Uconn blows out Xavier in Big East quarterfinals
NEW YORK — Tristen Newton and Donovan Clingan each had 13 points and seven rebounds and No. 2 Uconn blitzed Xavier in the second half Thursday, opening the postseason with an 87-60 blowout in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals.
Alex Karaban and Cam Spencer both scored 12 in a balanced performance by the top-seeded Huskies (29-3), who have won five straight games and 19 of 20. The defending national champions will play fourth-seeded Seton Hall or No. 5 seed St. John’s in the first semifinal Friday evening at Madison Square Garden.
Seton Hall handed the Huskies one of their two conference losses this season back in December.
Quincy Olivari scored 17 points and Desmond Claude had 13 for ninthseeded Xavier (16-17), which beat No. 8 seed Butler 76-72 in the first round Wednesday.
No. 1 Houston 60, TCU 45:
At Kansas City, Mo., Emanuel Sharp had 14 points and Jamal Shead scored 12, as the Cougars rolled to a 60-45 victory over the Horned Frogs on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
J’wan Roberts added eight points and 10 rebounds for Houston (29-3), which will play No. 25 Texas Tech in the semifinal round on Friday.
No. 4 North Carolina 92, Florida State 67:
At Washington, Armando Bacot scored 14 points and grabbed 10 of his team’s 48 rebounds to Seminoles' 22, and fourth-ranked
Tarheels rolled into the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinals with a victory.
Bacot got the doubledouble with a rebound on his final play before being pulled midway through the second half, and unanimous ACC player of the year RJ Davis scored a game-high 18 points.
Winning their sixth in a row, the Tar Heels flexed their muscles on the boards, at one point grabbing four offensive rebounds on the same possession late in the first half. By halftime, the Seminoles had just six.
No. 6 Arizona 70, USC 49:
At Las Vegas: KJ Lewis led a balanced scoring attack with 15 points as the Wildcats avenged an end of the regular season loss by rolling past the Trojans 70-49 Thursday in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals.
The top-seeded Wildcats (25-7) play the winner of the Oregon-ucla game on Friday night. Arizona is two victories from becoming the first threepeat Pac-12 champion since the Wildcats won four straight in 1988-90 and 2002. There were no conference tournaments
between 1991-2001.
No. 15 South Carolina 80, Arkansas 66:
At Nashville, Tenn., Collin Murray-boyles scored 24 points as the Gamecocks knocked off the Razorbacks on Thursday at the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
South Carolina (26-6), the No. 5 seed, took control of a back-and-forth game with a 16-0 run spanning halftime to put the Gamecocks into Friday’s quarterfinals against No. 12 Auburn, the fourth seed.
No. 18 Utah St. 87, Fresno St. 75, OT:
At Las Vegas, Great Osobor had 29 points and 17 rebounds as the Aggies defeated the Bulldogs in a quarterfinal round game of the Mountain West Conference tournament on Thursday.
Darius Brown had 17 points and 11 assists and Javon Jackson scored 16 points for the Aggies (27-5), the tournament’s top seed.
No. 25 Texas Tech 81, No. 20 BYU 67:
At Kansas City, Mo., Pop Isaacs scored 22 points, Chance Mcmillian added 17 points and eight rebounds and the Red Raiders withstood a furious secondhalf rally by the Cougars for a victory in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
Women
Canisius 58, Manhattan 55:
Sisi Eleko scored 24 points to lead the Golden Griffins into the MAAC Tournament semifinals. Former Columbia High and Ualbany player Grace Heeps had six rebounds and three points in 37 minutes for Canisius, which plays top seed Fairfield on Friday.