half minutes to go, but Retic, who scored a career-high 16 points in last December’s loss, had his only four points on a pair of lay ups and added two more assists during a 12-2 Flames’ run and it was 60-47 with a little under two minutes left.

David Andoh came off the bench for Liberty and led all scorers with 14 points.

Croone was held to just three first-half points, but he assisted on Geoff Beans’ 3-pointer to cap a 9-0 run and put the Paladins up 14-10 at the 11:19 mark.

Beans, who was suspended for the first four games of his freshman season for violating team rules, made his debut Monday and hit the first three attempts from behind the arc, though he missed his final seven shots.

After a pair of Liberty buckets, one a nice running hook shot in the lane by Theo Johnson, tied the game at 14-14, Furman followed with a 7-0 spurt. Croone capped the run with a steal and a dunk for his first points of the night with just under nine minutes left until halftime.

Croone, who added eight rebounds and four steals, hit 1-of-2 free throws with about three minutes left to make it 27-20, but Furman didn’t score the rest of the half. A.C. Reid and Tomasz Gielo hit consecutive threes and the host Flames went into the halftime locker room down just 27-26.

John Davis hit a 3-pointer, which turned out to be the freshman guard’s only long ball in six attempts, and Furman had its last lead of more than one possession at 30-26 at the 19:44 mark of the second half. Furman started 5-of-8 from three, but closed the game by missing 20 of its final 23 attempts from behind the arc.

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Jackets roll over Grambling

ATLANTA, Ga. - Georgia Tech bounced back nicely from its first loss of the season.

The Yellow Jackets shot 53 percent from the field and led by as many as 40 points in a 97-64 victory over Grambling State Tuesday at McCamish Pavilion.

Tech (4-1) was coming off a Sunday loss to rival Georgia, but never trailed against the visitors from the SWAC. Five players were in double figures, led by starting guards Kaela Davis (20 points) and Sydney Wallace (18 points), who combined to hit 16-of-28 field goal attempts. Grambling State (2-4) trailed 31-21 after a 3-pointer by Yosha Watson with about six and a half minutes to play in the first half, but the Tigers wouldn’t get any closer as Tech finished the opening half on a 16-5 run - Simina Avram and Roddreka Rogers each had four points during the spurt - and the hosts led 47-26 at halftime.

Things went even better in the second half for Tech, which improved to 17-3 all-time against the SWAC. The Yellow Jackets hit 61 percent of their shots over the final 20 minutes, led by Wallace, who scored 16 of her points on 7-of-10 shooting.

Tech scored the first six points of the second half as Wallace hit a jumper and converted a lay up and Davis knocked down a jumper. Antonia Peresson handed out two of her five assists during the three-minute run and the Yellow Jackets led 53-26 at the 17:06 mark.

Martin tried to keep the visitors from Louisiana close, converting a lay up and hitting a 3-pointer for five of her team-high 18 points, but Tech was too tough in the pre-holiday, non-conference tilt. The Yellow Jackets out-rebounded Grambling State 45-18, led by Rogers, who finished with 15 rebounds to go along with 10 points. Meanwhile, Wallace scored seven straight Tech points, while Peresson hit a three and it was a 71-41 game with 11 1/2 minutes to play.

Grambling pulled to within 18-11 at the 13:03 mark of the first on a 3-pointer by Mariah Gilliam.

Zaire O’Neil had four of her eight first-half points during a 9-2 Tech run that made it a 27-13 game with 8:39 to play in the first. It was still just a 40-26 game after a Bre-Nae Andrews three, but Tech finished the half with a Rogers’ put back and a 3-pointer by Katarina Vuckovic’s and it was a 21-point cushion at the break.

O’Neil scored 13 points and Aaliyah Whiteside added 10 for Tech. Three other Tigers were in double figures, led by Shakierya McClendon’s 14 points.

Tech women move to 3-0 with rout of Kennesaw

ATLANTA, Ga. - Kaela Davis scored 15 points to lead four in double figures as Georgia Tech defeated Kennesaw State 77-48 Wednesday at McCamish Pavilion.

For Tech (3-0), it was the ninth win in as many all-time meetings against its in-state rival. Davis, a Buford High School graduate, added eight rebounds, Aaliyah Whiteside had 14 points and 11 rebounds, while reserve Zaire O’Neil also scored 14 points and Sydney Wallace added 12.

The Yellow Jackets have won their first three games by an average margin of 31 points.

Whiteside was particularly impressive, tying her career rebounding high, hitting 3-of-4 from three-point range, and adding four assists. The junior, who was coming off a career-high 26 points in a win over Morgan State, is averaging over nine rebounds in three games.

“Aaliyah Whiteside…she’s playing multiple positions and playing well,” said Tech coach MaChelle Joseph. “She worked really hard in the offseason on her conditioning level and it’s put her in position to play longer and more positions. She’s bigger, stronger, and faster than she was a year ago.”

The visiting Owls (2-1) opened the game strong, hitting nine of their first 16 shots from the field, and Deandrea Sawyers had eight early points, including a 3-pointer that gave KSU its largest lead of the game at 21-16.

There were few memorable moments for the Owls over the final stretches of the opening half. KSU went seven minutes without a point while Tech had five different players score during a 12-0 spurt, putting the hosts up 28-21 at the 7:16 mark.

After the great early stretch, KSU missed 11 of its last 12 shots and committed eight of its 11 first-half turnovers over the final 11 minutes.

“We got off to a slow start. That’s what happens with a young team,” said Joseph, whose has eight freshmen and sophomores on the roster, including the sophomore Davis and the freshman O’Neil.

Whiteside provided a huge spark early on for Tech. She hit a three from the top of the key and followed that with a put back as the Yellow Jackets held a 12-9 advantage four and a half minutes in.

KSU went on a 12-4 run, thanks to Sawyers and Douglas County High School product Kristina Wells, who hit a jumper to put the Owls up 16-14 and assisted on Sawyers’ three.

Sawyers finished with a game-high 18 points and Wells added 11 for Kennesaw State, which turned the ball over 20 times and was out-rebounded 48-30. The Yellow Jackets also corralled 24 rebounds on the offensive end with all but two of the 11 players grabbing at least one.

“We really take pride in our offensive rebounding, and our goal every game is to get 20 offensive rebounds,” Joseph said.

Tech welcomes another rival to McCamish on Sunday when Associated Press No. 24 Georgia visits for a 2 pm tip.

Cyclones too much for GSU

Ron Hunter said Iowa State was the best team he’d faced since becoming the coach at Georgia State four years ago. The Cyclones showed it over the final 16 minutes on Monday.

Monte Morris scored 12 of his career-high 19 points in the second half to lead five in double figures as No. 14 Iowa State pulled away from Georgia State for an 81-58 victory in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic at Hilton Coliseum.

Iowa State (2-0) led by six points at halftime, but Morris, a sophomore guard, had a lay up off a feed from Naz Long, then Long drained a 3-pointer and it was a 40-29 cushion. That forced Hunter to burn a time out just a minute and a half into the second.

Morris picked up one of his nine assists on a lay up by Bryce Dejean-Jones and it was a 42-29 game before R.J. Hunter hit a pull-up jumper and assisted on two other buckets as GSU (1-1) went on an 8-2 spurt to get within 44-37.

The Atlanta school wouldn’t get any closer.

Long hit one of his five 3-pointers, part of a 17-point night, and Morris added a 3-pointer of his own during a 24-7 run and the Cyclones led 68-44 with 8:20 left to play.

Iowa State, a Sweet 16 team a year ago, handed out 23 assists (Jones had a career-high-tying seven) and in the second half shot 55 percent (17-of-31) from the field.

“This is a really, really good team, this is a final four team,” Ron Hunter said of Iowa State prior to Monday’s game. “They’re talented, they’re extremely well-coached.”

It was a much closer opening half and Iowa State held just a one-point cushion at 28-27 after a bucket by Hunter. But the Panthers made just one more field goal over the final four and a half minutes, while Iowa State closed the half on a 7-2 run and led 35-29 at the break.

Rockdale graduate Kevin Ware had a quiet game, collecting just four points on 1-of-6 shooting, though he did score GSU’s first points two and a half minutes in after grabbing a defensive rebound and finishing a coast-to-coast lay up. Ware later handed out a pair of assists, including one on Hunter’s 3-pointer that pulled GSU to within 20-19 at the 8:17 mark. Thirty seconds later, Georgia State took its first lead of the game at 21-20 on a Markus Crider dunk. That was the start of an up-and-down stretch for Crider, who scored six straight GSU points, including a tough tip-in, but also picked up his third foul and had to sit out the remainder of the half.

GSU’s last lead of the night came on a Ryan Harrow pass to Crider for a jumper. The Cyclones took the lead for good one possession later on a bucket by Georges Niang (10 points, 11 rebounds).

Harrow struggled all night from the field, finishing 6-of-22 from the field, though the senior guard scored 12 points. Hunter led all scorers with 21 points.

Dustin Hogue scored 15 points for the Cyclones, who won their 22nd consecutive non-conference home game. GSU dropped their sixth straight to a ranked team and fell to 0-9 all-time against current Big 12 schools.

Ware, Panthers crush Tennessee Temple in season opener

ATLANTA, Ga. - Game one of the 2014-15 season went quite well for Kevin Ware and his new teammates.

The redshirt-junior from Rockdale High School did a little bit of everything, including being one of five double-figure scorers as the Panthers set a school record for margin of victory in a 115-55 victory over Tennessee Temple at the GSU Sports Arena.

Ware, a Louisville transfer who started at point guard on opening night, hit a pair of jumpers, including a nice pull up in the lane, and had three assists during a 32-7 spurt that put Georgia State (1-0) up 97-40 with 6:43 left.

It was part of a 12-point, five-assist night for Ware, who also grabbed six rebounds for the defending regular season Sun Belt Conference champions. He teamed with starting backcourt mates Ryan Harrow (team-high 25 points) and conference player of the year R.J. Hunter (22 points on 5-of-9 3-point shooting) to form a lethal trio against an overmatched Crusaders team.

The Panthers cruised past the old school record for scoring margin, set in a 45-point win over Piedmont College in December, 1986. The 115 points were the fourth-most in school history and most since a 109-point effort in a victory over Cal-Irvine in November, 1988. GSU also handed out a school-record 27 assists, 19 of which came from the starting backcourt as Hunter had eight assists and Harrow finished with six.

“I really, really like this group (and Friday) we did what we were supposed to do,” said fourth-year GSU coach Ron Hunter. “To have (Ware and Harrow) in the backcourt together playing, it’s a blessing. You add RJ to the mix, those guys are special. It is a blessing for us, you don’t get this very often. Not at mid-majors.”

GSU’s defense was on display in a dominant first half and Ware had plenty to do with holding Tennessee Temple to just 34 percent shooting during the first 20 minutes. The Crusaders went one nearly-five-minute stretch in the first without a field goal as the Panthers used a 17-1 run capped by a Ware-to-Hunter connection for a 3-pointer that turned a six-point cushion into a 32-10 lead with six minutes left.

“I love playing with Kevin, he’s one of my favorite teammates,” said R.J. Hunter, a junior. “He’s so unselfish, doesn’t mind not shooting the ball, loves sharing the ball.”

Hunter scored 11 points over the final three minutes of the half, including an NBA-range three with one second to play that sent GSU into the locker room up 54-25.

GSU’s defense ended up forcing 25 turnovers and had 15 steals. Ware had three of the steals, while Markus Crider led the way with four and Hunter and T.J. Shipes, who narrowly missed a double-double off the bench (10 points, eight rebounds), added two each.

“He changes a program defensively,” Ron Hunter said of Ware. “That’s what Kevin Ware brings, he makes other guys want to defend. He just takes us to another level.”

Curtis Washington added 13 points for GSU, which extended its home winning streak to 14 games. Bryan Jones led Tennessee Temple (2-2) with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Jones and reserve B.J. Brown (4-of-6 for 10 points) shot well, but the rest of the team made just 9-of-39 field goal attempts.


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Gators finish SEC season perfect, top Kentucky for title

ATLANTA, Ga. - Florida finally got the best of Kentucky in an SEC championship game.

Four players scored in double figures and the top seed Gators survived a second-half comeback from the No. 2 seed Wildcats to complete a perfect 21-0 conference season with a 61-60 victory Sunday at the Georgia Dome.

The Gators (32-2), who will take a 26-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament later this week, won their first league title since capturing three straight from 2005-2007.

Florida was rewarded for its outstanding run with the NCAA No. 1 overall seed. Based on going 18-0 against SEC foes during the regular season and the long winning streak, it seemed the Gators were already headed towards the tournament’s top overall seed. Sunday’s win, which was the first for the program in four tries against the Wildcats in conference championship games, cemented a brilliant 4 1/2-month stretch for the Gainesville school.

“We battled and fought and hung in there even when things weren’t going well for us. I’m proud of it, I’m excited about it,” said Florida coach Billy Donovan.

James Young knocked down a huge 3-pointer at the minute and a half mark to get Kentucky to within 61-60. That nearly erased a 16-point second-half deficit and was the closest the Wildcats had been since trailing 9-8 at the 15:27 mark of the opening half. On its final two offensive possessions, Florida had a turnover, then missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw opportunity twice on the same possession (Dorian Finney-Smith grabbed the offensive rebound on the first miss, then was long on his first charity shot).

Kentucky had one final chance for the go-ahead basket. The Wildcats ran a play for Young, but while driving to the basket the freshman slipped and fell and lost the ball. As several players scrambled for the loose ball, the buzzer sounded.

“That’s what they do. They’re (an) aggressive, driving team,” Donovan said of Kentucky. “Young was coming so fast, he got maybe a little bit off balance. It was a hard play. I thought our team, those guys were pretty locked in when the ball got loose and made a great effort play when time expired.”

The regular season champions looked poised to run away with the title, building a 54-39 lead on two dunks from Patric Young.

That cushion quickly evaporated as Kentucky got seven of Aaron Harrison’s game-high 16 points, including his second beautiful pull up jumper along the baseline of the day, and after Willie Cauley-Stein blocked a Casey Prather shot attempt, Harrison converted a lay up in transition to cap an 11-0 run and make it a 54-50 game.

It forced Donovan to take a timeout and after the break, Young and Cauley-Stein went a combined 3 of 4 from the line and Kentucky (24-10) was within one.

Michael Frazier, who along with Young paced Florida with 14 points, hit the last of his four 3-pointers, and Scottie Wilbekin (11 points) added a bucket to put the Gators ahead 59-53. The teams traded points until Kentucky’s Young hit his only field goal of the half with 1:31 left in the contest.

Wilbekin, who was the Florida player who jumped on the loose ball on the final play, followed his regular season player of the year honor by being named the tournament’s MVP.

“Obviously we came into this tournament wanting to win it. That was our goal. We accomplished that,” said Wilbekin.

Frazier was red-hot early on for the Gators. The sophomore guard nailed two threes, each on an assist from Wilbekin, within the first 2:16 for a 6-0 lead, forcing Kentucky to burn a quick timeout.

Frazier hit two more jumpers and had 11 early points, but Kentucky got a pretty mid-range jumper from Julius Randle and trailed 16-14 with about 11 minutes to go in the half.

Florida followed with 11 straight points and capped the run with a Wilbekin 3-pointer to go up 25-16 with just under nine minutes left.

The Wildcats got to within 25-19 on a three-point play from Alex Poythress, but Wilbekin hit a long three and Chris Walker came off the bench and his offensive rebound turned into a lay up and a three-point play and the Gators held a 35-21 advantage.

It was a 10-point halftime lead that Florida turned into a 46-30 cushion on a steal and lay up by Prather (11 points).

Florida will await the winner of the first round game between Albany and Mount St. Marys in the South region. After a 10th runner-up finish in its 38th SEC title game, Kentucky was seeded eighth in the Midwest region and will play No. 9 seed Kansas State in the second round.


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Florida, Kentucky to meet in Sunday’s SEC final

ATLANTA, Ga. - After four days and 12 games, the top two teams were left standing in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

No. 2 seed Kentucky used 22 points from Aaron Harrison and defeated third-seeded Georgia 70-58 in the semifinals at the Georgia Dome. The Wildcats (24-9), who lost three of their last four regular season games, will play top seed Florida in Sunday’s championship game.

Harrison, a freshman from Richmond, Texas, was 4 of 7 on 3-pointers, and his twin brother Andrew and James Young each knocked down two. That was part of a 56 percent shooting performance from behind the arc, and a 51 percent shooting day overall, for the Wildcats. Andrew Harrison set a career-high in assists for the second consecutive day, handing out nine Saturday to top the eight he had in a quarterfinal win over LSU.

“My teammates, they’re making me look good right now,” said Andrew Harrison. “I’m finding them and they’re knocking down some shots.”

Kentucky held a slim 46-43 lead before embarking on a game-turning run. Dakari Johnson rebounded a miss and converted a lay up for a five-point advantage. Johnson was fouled and missed the free throw, but Willie Cauley-Stein corralled that rebound and fed Aaron Harrison for a three. After a Georgia miss, Young had a put back for two of his 14 points and the Wildcats led 53-43, forcing a Georgia timeout.

The Kentucky cushion didn’t fall below eight points the rest of the way.

“They had back to back buckets so that was a critical part of the game, it really was,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “Give (Kentucky) credit, when the plays had to be made, they made them. Kentucky’s a really good basketball team.”

“We’ve been a good rebounding team all year…we’re kind of spreading out. (And) when you have James Young and Aaron playing as well as they are at those wings, it makes us a pretty good team,” said Kentucky coach John Calipari.

Kentucky got off to a fast start, hitting five of its first six shots to build a 12-2 lead. Georgia (19-13) settled in and trailed just 36-32 at halftime.

Kenny Gaines scored all of his team-high 13 points in the second half for Georgia, which was back in the semifinals for the first time since winning the 2008 tournament.

Regular season champion Florida moved to 20-0 against SEC competition with a dominant defensive effort in the second half of a 56-49 victory over fourth-seeded Tennessee in the first semifinal of the day.

The Vols led by as much as 10 points in the opening half and 35-28 at halftime, but the conference’s top defense played an excellent last 20 minutes.

Tennessee, which dropped its fourth consecutive game to Florida in the league tournament, went up 43-38 on a bucket by Jarnell Stokes at the 12:16 mark. The Vols followed with a 9 1/2-minute field goal drought, missing eight consecutive shots in the process, and Florida had a 49-45 lead with about 4 1/2 minutes to play.

Jordan McRae (team-high 15 points) finally broke the shooting slump, knocking down a 3-pointer that evened things up at 49-49 with 2:48 remaining in the game.

Tennessee wouldn’t score again. Patric Young, who scored a game-high 16 points, ended a 6 1/2 minute field goal drought for the Gators with a jumper at the 2:24 mark that put the top seed up for good at 51-49. Two of Tennessee’s 16 turnovers and 5 of 6 free throws over the final 1:21 helped Florida hang on.

“I think first, we’re obviously excited to be able to move on and play (Sunday),” said Florida coach Billy Donovan. “I thought the second half we did a really, really good job defensively.”

The Gators (31-2), which take a 25-game winning streak into the championship game, have lost their last two league title games, including last year’s 66-63 defeat at the hands of Mississippi. The last Florida team to win the tournament crown was the 2007 squad that eventual won its second straight national title. Tennessee (21-12) hasn’t reached the title game since finishing as the runner-up in 2009.

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Wilbekin, defense send Gators to the semis

ATLANTA, Ga. - Before the Southeastern Conference Tournament began, Scottie Wilbekin was named the league’s player of the year. Several of the reasons for the league-wide honor were on display as Florida pulled away from Missouri in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Wilbekin hit five 3-pointers and keyed a crucial second-half run that sent the top seed Gators to a 72-49 victory and into today’s semifinals.

The Gators (30-2), who still haven’t lost in 19 conference games this season and won their 24th consecutive game, will play fourth-seeded Tennessee in today’s semifinals at 1 pm.

It was a two-point game eight minutes into the second half before the game-deciding stretch ensued. In 50 seconds, Florida scored seven quick points. First, the Gainesville school got a lay up from Will Yeguete and a steal and 3-pointer from Wilbekin to go up 43-36. After Yeguete cleared Jabari Brown’s missed 3-pointer at the other end, Patric Young powered his way for an easy bucket and the Gators led 45-36 and forced a Missouri timeout.

Wilbekin was at it again two minutes later. The senior guard stole a pass from Keanau Post and after diving on the court and securing the ball, got a quick Florida timeout. After the break, Casey Prather hit two free throws and Wilbekin drained another three for a 12-0 run and a 50-36 cushion.

Michael Frazier was just as good as his backcourt mate from behind the arc, also hitting five threes. Florida, which is trying to win its first SEC title since 2007, went 12 of 21 from behind the arc.

Missouri shot just 36 percent from the field and went 5:45 without a field goal, part of a 30-8 run that put Florida up 68-44 with 1:44 to go. The eighth-seeded Tigers were held to just six field goals over the final 20 minutes.

“I think it starts with getting stops, because if we score and they score, it won’t be a run,” said Wilbekin. “But especially when we can make threes, it gets us a little bit more separation. But the key is getting stops.”

“I thought our guys competed hard,” said Missouri coach Frank Haith, whose team fell to 22-11. “Eleven minutes to go in the second half they were shooting 31 percent, then obviously they made shots and got it going a little bit. They did what they do, hats off to them. Florida’s a great team.”

Missouri led throughout the first 12 minutes of the game, going up by as much as four points, and still led 13-10 after a nice jumper near the foul line by Jordan Clarkson.

The Tigers then went nearly six minutes with just one made field goal, and Florida finally took its first lead at the 9:49 mark. Wilbekin had a trio of 3-pointers, including the go-ahead triple that put the Gators up 15-14.

Florida hit six 3-pointers in the opening half and built leads as large as six points, including at 29-23 when Kasey Hill grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast for a lay up with 3 1/2 minutes to play.

Those were the last points in the half for the top seed.

Clarkson drove and hit a short jumper, starting Missouri on a 6-0 half-ending run that closed when with the game clock at 2, Clarkson improvised and found a wide open Ryan Rosburg for a dunk that pulled the teams even at 29-29 going into the halftime locker room.

Brown, the SEC’s regular season scoring champion who Friday led all scorers with 18 points, had a jumper early in the second and Missouri trailed only 38-36 after Clarkson’s lay up. It was as close as the Tigers would get.

While Florida was excellent from long range, Missouri struggled, hitting only 1 of its 13 three-point attempts, including Brown and Clarkson, the SEC’s 7th-leading scorer who had 11 points Friday, combining for an 0 for 9 performance.

“I feel like they play in tandem with each other well,” said Brown. “When they play in the zone they’re pretty long (and) they’re a disciplined team.”

Tennessee reached the semifinals with its fifth consecutive victory, 59-44 over 13th-seeded South Carolina.

All-SEC first-team members Jarnell Stokes picked up his 19th double-double of the season with a 22-point, 15-rebound performance, while fellow all-league selection Jordan McRae added 14 points.

The Vols (21-11) used their defense, a top-20 unit nationally in scoring defense, to limit the Gamecocks (14-20) to a 28 percent shooting performance.

Florida and Tennessee last met in the league tournament in a 2011 quarterfinal game won by the eventual runner-up Gators.

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Mizzou holds off A&M in double overtime

ATLANTA, Ga. - Missouri is the best in the Southeastern Conference when it comes to shooting free throws, but the Tigers certainly weren’t expecting to be at the line sealing a double-overtime victory in Thursday’s league tournament opener.

The eighth-seeded Tigers hit 17 of 22 from the charity stripe in two overtime periods, including 12 of 16 in the second extra session and held off No. 9 seed Texas A&M 91-83 in a second round game at the Georgia Dome.

Missouri (22-10), which will play top seed and Associated Press No. 1 Florida in today’s quarterfinals, secured an advantage as large as nine points in the second half, but led by Alex Caruso Texas A&M took its largest lead of the game at 68-64 at the two-minute mark on a three from the sophomore guard.

After coming into game averaging just 8.6 points, Caruso had 22 points in regulation and finished with a game-high 28 points.

Neither team hit another field goal during regulation after Caruso’s fifth and final three of the game. Missouri sent the game into overtime on two free throws each from Earnest Ross and Jabari Brown. A&M’s attempt at a potential go-ahead bucket came with 16 seconds left when Kourtney Roberson missed a long jumper, then Missouri turned the ball over with four seconds to play.

In the first overtime, the Tigers again held a more-than one possession lead at 76-71 after Brown hit two more free throws. Caruso and Roberson each went 2 of 2 from the stripe, getting the Aggies to within 77-75 with just under 12 seconds to play.

Blake McDonald played just two minutes all day, but he had a huge steal off an inbounds play, and Caruso’s lay up with eight seconds left evened things up at 77-77.

The game was tied at 79-79 in the second overtime when Missouri had a game-changing possession. Earnest Ross made 1 of 2 free throws, and on the miss, Johnathan Williams rebounded twice and converted a lay up to put the Tigers ahead 82-79.

“That was a big play with the offensive rebound on the free throw,” said A&M coach Billy Kennedy.

A steal led to another two shots from the line by Ross and Missouri’s lead never fell below six points the rest of the way.

Jabari Brown, the SEC’s leading scorer, had a team-high 26 points before fouling out with 53 seconds left in the first overtime. Less than a minute into the second overtime, Jordan Clarkson, seventh in the league in scoring, (though he scored just 12 points on 3 of 8 shooting), also fouled out.

“That’s on us to finish the game with either of their two best players (not) in the game,” said Caruso.

There were seven lead changes within the first nine minutes, but Ross’ 3-pointer at the 10:52 mark put Missouri up for the remainder of the half at 20-18.

Ross capped an 11-2 spurt with another 3-pointer and the Tigers led 28-20 with a little under seven minutes to go in the half. Ross had seven points in both of Missouri’s two previous games against A&M, including a 3-of-9 shooting performance in last year’s first round win in the conference tournament, but the senior’s 17 points helped him surpass that total by halftime Thursday.

The senior guard finished with 24 points.

A&M’s starting back court of Caruso and Jamal Jones (20 points) each started the game by hitting their first three shots and carried the No. 9 seed to a slim 16-14 cushion with 13 1/2 minutes to play.

The Aggies shot the ball well from the field in the early going, hitting seven of their first 12 shots. But the No. 8 seed went through a 3 1/2 minute spell without a point and missed 10 of its last 13 shots of the half.

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Terps drop final ACC tourney game

Maryland’s last trip to the ACC Tournament wasn’t a pleasant one.

Ian Miller scored 17 points to lead No. 9 seed Florida State past the eighth-seeded Terps 67-65 in a second-round game.

Maryland (17-15) will head to the Big 10 next season having gone 45-56 in the ACC’s annual tournament since appearing in its first one in 1954, according to umterps.com. Aaron Thomas also scored 14 points and Boris Bojanovsky added 12 for the Seminoles (19-12), who won for the first time in five conference tournament meetings with Maryland.

Seth Allen and Dez Wells each scored 18 points to lead Maryland.

Big East: Seton Hall 64, Villanova 63

Villanova’s stay in the Big East Tournament didn’t last long at all. Sterling Gibbs hit a jumper at the buzzer as No. 8 seed Seton Hall stunned top seed and Associated Press No. 3 Villanova in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.

Villanova (28-4), which was vying for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament now will have to hope its regular season body of work, which included wins in 12 of its last 13 games, is good enough. Meanwhile, Seton Hall picked up a one-point victory for the second consecutive day after nipping ninth-seeded Butler 51-50 in Wednesday’s opening round.

Eugene Teague had 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Pirates (17-16)

Josh Hart had 18 points to lead Villanova, which went winless in the Big East Tournament for the first time since dropping a first round game to South Florida in 2011.

Big Ten: Illinois 64, Indiana 54

Tracy Abrams scored a season-high 25 points in the Illini’s first-round win in Indianapolis.

Abrams, who had a combined nine points in his previous two games, hit 8 of 16 field goals and the Illinois (19-13) defense forced 16 turnovers in winning for the fifth time in six games. The one loss during that stretch was a 31-point humbling March 4 at home against regular season champion Michigan, which the ninth-seeded Illini play in today’s quarterfinals.

Indiana (17-15), which tied a season-high with its third consecutive defeat, was paced by Yogi Ferrell’s 14 points.

American: Houston 68, SMU 64

Jherrod Stiggers scored 19 points off the bench as the No. 6 seed Cougars pulled the upset over the No. 25 team in the country.

Stiggers hit five of his team’s nine 3-pointers in leading the Cougars to a semifinal meeting with the winner of No. 2 Louisville and seventh-seeded Rutgers.

L.J. Rose added 16 points and hit all three of his 3-pointers for Houston (17-15), which lost both games to the Mustangs in the regular season by a combined 11 points.

SMU (23-9), the No. 3 seed which lost its third straight game, got 14 points from Cannen Cunningham.

Tennessee women win 17th SEC title

DULUTH, Ga. - With another conference title hanging in the balance, a pair of guards delivered in a big way for Tennessee. Jordan Reynolds had three huge baskets and an assist on the tying bucket and Meighan Simmons scored six points over the final 1:45 to seal a 71-70 victory over Kentucky in the SEC championship game at the Arena at Gwinnett Center.

The second-seeded Vols captured the program’s 17th conference title and fourth in the last five seasons. For No. 4 seed Kentucky, it was another heartbreaking finish in the league tournament as the Wildcats, who haven’t won an SEC crown since 1982, lost in the title game for the fourth time in the last five years, three of which have come against Tennessee.

“It’s very very special, it really is,” said Tennessee coach Holly Warlick. “Just a great game with two, I think, very athletic teams. It was great competition.”

Simmons was fouled hard with just under 11 seconds to play and sank two free throws to put Tennessee (27-5) up 71-67. At the other end, Kentucky guard Jennifer O’Neill was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer and went to the line with less than a second left. O’Neill hit the first two and in her attempt to miss the third and create a possible rebound situation for the Wildcats, sank the charity shot for the final point of the tournament.

“They gave it everything they had to win the tournament and we came up one point short,” said Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell. “Lost a real tough game today (but) I wouldn’t trade locker rooms, I can tell you that.”

Mitchell’s group, which reached the championship game after upsetting top-seed South Carolina in Saturday’s semifinals, led 59-54 after a bucket by all-tournament team member DeNesha Stallworth (game-high 21 points). That’s when Reynolds got going. The freshman from Portland, Oregon had been relatively quiet for much of the game before scoring five straight points, including a lay up that turned into a three-point play after a foul on Bria Goss. That tied the game at 59-59 with a little over four minutes to play.

Kentucky took back the lead on two more occasions and held a 63-61 advantage on Samarie Walker’s jump hook at the 2:43 mark. Each time Reynolds answered - first with a nice jumper from 10 feet and the last feeding Isabelle Harrison for a lay up that evened things up at 63-63 with 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the game.

Tennessee never trailed again.

Simmons hit two free throws and Reynolds knocked down perhaps the biggest basket of the night, a short jumper that put the Vols up 67-63 with 51 seconds left.

“I was just trying to help my team out the best that I could,” said Reynolds.

“You got to have players step up, Jordan stepped up and got us ahead,” Warlick added.

Harrison, who was named the tournament’s MVP, finished with 16 points, while Simmons had a team-high 17 points.

Tennessee had its first lead since the early stages of the game at 52-51, when with about 8 1/2 minutes to play Harrison hit two free throws.

Linnae Harper was hot early on as the freshman guard had four baskets in a two-minute stretch, including a nifty, banked-in runner in transition, to help Kentucky go up by as much as 18-8 in the opening half.

Harper was quieted for much of the remainder of the game by the Vols’ defense, attempting and missing just one shot over the next 11 minutes and the No. 2 seed began to climb back into the game.

Harper, who was also an all-tournament team member, finally scored again on a pretty reverse lay up at the 2:50 mark, then Kastine Evans drained a 3-pointer and the Wildcats had a 34-28 cushion with 2 1/2 minutes until halftime.

Kentucky held that six-point lead at the break, thanks to a 53 percent shooting performance from the field. Harper and Stallworth were a big reason why, combining to hit 11 of 15 field goal attempts.

After Tennessee’s early shooting struggles (6 for 16 start from the field through the first 10 minutes), the Vols closed by knocking down half of their final 20 attempts and on Jasmine Jones’ jumper with 13 seconds to play were down just 38-32 at the break.

Kentucky went cold in the second half, making just seven field goals, including just three baskets over the final eight minutes.

“We weren’t very good defensively in the first half, we talked about that at halftime: just getting stops,” said Warlick.

Story at rockdalecitizen.com