Auburn wins in OT, to meet Duke
TOP 25
NO. 8 AUBURN 88, XAVIER 79 (OT)
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Bryce Brown scored 26 points, Jared Harper added 25 and No. 8 Auburn outlasted Xavier 88-79 in overtime to open the Maui Invitational.
The Tigers (4-0) shot poorly from the perimeter early and had a hard time shaking the new-look Musketeers (22), missing badly on a shot to win it in regulation.
Auburn took control in the overtime behind its defense, outscoring Xavier 11-2. The Tigers scored 31 points off Xavier’s 22 turnovers overall to earn a spot in the semifinals against Duke.
Ryan Welage had 17 points, and Paul Scruggs 16 for the Musketeers.
Auburn had a five-point lead with a minute left in regulation, but Naj Marshall made a three-pointer from the wing to pull the Musketeers within 77-75.
Xavier tied it at 77-77 with 26 seconds left in regulation on Tyrique Jones’ two free throws, and Brown’s last-second shot came up well short.
DUKE 90,
SAN DIEGO STATE 64
Reddish R.J. Barrett added scored 16 and top-ranked 20 points, Duke Cam remained undefeated at the Maui Invitational with a rout over San Diego State. The Blue Devils (4-0) shot 52 percent, made 10 of 25 from three-point range and improved to 16-0 in Maui while earning a spot in today’s semifinals against No. 8 Auburn. Devin Watson had 15 points to lead San Diego State (2-1).
NEVADA 90, CALIFORNIA BAPTIST 55
Trey Porter had 14 points and 9 rebounds, Jordan Brown scored 16 and No. 6 Nevada beat California Baptist (2-2) in Reno, Nev. Nevada outrebounded the Lancers 47-31 and outscored them 40-24 in the paint. Six players scored in double figures for the Wolf Pack (4-0). Caleb Martin had 14 points, Jazz Johnson added 11, Jordan Caroline 10 and Tre’Shawn Thurman 10. Milan Acquaah, a Washington State transfer who started nine games for the Cougars last season, had 12 points for Cal Baptist. Jordan Heading also scored 12.
NORTH CAROLINA 101, SAINT FRANCIS 76
Cameron Johnson scored 20 points, freshman Nassir Little added 19 and No. 7 North Carolina beat Saint Francis of Pennsylvania on Monday night in the on-campus round of the Las Vegas Invitational. Luke Maye had 11 points and 10 rebounds, Kenny Williams had a career-high 9 assists and freshman Coby White finished with 16 points for the Tar Heels (5-0), who shot 52 percent and never trailed. North Carolina fought through some early turnover trouble and finally pulled away from the Red Flash (1-3) before reaching triple figures for the third time in four games.
KANSAS STATE 82, MISSOURI 67
Monday No. Tigers 12 in Kansas the to Virgin win State the Islands. defeated Paradise It’s the Jam the Missouri first on time the Wildcats have won a tournament since 2011, before Bruce Weber was hired as coach. Kansas State scored the first seven points of the game and delivered a knockout blow at the end of the first half after Missouri rallied to tie things up at 27-27. The Wildcats ended the first half on a 13-0 run.
FLORIDA STATE 93, CANISIUS 61
Mfiondu Kabengele scored a career-high 18 points and Terance Mann added 12 as No. 14 Florida State (3-0) warmed up after a seven-day layoff to beat Canisius. Kabengele, the nephew of former NBA All-Star center Dikembe Mutombo, came off the bench to shoot 6 of 12 from the floor and had 6 rebounds for the Seminoles. SUN BELT MEN
TULSA 88, UALR 78
TULSA — Martins Igbanu scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds while making 11 of 12 free throws in leading Tulsa (3-0) to a victory over the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (2-2) in Tulsa on Monday night. Daquan Jeffries finished with 15 points while making 6 of 12 field goals. As a team, Tulsa shot 48.3 percent from the floor (28 of 58) and outscored UALR 2715 from the free-throw line. Tulsa also scored 13 points off of 19 UALR turnovers, 10 of which came in the second half. Tulsa, which trailed 42-37 at halftime, outscored UALR 51-36 in the second half and shot 58.6 percent (17 of 29 from the floor) and made 15 of 20 free throws. Rayjon Tucker led UALR with 24 points and 10 rebounds. He made 8 of 17 field goals. Deondre Burns finished with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Nikola Maric had 12 points, and Kris Bankston finished with 10 points. The Trojans shot 51.8 percent (29 of 56) from the floor. SWAC MEN
MASSACHUSETTS 92, UAPB 60
AMHERST, Mass. — Curtis Cobb scored 17 points and led four players with at least 10 points as Massachusetts bounced back from consecutive home-court losses with a rout of winless University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (0-4) in Massachusetts a Las campus Vegas Holiday game (3-2) Monday Invitational scored night. Tournament the game’s first seven points and pushed the lead to 10 points on Carl Pierre’s three-pointer seven minutes into the game. By intermission, the lead was 17 points. Cobb hit 4 of 5 shots from long range and Pierre was 4 of 9 to finish with 16 points. Luwane Pipkins added a double-double with 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Martaveous McKnight finished with 27 points to lead the Golden Lions. Trevor Banks added another 13 points.