March 24, 2010 | AP Press

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Delroy James and the Rhode Island Rams are ready to hit Manhattan.

James scored 18 points and Lamonte Ulmer added 13, including a big basket in the final seconds, to lead Rhode Island past Virginia Tech 79-72 in an NIT quarterfinal Wednesday night.

The second-seeded Rams (26-9) advanced to the NIT semifinals for the first time since 1946. They’ll play 2009 national champion North Carolina on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

“I’m just so excited for our players and everyone involved,” Rhode Island coach Jim Baron said. “You know, you’re right there on the bubble of the NCAA tournament and you beat a Big Ten team and a Western Athletic Conference and then an ACC team. Our kids showed a tremendous amount of will power to sustain and I’m really happy for them. This is a great win for us and our program.”

The Rams beat Northwestern in the first round and Nevada in the second round.

No. 1 seed Virginia Tech (25-9) led 60-48 following Malcolm Delaney’s two free throws with 14:43 left that capped an 18-8 run to start the second half. But the Rams answered with a 13-0 spurt and took a 61-60 lead with 11:05 remaining on a basket by Ulmer.

“We’ve had different guys step up on different nights and help us win,” Hokies coach Seth Greenberg said. “But we just didn’t do those things that we normally do. I don’t know if it was the stage or if it was pressure. There are so many factors that go into it. I’m just real disappointed.”

Rhode Island took the lead for good at 73-71 on a jumper by Keith Cothran with 2 minutes left. Virginia Tech had a chance to tie, but James got a piece of J.T. Thompson’s layup attempt with 46 seconds to go and grabbed the rebound.

The Rams then spread the court, and with the shot clock running down, Ulmer rebounded his own miss and laid it in with 10.6 seconds remaining.

“We were isolating and he was just real aggressive,” Baron said. “He attacked the bucket, and the funny part about it was I told the guys in practice that they were going to have to use the rim as a protector by going up and under. Sure enough, Lamonte made a great play by going up and under.”

Delaney hit one of two free throws with 6.9 seconds left to cut it to 75-72. But the Rams made all four of their free throws the rest of the way to seal it.

James, who scored a career-high 34 points in Rhode Island’s second-round win over Nevada, shot 7 of 18 from the floor. He also blocked four shots and grabbed six rebounds.

Delaney had 24 points for the Hokies, who lost in the NIT quarterfinals for the third straight year. Dorenzo Hudson added 19.

The Hokies, who fell one victory short of setting the school’s single-season record, shot better from the floor than the Rams, hitting 48.1 percent (26 of 54) compared to 46.7 percent (28 of 60). But Tech made only two of its final 17 shots.

“We weren’t as poised as well as we had been down the stretch,” Greenberg said. “As well as we executed the other night against Connecticut, we didn’t down the stretch tonight.”

March 22, 2010 | AP Press

ST. LOUIS - On Monday night, Saint Louis University hosted UW-Green Bay in the 2nd round of the CBI. Willie Reed tied his career scoring high and registered game highs of 21 points and 10 rebounds Monday night as Saint Louis advanced to the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational with a 68-62 double-overtime victory over Green Bay at Chaifetz Arena.

The Billikens (22-11), who improved to 3-2 in overtime games this season – with all three victories coming in two extra sessions (Duquesne, Dayton) – will host Princeton in a semifinal matchup Wednesday at 8 p.m. The Tigers also were a double-overtime winner Monday, defeating IUPUI 74-68 in Indianapolis. The other semifinal will match Virginia Commonwealth and Boston University

Reed, who was 8-of-11 from the field and chalked up his eighth double-double of the season, also tallied two blocks to break Kelvin Henderson’s 30-year-old single-season school record. Reed has 69 rejections, one more than Henderson registered in the 1979-80 campaign. Kwamain Mitchell and Cody Ellis scored 14 points apiece, with Ellis collecting eight rebounds and Mitchell adding four assists. All of Ellis’ points came in the second half and overtime. Kyle Cassity distributed a game-high six assists, tying his career high, while Brian Conklin chipped in six rebounds as Saint Louis earned a 43-36 advantage on the glass.

Green Bay (22-13) was led by Troy Cotton, who hit five 3-pointers on the way to a 17-point total. Rahmon Fletcher scored 16 points and Rian Pearson contributed 14. Randy Berry (seven rebounds), Matt Smith (six) and Pearson (six) led the Green Bay rebounding effort, and Cotton picked up a game-high four steals.

March 22, 2010 | AP Press

CINCINNATI – Rob Lowery led an early 3-point barrage that built a 17-point lead, and Dayton held on for a rough-and-tumble 81-66 victory over Cincinnati in the second round of the NIT on Monday night.

The Flyers (22-12) made eight of their first 12 shots from behind the arc to get the big lead, and survived a second-half Cincinnati comeback before pulling away to their most lopsided win over the Bearcats in 25 years.

It was only their third win over Cincinnati in their last 17 games in the southwest Ohio rivalry.

“I had fun out there,” said Chris Wright, who scored 11 points. “When you’re playing against guys you know, you know they’re going to play a lot harder. It’s for bragging rights. It felt like high school all over again.”

Dayton will play at Illinois in the quarterfinals Wednesday, extending a season that held a lot of disappointment. The Flyers were picked to win the Atlantic 10, but blew a lot of leads and suffered a lot of close losses, finishing seventh.

“They’ve been knocked down so many times and they keep getting back up,” coach Brian Gregory said. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of these guys. We told them this would be a test of character and pride and how much the program meant to them. They’ve answered that and today they might have put an exclamation on it.”

Cincinnati (19-16) was prone to long shooting slumps all season, and managed only two field goals during a 10-minute span in the second half. After cutting the 17-point deficit to 44-43, the Bearcats could never make that final push.

“Same story again,” coach Mick Cronin said. “Once we got close, we couldn’t make a shot. We kept missing open shot after open shot.”

The Bearcats set the NCAA tournament as their goal — a place they haven’t been since 2005 — but faded down the stretch and finished 11th in the Big East.

Dayton brought its pep band, cheerleaders and a lot of fans, turning it into a high-energy game in front of 6,479 fans. The Flyers got the best of it early, pulling ahead 34-17 by hitting open 3s. Senior guard Deonta Vaughn scored Cincinnati’s last 11 points in the half, cutting it to 41-36.

Vaughn finished with a season-high 28 points and passed Danny Fortson for third on the school’s career scoring list. He got a standing ovation when he left the floor in the final minute.

“My four years have been great,” said Vaughn, who finished with 1,885 points. “I learned a lot about basketball. I matured a lot since I came here and did a lot of great things to try to help this program get back to where it needs to be.”

The Bearcats were caught flat-footed at the start, outplayed by a Dayton team that had a lot more enthusiasm.

“We definitely underestimated them,” said freshman Lance Stephenson, who said he would return for another season. “We knew they played hard, but we didn’t know they played with that much intensity.”

March 22, 2010 | AP Press

KINGSTON, R.I. – Delroy James has established a reputation for being one of the Atlantic 10’s top offensive players.

The Rhode Island star was back at it on Monday night and also turned on the defense Monday night, helping the Rams beat Nevada 85-83 in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.

James scored a career-high 34 points and locked up Luke Babbitt, Nevada’s leading scorer and the WAC player of the year.

“They were able to match up with Babbitt, athletically,” Nevada coach Dave Carter said. “I thought they contested his shots and made it very difficult for him to score.”

Babbitt entered as the eighth-leading scorer in the country with a 22.1 average, but finished with 14 points. He connected on only two of 14 shots — both in the second half — and scored 10 points at the free-throw line.

“He missed some easy ones that he normally would make,” Carter said. “But sometimes when you’re physical and you’re able to contest shots and make guys work for it I think that’s what they did tonight.”

As a result, the Rams (25-9) will play a third-round game Wednesday at Virginia Tech, which eliminated Connecticut 65-63.

Brandon Fields led the Wolf Pack (21-13) with 25 points, while Keith Cothran added 16 for Rhode Island and teammate Lamonte Ulmer grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.

“Babbitt is a very good player a top 20 pick,” James said. “I tried to make it a rough night for him. If you play hard on defense, you have to attack on offense.”

James drained one of his five 3-point shots to spark a 24-16 run and give the Rams their largest lead of the first half at 36-26.

Fields then scored seven consecutive points for Nevada to forge a 37-37 tie, but Rhode Island’s Will Martell and Stevie Mejia combined to score five straight points for a 42-37 halftime lead.

James’ layup with 4:49 left in regulation gave Rhode Island a seemingly comfortable 74-64 lead. But the Wolf Pack connected on all 10 of their free-throw attempts down the stretch and Fields drained a 3-point shot with 5.2 seconds left to pull Nevada within 84-83.

Cothran then sank one of two free-throw attempts and Nevada threw the ball away on its ensuing possession. That turnover was the Wolf Pack’s 16th, and Rhode Island capitalized by scoring 23 points off Nevada’s miscues.

Conversely, Rhode Island committed only two turnovers.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in a game where my team only made two turnovers,” Rams coach Jim Baron said. “That shows we made good decisions.”

March 21, 2010 | AP Press

MILWAUKEE – Dunking on LeBron James made him a sensation on YouTube.

Now Jordan Crawford is making a name for himself on a more traditional stage, putting together consecutive big games to lead Xavier into the second week of the NCAA tournament.

Crawford scored 27 points, including a breakaway dunk with just over 2 minutes remaining, to help the sixth-seeded Musketeers beat Pittsburgh 71-68 on Sunday night to advance to the round of 16 for the third straight year.

The job of guarding Crawford fell primarily to Jermaine Dixon, the Panthers’ top defensive stopper.

Dixon held Crawford in check for the first 13 minutes of the game, but he eventually got into a rhythm, finishing the game 9 of 15 from the field and 4 of 7 from 3-point range with a few taken from well beyond the arc.

“He started knocking down deep shots and then began getting to the foul line,” Jermaine Dixon said. “It was definitely difficult to stop him.”

Sunday’s game was a rematch from last year’s tournament, when the Panthers beat the Musketeers one round later.

Revenge didn’t seem to be a significant source of motivation for the Musketeers, but Xavier players did seem to be put off by people who lump them in with other overachieving mid-major programs.

“I don’t feel like we’re a mid-major at all,” Love said. “You look at our schedule, we played some of the best teams in the country.”

With the Musketeers leading by five points, Love swatted away a shot at the other end and Crawford went in for a breakaway dunk with 2:04 left.

Brown hit a 3-pointer, cutting the lead to four with 1:45 left. Crawford was fouled and hit both free throws, giving Xavier a 65-59 lead with 1:22 remaining. Gibbs went to the line but hit only one of two free throws.

Terrell Holloway then made two free throws but Brown hit another 3-pointer, cutting Xavier’s lead to 67-63 with 27.8 seconds left.

After two free throws by Crawford, Brown hit another 3-pointer to cut the lead to three with 16.9 remaining. The inbounds pass went out of bounds, but officials gave the ball back to Xavier.

Brown fouled Holloway, who made them both, and Pitt’s Travon Woodall drove for a layup to cut the lead to 3 with 8.2 left.

Dante Jackson missed two free throws for Xavier, but Pittsburgh couldn’t convert either of its final two chances to tie.

March 19, 2010 | AP Press

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Confident, relaxed and definitely on their game.

Cornell lived up to its billing as the best team to come out of the Ivy League in more than a decade, and now the senior-heavy Big Red have a chance for a nice run in the East Regional of the NCAA tournament.

“Everyone was saying we were Cinderella or it’s an upset. Not us,” sophomore Chris Wroblewski said Friday after the 12th-seeded Big Red dominated No. 5 seed Temple 78-65 in a game that wasn’t even that close.

Down to their last chance to experience success on college basketball’s biggest stage, seniors Ryan Wittman, Louis Dale and Jeff Foote paced the school to its first win in five NCAA appearances.

Dale scored 21 points and Wittman, the Ivy League player of the year, had 20 for the Big Red, who led the nation in 3-point shooting this season and have three other elements — strong guard play, experienced leadership and a 7-foot center in Foote — that make them a threat to play beyond the first weekend of the tournament.

Cornell (28-4) made eight of its first 10 shots and never looked back, shooting 68 percent in the opening half and 56 percent for the game.

Temple (29-6) lost in the first round for the third straight year under coach Fran Dunphy, whose former assistant, Steve Donahue, has led Cornell to three straight Ivy League titles and the winningest season in school history.

Juan Fernandez and Ryan Brooks each had 14 points for Temple. Lavoy Allen added 11.

Having gone through a non-conference schedule that included games against Kansas, Syracuse, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Alabama, Donahue felt the Big Red was better equipped this year to face a tough, physical opening-round opponent such as Temple, one of the nation’s stingiest defensive teams.

Cornell lost by 24 to Stanford in 2008 and 19 to Missouri a year ago, and entered this year’s tournament determined to make the most of the last opportunity Wittman, Foote, Dale and fellow senior Jon Jaques have to enjoy the NCAA’s.

Dunphy, who’s been at Temple since 2006, fell to 1-12 in the NCAA tournament and has lost 11 straight.

The Owls coach appeared in the tournament nine times in 17 seasons at Penn, where Donahue was an assistant under him for 10 years. They remain close, and the mentor freely admitted he did not relish the idea of facing the pupil on Friday.

“I’m torn right now with the feeling in my stomach,” Donahue said after his first win over his former boss.

Temple trailed 37-29 at the half and was fortunate to be that close. The Owls uncharacteristically turned the ball over nine times, with Cornell coming up with seven steals while playing tight man-to-man defense and occasionally switching to a 1-3-1 zone that made it difficult to get the ball inside.

Cornell’s lead would have bigger if its 3-point shooters hadn’t struggled from beyond the arc. The Big Red were 13 of 19 from the field at the break, and five of those six misses were 3-pointers that could have left Temple in a deeper hole.

After misfiring on its first two 3-point attempts of the second half, Cornell’s shooters caught fire. Jon Jacques hit a long 3, then Wittman made three straight during a stretch in which the Big Red weathered another Temple surge to lead 51-42.

The closest Temple would get the rest of the way was seven.

“Wittman just went crazy with those 3s. We’re trying to get back in the game and he’s not allowing it,” Dunphy said.

Dunphy’s lone victory in the NCAA’s came in 1994, when Penn beat Nebraska. He lost his next eight tournament games with the Quakers and now his first three with Temple, including losses to Michigan State and Arizona State the past two years.

Cornell, which has won 16 of 17 games since a 5-point road loss at Kansas on Jan. 6, became the first Ivy League team to win an NCAA tournament game since fifth-seeded Princeton took down No. 12 seed UNLV in 1998.

“This is our last chance to do this,” said Foote, who had 16 points and seven rebounds. “It’s nice to see all our hard work for four years pay off.”

March 19, 2010 | AP Press

MILWAUKEE – Jordan Crawford finally mustered a smile.

After a sour experience in the NCAA tournament two years ago, he’s back on March’s biggest stage.

Now he wants to stay as long as possible.

“I’m taking every second in. I’m taking it all in,” Crawford said. “I want to be here as long as I can.”

Crawford scored 17 of his 28 points in the second half and Xavier kept its run of tournament success with a 65-54 victory over Minnesota in the first round of the West Regional on Friday.

Xavier (25-8) will be in the second round for the fourth straight year, this time under first-year coach Chris Mack.

“There are different ways to motivate kids and we’re really tired of being The Little Engine that Could,” Mack said. “We’re a really good program and our kids aren’t scared to play anybody. We don’t always win, but we’re not afraid to compete.”

Crawford has embodied that, playing in his first NCAA tournament game in two years after transferring from Indiana, where the program was rocked by Kelvin Sampson’s departure. Crawford has had five coaches in two years and endured another switch from Sean Miller to Mack before the season.

“I give him a lot of credit for getting ready and being hungry over the offseason,” Mack said. “I give our school and Jordan a lot of credit for maturing as a person in the past year and a half.”

“I can smile now because we’re happy to win, but I want to win again,” he said. “Whoever we play, Pittsburgh or Oakland, I want to go out and win that game. There’s going to be no smiles again.”

Maybe not, but Crawford has found his place as one of the Atlantic 10’s top talents.

After a 4-of-11 first half, he came alive with a driving, off-balance scoop with just over 17 minutes left, and kept making layup after layup before finding his range from beyond the arc.

“It’s like watching somebody playing a video game,” teammate Kenny Frease said. “It’s so fun to watch him play, because you don’t ever want to get used to seeing somebody do the things he does. He went through the lane and made that scooping layup, and he starts hitting 3s.

“It’s like you can’t stop him. Ever. Nobody can stop him.”

The Musketeers seemingly had every answer down the stretch against Minnesota, which had played its way into the tournament by winning seven of its previous 10 under Tubby Smith.

Smith was looking for his 30th NCAA tournament win and first with his fourth program after stops at Tulsa, Georgia and Kentucky, but Minnesota lost for the fourth straight time in the first round to join early exits in 1999, 2005 and 2009.

The Gophers haven’t won an NCAA tournament game since 1997’s Final Four run, and those wins since have been vacated. Now there’s questions of whether Smith will stay, but he said no other school has made him an offer.

“I’m looking forward to coming back to Minnesota,” Smith said.

Mack, an assistant, took over when Miller left for Arizona. In some ways, his season has been one of the Musketeers’ most impressive because they didn’t return a single player who averaged double figures last year.

Xavier certainly has few worries with Crawford, who grabbed brief fame for his dunk on LeBron James at a summer camp in the offseason and is making a lasting impression on college’s biggest stage.

“I can relish this right now,” Crawford said. “But we’re trying to win another one.”

March 18, 2010 | AP Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Richmond was on the wrong side of an NCAA tournament upset this time, and Saint Mary’s is moving on for the first time in more than 50 years.

Omar Samhan had 29 points and 12 rebounds despite spending most of the game in foul trouble, and Saint Mary’s pulled away from Richmond to win 80-71 on Thursday in the first round of the South Regional.

Samhan scored the Gaels’ first 10 points, but he picked up his first foul 5 minutes into the game and his second midway through the first half. Richmond led 19-17 at the time, and Bennett didn’t give much thought to sitting Samhan down.

“If you have a guy like Samhan, why would you sit him when he only has two?” Bennett said. “I haven’t been a big believer of that. It depends on how smart your player is. Omar is a key player to us. He was tonight. The more minutes we can have him out on the floor, no question he’s better for us.”

Samhan picked up his third foul with 6:31 left in the first, and went to the bench for the rest of the half with 17 points and seven rebounds. He had 27 and 11 when he picked up his fourth foul with 9:13 left and Saint Mary’s leading 59-50; he sat down and didn’t return for six minutes.

“For some reason this season, I’ve been finding myself in foul trouble a lot,” said Samhan, who fouled out six times this year after doing it just three times in the previous three. “You have to play smart. Coach was fired up at me, and I was trying hard not to get any in the second half.”

But his absence didn’t slow down the Gaels.

They took a 12-point lead right after he went to the bench when McConnell faked forward and stepped back with the shot clock winding down, arcing a high 3-pointer into the basket. McConnell then fed Clint Steindl for a 3 that made it 65-50 with 7:32 left.

The fans, who spent much of the game yelling chants for the five Australians on the Saint Mary’s roster, began calling for Bennett to put Samhan back in the game. When he returned, with 3:14 to play, he immediately grabbed a rebound and then finished off a fast break with a dunk that gave Saint Mary’s a 72-59 lead.

McConnell went 5 for 9 from 3-point range in the game, and Steindl was 3 for 5 as Saint Mary’s went 8 for 19 from beyond the arc overall.

“After I got going they didn’t double team me. I haven’t seen that a lot this year,” Samhan said. “I’ve been doubled a lot. It was good. It’s hard to double with the four we have out there, because they can shoot it. They are the reasons I have good nights is the other four guys on the court opened it up for me, they’re shooting unbelievable from 3.

“I was surprised, but not really, because  Clint and Mickey will make them pay.”

The Gaels, from Moraga, Calif., north of Oakland, had lost five straight NCAA games since 1959, when they beat Idaho State to advance to the round of eight in a 23-team tournament.

“That, and the fact that no one picked us to win this game was a bit of a chip on our shoulder,” forward Ben Allen said. “We hadn’t done this in 50 years. It was something we wanted to prove. We are a team that’s done so many things this season, and add that to the stack. So we’re advancing in the dance.”

March 17, 2010 | AP Press

KINGSTON, R.I. – Akeem Richmond scored 14 of his 16 points during a big first-half run as Rhode Island defeated Northwestern 76-64 on Wednesday night in an NIT opener.

The Rams (24-9) will host a second-round game against Nevada, which beat Wichita State.

“This is our third straight NIT,” Rhode Island’s Will Martel said. “We laid an egg my freshman year. We were up 18 at the half against Creighton and lost (74-73). There’s no way that’s ever going to happen again. That was embarrassing.”

Michael Thompson led the Wildcats (20-14) with 24 points, while Northwestern’s leading scorer, John Shurna, was held to 15 — 3.3 below his season average.

Northwestern led 22-20 when Richmond scored 14 consecutive points for Rhode Island in a span of 3:07 which helped give the Rams a 34-28 lead. Richmond connected on all four of his 3-pointers during the run.

“We know what the NIT is,” Martel said. “We’ve only been to the second round, but we’re experienced. I think we’ve got a good shot [at winning the championship].”

Rhode Island’s Orion Outerbridge converted a three-point play with 1:04 left in the half to give the Rams a 37-30 lead at intermission.

Richmond acknowledged that he relished the chance to play against a zone — Northwestern alternated between a 1-3-1 and a matchup — instead of man-to-man defense.

“I knew I was going to tear that apart,” Richmond said. “I was telling my teammates that before I even got on the court because I could see the gaps in it. I could see where I was going to get open shots.

“My father and coaches have told me how other teams are going to play me for the 3-point shot. They’ve said it’s going to be easy if they run out there and I hit them with a pump fake, that’ll leave me wide open. It’s definitely been working.

Shurna averaged 18.3 points and shot 46.4 percent before the NIT, but coach Jim Baron alternated five players on him within the context of his team’s man-to-man defense.

“Hes very good because he can shoot the ball, he can pass the ball and he can handle the ball,” Baron said. “We just kept throwing different guys at him and they did a great job of being physical and making him work for everything he needed to get.”

The closest Northwestern could get in the second half was 41-39, but Rhode Island went on an 8-0 run to break the game open.

“We don’t want to be in the NIT next year, to tell you the truth,” Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said. “We won 17 games last year, 20 this year and we have most of our players back.”

March 17, 2010 | AP Press

DAYTON, Ohio – Chris Johnson scored 13 points and Dayton used a 19-1 second-half run to pull away and beat Illinois State 63-42 in the opening round of the NIT on Wednesday night.

Chris Wright grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Dayton (21-12) to a 42-27 advantage on the boards. The Flyers will play at Cincinnati in the second round.

“How we went out there and played today and how we approached this tournament was really more a test of our character and pride in who we are and what we do,” Dayton coach Brian Gregory said. “I didn’t have any doubt how they would respond.”

Dayton was coming off a conference tournament loss to Xavier that was typical of many of its losses this season. The Flyers squandered a 15-point lead in the second half, but this time the formula of a deep bench, relentless man-to-man defense and rebounding worked. The Flyers held the Redbirds to 33.3 percent shooting.

Osiris Eldridge, the Missouri Valley Conference’s leading scorer, shot only 4 of 15 but led the Redbirds (22-11) with 12 points.

Dayton saw its 13-point lead cut to 42-37 with 10:27 to play, but Johnson started the Flyers’ huge run with a 3-pointer.

Four minutes later, Marcus Johnson hit a 3-pointer and a pull-up jumper on consecutive trips to put the Flyers up 54-38 with 6:07 left. Dayton scored the next seven points before Eldridge hit a 3-pointer to end a nearly eight-minute field-goal drought for the Illinois State.

“We really defended well and rebounded well,” Dayton’s Chris Wright said. “That’s a team that never quits. Down the stretch we knew we were going to have to play a lot harder.”

Gregory said his players studied film more than usual the past couple days and were ready for Eldridge and point guard Lloyd Phillips.

“Yes, we had a very poor offensive night and certainly we had some shots that could have easily fallen,” Illinois State coach Tim Jankovich said. “But over time, they deserve a lot of credit because they keep a great deal of pressure on you. They’re very athletic and they’re very deep. And it’s a good recipe.”