6C | COLLEGE BASKETBALL THE DAILY TIMES SUNDAY, MARCH 11, 2018

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WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT ROUNDUP: SHOOTS: Bone doesn’t miss in first half, ties for game-high
CENTRAL MICHIGAN 96, BUFFALO 91: Jeremy Harris FROM 1C nessee coach Rick Barnes
scored a career-high 27 points, CJ Massinburg added 18 said. “When you’re making
and top-seeded Buffalo held off eighth-seeded Central Tennessee turned back to shots, it all looks good, but
Michigan’s rally in the second half for a 89-74 win in the the speedy point guard. it was our defense that was
quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Tourna- He knocked down back- really good. I do think that.
ment on Thursday. Nick Perkins had 16 points and the to-back threes and finished That’s what we’ve done
Bulls (24-8) made two big 3-pointers in the final 2:17 a transition layup to put the all year, and we’re going
to put away the Chippewas. Buffalo plays fifth-seeded Vols up nine with nine min- to have to continue to do
Kent State, the defending tournament champion, in Fri- utes to go in the first half. that.”
day’s first semifinal. Cecil Williams had 21 points and In all, Bone hit his first Arkansas (23-11) wasted
13 rebounds to pace Central Michigan (19-14), which seven shots — he didn’t little time making a run
cut a 14-point second-half deficit to two, but couldn’t miss an attempt in the first in the second half, getting
come up with a big defensive stop in the final minutes. half — as he tied Arkan- JEFF ROBERSON | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS the deficit down to 11 on a
The Chippewas were still within 77-74 when Wes Clark sas’ Daryl Macon with a TENNESSEE’S JORDAN BONE (LEFT) and Arkansas’ Daryl Macon pair of Jaylen Barford free
knocked down a 3-pointer for Buffalo. game-high 19 points. Com- dive after a loose ball Saturday in St. Louis. throws and a transition
ing in Bone hadn’t scored in layup. That’s as close as
ELON 57, DREXEL 45: Malaya Johnson scored 14 points double figures since he had this from him. score in double figures. In the game got.
to lead third-seed Elon to a 57-45 win over top-seeded 12 on Jan. 31 at Iowa State, “The speed is incredible. addition to Bone’s 17 first- Lamonte Turner hit a
Drexel on Saturday in the Colonial Athletic Association and hadn’t scored 19 since I can’t guard it. ‘If you’re half points, Daniel had 11 on three on the next posses-
title game. It’s the second straight year that the Phoenix having 21 against Auburn going to go by me like that 3 of 3 shooting from deep, sion to push it back out to
(25-7) won the CAA Tournament and marked only the on Jan. 2. I’m just going to trip you.’ and Schofield reached 14, but again Arkansas cut
second time in conference history that the 1 or 2 seed “It’s special, it makes him That’s what I tell him in the 11-point mark with a it to 11 with a Darious Hall
didn’t win. Elon has won 13 consecutive games and will a special player,” sopho- practice. He’s just a special deep three at the first-half free throw. A three-point
now try and win the school’s first NCAA Tournament more forward Grant Wil- player.” buzzer to give the Vols a play from Grant Williams
game. The Phoenix lost by 13 points to West Virginia in liams said. “That speed That agg ressiveness 19-point cushion going into on the following posses-
its first NCAA appearance last year. The Phoenix got off that he plays with is just translated to the rest of the locker room. sion pushed the lead back
to a hot start, hitting their first six shots. They led 12-6 huge. We have to smack the team. The Vols shot “I said, when I walked out and the Razorbacks,
and extended that advantage to as many as 11 as the him around some, but 76 percent in the first 20 off the court at the inter- playing their third game
Dragons went cold from the field. Drexel missed 15 of its really we just have to be minutes, their best shoot- view, that I wish we could in three days, didn’t have
next 16 shots before Aubree Brown banked in a 3-point- there for him. We have to ing half of the season and bottle that because it was enough left to get back
er from the top of the key that got the Dragons within let him know that we need had three different players … we shot the ball,” Ten- within striking distance.
eight.

GRAMBLING STATE 72, SOUTHERN 68: With time run-

ning out, Grambling swiped the Southwestern Athletic
Conference Tournament championship and the NCAA
UConn fires
Tournament berth that goes with it. Shakyla Hill had
27 points and the third-seeded Tigers had two critical
steals in the final minute to defeat top-seeded Southern
coach Ollie
72-68 on Saturday to make the NCAAs for the first time
in 19 years. Hill, the tournament MVP, had a layup and with school
3-pointer and Jazmin Boyd scored four points for a 9-0
run that gave Grambling (19-13) a 66-60 lead with 2½
minutes to go. Despite a flurry of turnovers and missed
under inquiry
shots, the teams traded baskets before Briana Green
scored twice, pulling the top-seeded Jaguars (17-13) BY PAT EATON-ROBB
within 68-66 with a nice spin move in the lane with 31.6 AP Sports Writer
seconds to play. The lead was three after a quick foul
and Monisha Neal’s free throw. It appeared the Tigers The combination was too
had things wrapped up when freshman Justice Coleman, much for UConn: an NCAA
who is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Southern is investigation and a second
located, anticipated a soft pass and went coast-to-coast straight losing season.
for a left-handed layup with 16.9 seconds remaining to All of which left coach
make it 71-66. Kevin Ollie out of a job.
He was fired Saturday four
NORTHERN COLORADO 91, IDAHO 69: Some teams years after leading the Hus-
live by the 3 and some die by it, but Northern Colorado kies to the NCAA basket-
earned its first-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament by ball title.
defending it. Savannah Smith scored 20 of her 34 points The university said in a
in the first half and the top-seeded Bears won the Big statement it has “initiated
Sky Conference Tournament and an automatic bid into disciplinary procedures”
the NCAA Tournament with a 91-69 victory over Idaho and is dismissing him for
on Saturday. Savannah Scott added 17 points and Kian- “just cause.”
na Williams 11 for the Bears (26-6), who broke a tight The school says it would
game open midway through the second quarter and have no further comment
were never threatened in the second half, relying on a until its disciplinary pro-
stingy defense to shut down the Vandals, particularly in cess and the NCAA inquiry
the second half. are complete. The scope
of the investigation is not
NORTH CAROLINA A&T 72, HAMPTON 65, OT: Jade clear.
Scaife had two offensive rebounds and scored four “Our goal, above all, is to
points in the final minute of overtime and North Caro- ensure we have a program
lina A&T scored the last eight points to win the Mid- that UConn Nation can be
Eastern Atlantic Conference Tournament championship proud of, including our stu-
on Saturday, 72-65 over Hampton, and advance to the dents, alumni, fans and all
NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years. our committed supporters,”
After a furious rally from third-seeded Hampton to erase said Susan Herbst, the uni-
a 10-point deficit in the final four minutes of regula- versity president.
tion, it was the top-seeded Aggies (23-8) who came up Athletic director David
with big plays down the stretch in overtime to win their Benedict said it was “unfor-
11th-straight game and make their fourth NCAA appear- tunate that this decision
ance. Scaife had a putback with 28 seconds left to end a became necessary.” He add-
three-shot possession. ed that the team must be
held to the “highest stan-
SEATTLE 57, CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD 54: Kamira dards” and a search for a
Sanders scored 20 points and Alexis Montgomery add- new coach begins imme-
ed 15 to lead Seattle past Cal State Bakersfield 57-54 diately.
on Saturday and win its first Western Athletic Confer- Ollie was in the second
ence Tournament championship game. Madeline Dop- year of a five-year deal val-
plick added 11 points for the fourth-seeded Redhawks ued at $17.9 million that was
(18-14), who claim the title after making four appear- signed amid reports he was
ances in the championship game since 2013. Sanders, a candidate for several NBA
who was tournament MVP, had five rebounds and made JEFF ROBERSON | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS jobs. He is not owed the
all six free-throw attempts. Montgomery, who had six TENNESSEE’S JAMES DANIEL III (left) heads to the basket as Arkansas’ Jaylen Barford defends remainder of his contract
rebounds, also made all nine of her attempts at the foul during the first half Saturday in St. Louis. if fired for just cause, which
line. The Redhawks now await word to where they are includes serious NCAA
going for the NCAA Tournament. Seattle could not pull
way throughout, including owning a 55-47 lead with
3:33 left. The Roadrunners scored the next seven points,
STAKES: Kentucky has won six of last seven violations.
Ollie spent six seasons at
UConn and was an assis-
including a Jazmine Johnson layup with 27 seconds left. FROM 1C According to Tennessee coach Rick tant under Hall of Fame
But Sanders, who was fouled on a shot in the lane, con- Barnes, those first two matchups have coach Jim Calhoun on the
verted both free throws six seconds later. we’re going to see the outcome.” little to no meaning when the league is 2011 NCAA title team. The
Making matters even more difficult decided today. Kentucky has pounded team went 14-18 this sea-
WESTERN KENTUCKY 72, UAB 57: Tashia Brown scored is the timing. the ball inside throughout its hot streak, son, including 7-11 in the
seven of her 25 points in less than two minutes and The fourth-seeded Wildcats (23-10) are but scored the ball in a different way American Athletic Confer-
Western Kentucky went on to claim its 20th NCAA Tour- playing arguably their best basketball on Saturday. ence. Ollie’s career record
nament berth with a 72-57 win over UAB in the Con- of the season, winning six of their last The Wildcats shot 12 of 18 from 3-point at UConn is 127-79.
ference USA title game on Saturday. With a one-point seven games. They’ve taken care of busi- range, led by a 7 of 7 performance from He played point guard
lead, Brown made two free throws, a 3-point play and ness in each of their tournament games, Wenyen Gabriel. But even with the hot for Calhoun from 1991-95
added two free throws with 46 seconds left in the third beating Georgia by 13 in the quarterfi- shooting, it’s the inside presence that and played 13 seasons in
quarter to give the second-seeded Lady Toppers a 55-47 makes Kentucky so dangerous. the NBA before joining the
lead. The top-seeded Blazers had run off nine straight, “They’re a totally different team than UConn staff in 2010. He was
a 3 by Lea Kerstein, a 3-point play by Katelynn Thomas ‘Playing against a team the they were then. I’ve been watching his former coach’s hand-
and Angela Vendrell’s trey. WKU (24-8) iced its second- them,” Barnes said. “They looked like, picked successor.
straight NCAA berth and third in four years when Tashia caliber of Kentucky and all and John (Calipari) does such a great Ollie guided the team
Brown and Ivy Brown made back-to-back layups, Tashia job, his teams always get better late in to a 20-win season in his
Brown had two free throws and a jumper by Whitney the talent they have ... it’s the year, it looks like they’ve really made first year as coach, even
Creech made it 67-50 with three minutes left. a commitment to really play big, strong though the program had
a special moment.’ basketball inside. So I think tomorrow been declared academical-
CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE 63, UC DAVIS 55: Channon will be that kind of game. ly ineligible for postseason
Fluker had 24 points and 17 rebounds, Tessa Boagni add- Grant Williams “These guys are growing up. Like he play. UConn was a seventh
ed 23 points and No. 5 seed Cal State Northridge upset Tennessee forward kept saying all year, he needed time to seed in the 2014 NCAA
top-seeded UC Davis 63-55 on Saturday night in the Big grow up, and they picked a good time Tournament. It made an
West Tournament championship. The Matadors (19-15) nals and Alabama by 23 on Saturday. of year to do it.” improbable six-game run,
have won five of their last six games and advance to Even with the streaking Wildcats next Kentucky has won 31 SEC Tourna- culminating with a 60-54
the NCAA Tournament. Boagni, the tournament’s Most up, the Vols wouldn’t want any other ments, including the last three, and for in over Kentucky in the
Valuable Player, added eight rebounds and four assists. team standing in the way of a cham- the Vols to take over the title it’s fitting national championship
Fluker, the two-time Big West Conference MVP, was four pionship. that the Wildcats stand in the way. game.
assists shy of a triple double. Cal State Northridge went “It’s huge,” Grant Williams said. “We wouldn’t this any other way,” The Huskies went 20-15
on a 9-0 run to overtake UC Davis with a 37-32 advan- “Playing against a team the caliber of Admiral Schofield said. “They are the the following season, los-
tage in the third quarter, and the Matadors led the rest Kentucky and all the talent they have standard of this league. They are one of ing in the NIT and bounced
of the way. UC Davis (25-6) won back-to-back regular and everything like that, it’s a special the top teams in the country. They’re a back with a 25-11 season in
season conference titles and the No. 1 seed in the Big moment. To do it on this floor and with winning program. We want to gain that 2015-16, losing in the sec-
West Tournament, but was unable to make it to the this much weight in the championship, stature, we want to be in that category. ond round of the NCAA
NCAA Tournament with a senior-led team both times. there’s nothing better.” We wouldn’t have it any other way.” Tournament.