March 25, 2009 | AP Press

RICHMOND, Va. — Stefon Jackson scored 34 points and Texas-El Paso went on a 10-0 run after Richmond closed within two in the second half Wednesday night and the Miners beat the Spiders 81-69 to reach the College Basketball Invitational finals.

UTEP (22-12), in its third season under Tony Barbee, will play Oregon State or Stanford, who played later in the later semifinal, in a best-of-three series beginning March 30.

“My team came out focused and ready to play and to get to the championship of the CBI,” Jackson, the lone UTEP seniors, said. “We executed everything Coach Barbee prepared for us.”

Richmond (20-16) didn’t score for more than four minutes after Ryan Butler’s driving layup pulled them to 58-56 with 7:59 to play. During the drought, coach Chris Mooney was ejected for drawing his second technical foul for arguing what he thought was poor officiating.

David Gonzalvez led the Spiders with 24 points.

“Man, he’s really good,” he said of Jackson, one of the nation’s leading scorers with a 24.3 average. “We knew he was good going right, but I don’t think we had any idea how good.”

UTEP, which outscored Richmond 26-14 at the line, had already rebuilt its lead to 63-56 on three free throws by Jackson and Randy Culpepper’s basket when Justin Harper appeared to score on a dunk for the Spiders. But the officials waved it off, calling Harper instead for a charge, and then compounded Mooney’s frustration by calling a foul on an apparent block by Richmond’s Jarhon Giddings at the other end. As Mooney peeled off his jacket, he was tossed.

“The second one, I didn’t say anything,” Mooney said, adding that he apologized to the team for getting ejected. “I think it’s probably more cumulative if I’m asking for too many calls, but I certainly didn’t swear or raise my voice or anything like that.”

Jackson made both free throws, making it 65-56 with 4:44 to play, and it was over.

Culpepper added 19 points for the Miners.

Giddings scored 10 in his final game as the Spiders’ lone scholarship senior.

The Miners used a 15-5 run to open a 28-16 lead with nine minutes left in the first half. Culpepper had six points in the burst and Jackson four. After the Spiders scored nine straight points to get within 28-25, Jackson scored 10 more in a 14-8 run to end the half.

March 23, 2009 | RichmondSpiders.com

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – Kevin Anderson drilled a pull-up jumper with nine seconds remaining to seal a 74-72 win over the College of Charleston in the CBI Second Round at the Robins Center Monday night. Richmond, which reached 20 wins for the 16th time in school history, advances to the Semifinals Wednesday.

Anderson finished with 21 points and the Second Team All-Atlantic 10 sophomore guard moved into 10th-place on the Spiders’ single-season scoring with 920. Anderson was nine-of-17 from the field, grabbed four rebounds, dished five assists with one turnover in 38 minutes on the court.

He reached the 20-point mark for the sixth-straight game and eighth time in the last 11.

Richmond (20-15) will learn is next opponent late Monday night as the bracket’s four remaining teams get re-seeded. Stanford has already dispatched Wichita State tonight, 70-56, with Northeastern at UTEP and Vermont at Oregon State set for 10 p.m. ET tipoffs.

David Gonzalvez added 15 points and Ryan Butler scored 10 for the Spiders, while Darrius Garrett played his second big game for Richmond off the bench with six points (on three-of-three shooting), four boards and three blocked shots.

A layup by Tony White with 15:03 remaining cut Richmond’s lead to just 43-42, but Richmond embarked on a 16-4 run over the next five minutes and built its largest margin of the game at 59-46. Anderson and Gonzalvez each scored five in the spurt.

The Bobby Cremins-led Cougars, who finished second to Davidson in the Southern Conference, would not go quietly and trimmed the lead to just two with 42 seconds left thanks to back-to-back baskets from Dustin Scott and a put-back layup from White.

But with the ball in his hands and his team up 72-70, Anderson milked the clock down to the final seconds before driving to the near-side elbow and drilling his patented floater in traffic for the decisive basket with 9.3 on the clock.

Richmond called timeout and Jermaine Johnson tipped in his own miss on the ensuing possession with three seconds left, Charleston called timeout then fouled Anderson. The sophomore missed the front-end of the 1-and-1, leaving the Cougars only a desperation heave at the buzzer that fell short.

Johnson scored 15 to lead four in double-figures for Charleston, which ended its season 27-9.

The fast-paced game featured just 21 total fouls and 12 combined free throws attempts, while each team turned the ball over just nine times.

Richmond jumped out of the gate quickly and opened a six-point lead at 18-12 when Francis Cedric Martel slammed an alley-op pass from Anderson. Another dunk by Kevin Smith brought the Robins Center crowd to its feet and put Richmond up 30-23 with 5:56 left in the first.

College of Charleston would cut the lead to 33-31, but the Spiders closed the half with a 6-2 run and took a 39-33 lead into the break.

 vs

March 23, 2009 | Andy Katz – ESPN

EAST REGIONAL (BOSTON)

No. 1 Pitt vs. No. 4 Xavier, Thursday, 7:27 p.m. ET

No. 1 Pitt

How did the Panthers get here? Pitt had the most trouble of any of the favorites. The Panthers were dangerously close to becoming the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16. The 10-point win over East Tennessee State doesn’t tell the whole story. This game was extremely tight down to the final minutes. You could see how the Panthers were playing not to lose, before figuring out how to win.

Pitt had the most difficult second-round game of any of the top seeds. Oklahoma State was more than capable of knocking off the Panthers. The Cowboys were able to run with Pitt by making plenty of early shots, and they had the Panthers fighting for every possession late before Pitt was able to pull away in the final minutes for an 84-76 victory.

Who’s hot? Sam Young. The senior forward may be the most talented and maligned stud of any remaining Sweet 16 team. Young poured in 32 points for the Panthers in the win over the Cowboys. He didn’t score as much (14) but was dominant on the boards (13) in the win over ETSU.

Who’s not? Junior guard Jermaine Dixon is just 1-of-7 in two NCAA games so far. Dixon needs to be more productive to take some pressure off Levance Fields on the perimeter.

What does it mean for the program? Pitt has its best chance to win a national title with co-Big East Player of the Year DeJuan Blair and seniors Young, Fields and Tyrell Biggs. Coach Jamie Dixon has been a model of consistency in his six seasons. But getting to the Sweet 16 isn’t enough. The Panthers haven’t been past this round under Dixon. Winning one more game won’t change the reputation of Dixon as a solid coach who hasn’t been to the Final Four. But the perception certainly would change for the Panthers if they can win two more games and get to Detroit.

Drama factor so far? Pitt is making sure its fans are paying attention. The Panthers haven’t cruised for multiple four-minute periods, let alone a game. The Panthers are earning every victory, and if they win the East Regional, they will feel like they’ve earned every bucket.

No. 4 Xavier

How did the Musketeers get here? Xavier was sent to Boise and the games didn’t get much national play. But much like they did earlier in the season, the Musketeers quietly manufactured wins — an 18-point victory over No. 13 Portland State and an 11-point win over No. 12 Wisconsin.

Xavier has had an interesting season. The Musketeers were lucky early with a half-court shot to beat Virginia Tech; were poised in a win over Memphis in the same event in Puerto Rico; were humbled by 18 against Duke in New Jersey; and then went on cruise control for a spell before bumps in the Atlantic 10 saw them lose four of their final five road games. But beating Portland State and Wisconsin to get to the Sweet 16 is more than admirable for this crew.

Who’s hot? Not really anyone, but if we must pick one for a team that is getting by with a little bit from everyone, then B.J. Raymond gets the nod. He scored in double figures in both games but is a combined 9-of-22 in the tourney, including 5-of-14 on 3s.

Who’s not? Junior forward Jason Love has struggled in the NCAAs. He had four fouls in just 16 minutes in the win over Wisconsin and didn’t make a field goal. Love did last 26 minutes in the first game and scored eight points with two fouls in 26 minutes. But the onus is on Love to stay on the court to bang with the big boys from Pitt.

What does it mean for the program? Xavier continues to be one of the top-20 programs in the country. The Musketeers are to the Atlantic 10 what Memphis is to Conference USA and what Gonzaga is to the WCC. Xavier is now the team to beat every season in the A-10. Reaching the Sweet 16 for the third time since 2004 is a testament to the coaching of Thad Matta (who left Xavier for Ohio State in ‘04) and current coach Sean Miller. Getting to the Elite Eight with a win over Pitt would be quite a feat, considering this squad was never projected to be within 40 minutes of the Final Four this season.

Drama factor so far? There were anxious moments against the Badgers as the Musketeers trailed at the half. But the Musketeers outscored Wisconsin 24-12 over the final nine minutes to roll to a comfortable win.

AP Photo

March 22, 2009 | AP Press

MINNEAPOLIS — The long arms of Cole Aldrich forced the Dayton Flyers down for a rough landing.

Aldrich, the 6-foot-11 Kansas sophomore, posted a triple-double with 13 points, 20 rebounds and 10 blocked shots to lead the defending NCAA champions past the 11th-seeded Flyers 60-43 in the second round Sunday.

Shaquille O’Neal set the NCAA tournament record with 11 blocks in a game for LSU in 1992. Shawn Bradley had 10 in 1991 for BYU. Aldrich’s feat was, officially, the sixth triple-double in the history of the tournament.

Sherron Collins had 25 points to pace the third-seeded Jayhawks (27-7), who moved on to play the USC-Michigan State winner in the Midwest Region semifinals next Friday in Indianapolis.

Chris Wright had 10 points for Dayton, which shot a woeful 22.2 percent for the game.

This was Dayton’s lowest scoring total of the season. The Flyers shot 9-for-40 in the first half, and the misses didn’t stop there. Mickey Perry’s layup cut the Kansas edge to 35-30 midway through the second half, but with Aldrich getting a brief break on the bench Tyrel Reed sank a 3-pointer and Collins followed with a layup to stretch the lead back to 10.

During a 10-minute stretch, with Aldrich gobbling up those wayward shots and swatting some of them away before they even got to the rim, the Flyers went 3-for-20. Meanwhile, the Jayhawks — who weren’t in rhythm offensively and sure needed Aldrich’s altering presence underneath on defense — ran away.

The Flyers (27-8), one of four teams given at-large bids from conferences other than the big six, already had their first NCAA tourney win since 1990 but they were after more than that.

A few dozen Michigan State fans wearing dark green got an early start on their cheering, standing and clapping with Dayton’s fight song. Flyers coach Brian Gregory has deep ties to MSU, having served as an assistant under Jud Heathcote and then Tom Izzo. He found inspiration from their presence at the Metrodome this weekend, the latest stop on his attempt to rebuild this program into a perennial tournament team.

Wright and Charles Little shot a combined 16-for-27 in the first round, a 68-60 victory over West Virginia, but all of the Flyers were way off at the beginning of this game. They’re so fast and such high jumpers that sometimes they play out of control, and few of their early looks at the basket could fairly have been called good shots.

UD was 1-for-12 from the floor at one point, going more than 6 minutes without a make, until freshman Luke Fabrizius swished the first of his two 3-pointers to cut the Kansas lead to 13-7. The TV microphone on Dayton’s rim was cranked way up for a few possessions, exaggerating each brick with a fittingly amplified clang.

The Jayhawks didn’t seize their opportunity to build a big advantage. Collins was in his usual get-to-the-lane high gear, scoring 14 points before halftime, but Kansas missed nine of 11 attempts from 3-point range and, worse, seven of 10 foul shots.

Aldrich was all over the boards, but after an early series of putback, tip-in and up-and-under layup on three straight possessions, he stopped attacking the basket with the same aggression and had two passes out of the post go for turnovers. He did, however, convert a three-point play after relentlessly staying with the rebound of his own miss and give the Jayhawks a 29-23 lead at the break.

The official list of NCAA tournament triple-doubles dates to 1986, when steals and blocks were formally added as statistics. Assists were added in 1984. Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson had a handful of unofficial triple-doubles before the stats were streamlined. The last one was in this building, actually, by Dwyane Wade for Marquette in the 2003 regional final win over Kentucky.

AP Photo

March 22, 2009 | AP Press

BOISE, Idaho — B.J. Raymond scored 15 points and Xavier finally broke through Wisconsin’s defense midway through the second half, pulling away to a 60-49 victory Sunday in the second round of the East Regional.

The Musketeers (27-7) struggled as the Badgers controlled the pace for the first 30 minutes, before Xavier pulled away with a 13-4 run and hung onto the lead from the foul line.

Wisconsin (20-13) kept Xavier off balance, but the tight defense wasn’t quite enough to overcome 29 percent shooting. The Badgers were just 16-for-56 from the floor and made three of 20 3-point attempts.

Marcus Landry scored 18 and Trevon Hughes had 17 points for the Badgers.

Derrick Brown added 15 points and C.J. Anderson pulled down eight rebounds for fourth-seeded Xavier, which will play in Boston on Thursday despite the sloppy performance — the Musketeers were 18-for-46 from the floor and just 18-for-26 from the foul line.

Wisconsin patiently worked the shot clock and even led by a point with about 9:10 remaining before the Musketeers cracked through.

Dante Jackson hit two free throws to give Xavier a 38-37 lead with 8:57 left, starting the 13-4 run that put the Badgers away. After Jackson’s foul shots, Jamel McLean blocked a shot by Landry, then ran down to the other end and took a pass from Terrell Holloway for a two-handed dunk and a 40-37 lead with about 8:30 left.

McLean had another power dunk that put Xavier up 44-39 with 6:06 remaining, and after Landry answered with a dunk for Wisconsin, Jackson banked in a shot and Raymond hit a 3-pointer that stretched the lead to 49-41 — the largest of the game to that point.

Tim Jarmusz hit a 3-pointer for the Badgers, but Kenny Frease got a layup to roll in and Brown hit two free throws for a 53-44 lead with only 1:42 remaining.

Xavier didn’t make field goal for the first three minutes of the second half — even a dunk attempt by Love bounced off the rim — as the Badgers opened with a 6-1 run. Hughes scored on a reverse layup for the first points of the half, then spun 360 degrees for another layup that put Wisconsin up 33-26 and prompted a time out by Xavier with 17:15 left in the game.

Wisconsin led 27-25 after an ugly first half that was just fine with the Badgers, who slowed the game by working the shot clock and keeping the Musketeers from getting any transition opportunities. Xavier was 8-for-23 in the half, only slightly better than Wisconsin’s 8-for-24 performance.

Hughes missed seven of his first eight shots, but made all eight of his free throws and had 10 points at halftime. Xavier committed eight turnovers in the first 20 minutes and didn’t score for the first four minutes of the game.

AP Press

March 20, 2009 | AP Press

BOISE, Idaho — Xavier countered Portland State’s usual barrage of 3-pointers with a much more efficient attack.

The Musketeers shot 54 percent from the field and were 8-for-19 from 3-point range while rolling past Portland State 77-59 Friday in the opening round of the East Regional.

C.J. Anderson led the Musketeers’ well-balanced scoring with 14 points, followed by 13 apiece by Derrick Brown, B.J. Raymond and Dante Jackson.

Xavier also had just seven turnovers and flustered the Big Sky Conference champion Vikings into a cold stretch in the second half that turned the game into a rout.

“We’re not a team that wins a lot of shootouts. Our players really stuck with it,” coach Sean Miller said. “We’re a very good team when we take care of the ball and I thought we did that today.”

While Portland State entered the tournament with the reputation for slinging 3-pointers — averaging more than 25 attempts per game — the fourth-seeded Musketeers (26-7) were the better shooters from beyond the arc. Portland State didn’t hit a deep try in the second half until less than seven minutes remained and Xavier already led by 20.

Xavier matched Portland State’s total with eight 3-pointers on two fewer tries.

When the Musketeers weren’t hitting from the outside, they got the Vikings (23-10) off balance with constant movement that opened up the inside for easy shots.

“Everybody gets to touch the ball and everybody has confidence in the other players’ ability to put it on the floor or make the right decision,” Raymond said. “We love to share the ball and see our teammates succeed.”

Portland State was in the tournament for just the second time. Although it went better than last year’s debut against eventual national champion Kansas, the Vikings couldn’t keep up with the tournament-savy Musketeers, who are in their the field for the fourth straight year.

Portland State’s only lead of the game lasted all of 14 seconds.

“They acted like it was nothing to them,” Portland State coach Ken Bone said. “They’ve been there before and they played like it.”

Xavier, which improved to 22-0 when leading at halftime, faces Wisconsin on Sunday.

Jamie Jones led the Vikings with 16 points. Andre Murray finished with 14 points and Jeremiah Dominguez, the Vikings’ sparkplug point guard, finished with 13.

Phil Nelson, the Vikings’ third-leading scorer at 11.2 per game, finished without a point and Portland State didn’t hit a 3-pointer in the second until less than seven minutes remained. Xavier was already up by 20 at that point.

“They’re just so solid on defense and the offensive side,” Dominguez said. “We put ourselves in a hole and we couldn’t dig ourselves out.”

Portland State, the No. 13 seed, finished 22-for-46 from the field, but made only seven of 16 free throws. As the foul shots continued to clang off the rim, the Vikings’ hopes faded.

Dominguez went 0-for-2 from the line with 9:31 left to play and Xavier already up 61-45. After the misses, Anderson muscled through a foul for a layup, then Redmond hit a 3-pointer to start a 13-0 run that put it away for the Musketeers.

“What I didn’t expect was them to shoot so well,” Bone said. “When they got a good look they buried it.”

Portland State started its second NCAA tournament game well, shooting 56.5 percent in the first half and hanging right with the sharpshooting Musketeers early.

Murray hit a 3-pointer that gave Portland State a 25-24 lead, but Brown hit a jumper 14 seconds later and Brad Redford followed with a 3-pointer to start a 13-2 run for the Musketeers. Jackson made a steal and passed it to Raymond for an easy layup, then Jackson hit a 3-pointer to put the Musketeers ahead 37-27 with 4:19 remaining in the half.

After Brown’s put Xavier up 42-32, Portland State held out for the final shot, taking — of course — a 3-pointer just before the buzzer. Murray hit the shot from the corner and the Vikings were within 42-35 at halftime, giving the Portland State band reason to strike up the theme from “Rocky” before the second half.

The optimism diminished quickly in the second half as Raymond hit a 3-pointer, Jackson drove for a layup and lofted a perfect alley-oop pass for Brown during a 7-2 run that put the Musketeers right back up by double figures again.

“I thought our defense and size really started to wear them down,” Miller said. “I credit those guys for sticking with it.”

AP Photo

March 20, 2009 | AP Press

MINNEAPOLIS – Dayton is haunted by Bob Huggins no longer.

Chris Wright scored a career-high 27 points and had 10 rebounds to lead the 11th-seeded Flyers to a 68-60 win over sixth-seeded West Virginia on Friday in the Midwest Regional, their first victory in the NCAA tournament in 19 years.

They’ll play third-seeded Kansas in the second round Sunday. The Jayhawks defeated North Dakota State 84-74 earlier in the day.

“There’s times that we don’t play very well,” Dayton coach Brian Gregory said. “But we never back down.”
Charles Little added 18 points for once-mighty Dayton (27-7), which had been 1-13 against Huggins’ teams dating to his days storming up and down the Cincinnati sideline.

These Flyers aren’t as easily intimidated by his huffing and puffing.

They’ll play third-seeded Kansas in the second round Sunday. The Jayhawks defeated North Dakota State 84-74 earlier in the day.

“There’s times that we don’t play very well,” Dayton coach Brian Gregory said. “But we never back down.”

Darryl Bryant had 21 points and Devin Ebanks added 14 points and 12 rebounds for West Virginia (23-12), which had won at least two games in the NCAA tournament in each of its last four appearances.

Wright, the highest of the Flyers from Dayton, threw down a one-handed goal-shaker off an inbounds pass and then a soaring tomahawk dunk in transition to give them a 46-37 lead with 14 minutes left in the game. He converted two three-point plays off dunks, with teammate Mickey Perry’s mother hollering “Put them in the hole Superman!” while the free throws splashed through.

“I don’t know after watching them on film that our guys knew they were as explosive as they were,” Huggins said.

But Bryant hit two 3-pointers, Ebanks dunked and Da’Sean Butler kissed a jumper off the glass to pull West Virginia within 48-47 with 11 minutes to play.

That’s when the Flyers really locked down defensively, holding the Mountaineers to just seven free throws over the next eight minutes to regain control.

Wright’s fifth dunk of the game, a LeBron-like hammer in transition, punctuated Dayton’s first NCAA tournament win since an 88-86 triumph over Illinois in the first round in 1990.

“It’s hard to even put it in words at this time, to be honest with you,” Gregory said.

This was every bit the knockdown, drag-out, parking lot brawl expected from two teams run by hard-nosed coaches who stress defense, rebounding and grit as the only way to victory.

Gregory’s Flyers hounded every ball-handler, contested every pass and met each cutter through the lane with a sturdy shoulder and scowl.

AP Photo

March 20, 2009 | AP Press

MIAMI — On the eve of Arizona State’s first NCAA tournament game since 2003, James Harden had teammates laughing when he teased point guard Derek Glasser about being reluctant to shoot.

So when Harden had trouble getting going Friday against Temple, guess who came to the rescue?

Glasser scored a career-high 22 points, and the Sun Devils overcame a second consecutive subpar performance by Harden to win 66-57.

“It was one of those games where my shot wasn’t falling,” said Harden, the Pac-10 player of the year. “My teammates picked it up, definitely — Derek throughout the entire game.”

Harden scored nine points, less than half his average. And while he made only one shot, it was a big one: a 3-pointer with 4:02 left that helped to squelch a Temple comeback.

Glasser also connected from behind the arc. The junior went 4-for-5 on 3s as Arizona State (25-9) reached the 25-win milestone for the first time since 1975.

Seeded sixth in the South Region, the Sun Devils will play Sunday against Syracuse (27-9), which beat Stephen F. Austin 59-44.

No. 11-seed Temple (22-12) was eliminated in the opening round for the second year in a row and hasn’t won a tournament game since 2001. Senior Dionte Christmas scored 29 in his final game for the Owls.

“If you would have told us that James Harden would have ended up with nine points and I would have had 29 points and we lost the game, I would have thought you were crazy,” Christmas said.

Harden went 1-for-8. The performance was reminiscent of last week’s Pac-10 tournament championship game, when he missed a free throw, layup and 3-pointer in the final minute and scored 10 points in a loss to Southern Cal.

Against Temple he went more than 14 minutes in the first half without an attempt. He encountered heavy traffic every time he penetrated and had three shots blocked, but he did finish with seven rebounds, three steals and three assists. He went 6-for-9 from the line.

“The best part about James is he’s all about the team,” coach Herb Sendek said. “Just because it wasn’t his day, because he wasn’t the centerpiece, he didn’t disengage from his team. He recognizes the contributions other guys make.”

Temple never led and trailed by eight midway through the second half before making a charge. Christmas scored three consecutive baskets to cut the margin to 52-49, its smallest deficit since early in the game, but the Owls could get no closer.

After Harden missed his first six shots, his 3-pointer put Arizona State ahead 56-49. He sank a pair of free throws on the Sun Devils’ next possession, and they led by at least four the rest of the way.

“The last couple of minutes I started to be a little more aggressive and just create,” Harden said. “Throughout the game I didn’t play my best, but the last couple minutes I wanted to give my all and go out with a fight.”

Temple went 0-for-5 in the last 3:45. The Sun Devils held Christmas without a basket in the final 5:02.

“Those guys paid a little bit more attention to me than they were in the beginning of the game,” Christmas said. “Those guys were switching off more aggressively on me.”

The Sun Devils clinched the win by making six consecutive free throws in the final 40 seconds, including four by Glasser.

While Harden struggled offensively, his teammates combined to shoot 19-for-31 (61 percent). Jeff Pendergraph went 8-for-14 and scored 22 points. Glasser had 17 points in the first half alone.

“Our offense just created open looks for me,” Glasser said. “I was open, so I took them.”

“Derek has been playing his career-best basketball here the last couple weeks,” Sendek said. “He’s a significantly better shooter. He has really worked hard on that part of his game, and it has helped our team tremendously.”

Arizona State made six shots in a row, including three by Glasser, to build its biggest lead at 29-16 less than 12 minutes into the game.

The Sun Devils went the next eight possessions without a point, and Temple closed to 29-26. Glasser then sank consecutive 3-pointers, giving Arizona State a 35-26 lead.

Christmas played all 40 minutes and finished 5-for-11 from 3-point range, but the rest of the Owls shot only 11-for-35 (31 percent) from the field. Semaj Inge went 0-for-10.

“We had our looks,” coach Fran Dunphy said. “We did not take advantage of it, as we need to in a game of this magnitude.”

AP Photo

March 19, 2009 | AP Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Stanley Pringle scored 19 points, Andrew Jones had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Penn State withstood Rhode Island’s backcourt pressure in an 83-72 victory Thursday night to advance to the NIT quarterfinals.

The Nittany Lions (24-11) didn’t hit a field goal the last 8:53 of the game, and the Rams (23-11) closed a 16-point deficit to 72-66 with about 2 minutes left. But Penn State sealed the win at the foul line, making 14 of 17 chances down the stretch.

Jimmy Baron had 24 points to lead Rhode Island, including several from well behind the 3-point arc, while Kaheim Seawright added 17.

Rhode Island never led, but got to within single digits several times late in part because of withering defensive pressure.

Pringle’s jumper with 8:53 left was Penn State’s last field goal of the night, but the team came through at the line.

Minus starting forward Jamelle Cornley because of a left shoulder injury, the Nittany Lions also had to play without leading scorer Talor Battle for the last three-plus minutes. Battle hobbled back to the bench after being treated for an apparent ankle injury but didn’t return.

The lightning-quick point guard is Penn State’s best clutch shooter, as evidenced by his buzzer-beating 3-pointer on Tuesday night at the end of regulation against George Mason in the first round of the NIT.

They didn’t need Battle down the stretch on Thursday. Comfortably ahead much of the night, Penn State overcame the Rams’ chippy defense with free-throw shooting.

The Nittany Lions, who shot 64 percent on the season from the line, went 27-of-31 (87 percent) to help them win consecutive postseason games for the first time since advancing to the NCAA regional semifinals in 2001.

Rhode Island trailed by 15 early before a 12-0 run midway through the first half fueled by defensive pressure. The Rams forced four turnovers off inbound plays during a three-plus minute stretch to close to 20-17.

But Rhode Island never got closer as Penn State avenged a 77-72 loss to the Rams in during a tournament in November.

AP Photo

March 19, 2009 | AP Press

DAYTON, Ohio — Dayton says it has reached an oral agreement with basketball coach Brian Gregory to extend his contract five years through the 2017-18 season.

Athletic director Tim Wabler says both parties will hammer out a written contract after the season. Gregory told the Dayton Daily News on Wednesday that a long-term commitment is essential for recruiting.

The 42-year-old Gregory has led the Flyers to 49 victories the past two seasons, their highest two-year total since winning 50 from 1954 to 1956. He has a 124-67 record in six seasons at Dayton, which plays in the Atlantic 10.

Gregory is in Minneapolis preparing his team for a first-round NCAA Tournament game against West Virginia on Friday.