Georgia State wins Sun Belt title
NEW ORLEANS — D’Marcus Simonds didn’t perform like the Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball player of the year in Georgia State’s league tournament semifinal against rival Georgia Southern.
He had six points and five turnovers in 28 minutes before fouling out of the Panthers’ victory Saturday. But Simonds was back in form Sunday, scoring 27 points as second-seeded Georgia State defeated fourth-seeded Texas-Arlington 74-61 to win the Sun Belt championship and secure an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The Panthers (24-10), whose most recent NCAA berth before this year came in 2015, made the big bracket for the fourth time overall.
Simonds, who set the Panthers’ single-season scoring record in an otherwise poor performance Saturday, was chosen the tournament’s MVP.
“He played probably the worst game of his life yesterday,” Georgia State coach Ron Hunter said. “I didn’t say anything to him. I knew he would come back and dominate.”
Said Simonds: “I was kind of lackadaisical (in the semifinals). I could have done better. I put the weight on my shoulders to play better, and I did.”
Devin Mitchell added 13 points before fouling out, and Malik Benlevi scored 11 for Georgia State.
Texas-Arlington, which upset Sun Belt regular-season champion Louisiana-Lafayette in the semifinals, fell to 21-13. Johnny Hamilton led the Mavericks with 23 points and 14 rebounds, Erick Neal scored 12 points, Kevin Hervey had 11 and Kaelon Williams 10. › No. 8 Cincinnati 56, No. 21 Houston 55 ORLANDO, Fla. — Gary Clark had 20 points and 12 rebounds, and he made a free throw with 4.3 seconds remaining to lead the top-seeded Bearcats (30-4) past third-seeded Houston (25-7) in the American Athletic Conference tournament final.
Jacon Evans added 12 points and Kyle Washington 10 for Cincinnati, which pushed its winning streak to seven games and won a conference tournament title for the first time since 2004. Clark was named the tournament’s MVP.
The Cougars, who trailed by 10 less than five minutes into the game but were up 37-35 at halftime, were led by Rob Gray (17 points), Corey Davis Jr. (15) and Devin Davis (13).
› Davidson 58,
No. 25 Rhode Island 57 WASHINGTON — Still looking for its first victory in the NCAA tournament since a guy by the name of Stephen Curry led the way, Davidson is going dancing as the Atlantic 10 champion.
Kellan Grady scored 17 points for the third-seeded Wildcats (21-11), who burst some bubbles with their win in the league tourney final, though not for the top-seeded Rams (25-7), who were already on their way.
Davidson won despite going nearly 13 minutes in the second half without making a field goal, an 0-for-11 drought that somehow did not prevent it from celebrating at game’s end. The Wildcats hadn’t made the Big Dance since 2015, and they haven’t won a March Madness game since the Curry-led 2008 squad pulled off victories over Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin before bowing out against Kansas in the Elite Eight.
E.C. Matthews led the way with 20 points and eight rebounds for Rhode Island.
› No. 1 Virginia 71,
No. 12 North Carolina 63 NEW YORK — With no oneand-done players or sure-fire NBA lottery picks, the top-ranked Cavaliers put together one of the most dominant seasons in the storied history of Atlantic Coast Conference hoops.
Kyle Guy and Devon Hall led the way as top-seeded Virginia beat the sixth-seeded Tar Heels in the ACC tournament final late Saturday night to finish 20-1 against league competition this season.
Virginia (31-2), which set a school record for victories, won the conference tournament for the second time in five seasons under coach Tony Bennett. Not bad for a bunch that started the season unranked and picked to finish sixth in the league.
Guy, the tournament MVP, scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half. Hall added 15 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Jerome had 12 points, six assists and six rebounds.
Luke Maye had 20 points and six rebounds, and Joel Berry II added 17 points for North Carolina (25-10), which won the NCAA title last season and finished runner-up in 2016.
› No. 15 Arizona 75, Southern California 61 LAS VEGAS — Deandre Ayton had 32 points and 18 rebounds in one of the most dominating performances in Pac-12 tournament history to lead the Wildcats to their second straight title late Saturday night.
The Bahamian big man, who had 32 points and 14 rebounds in a semifinal win over UCLA, knocked the second-seeded Trojans (23-11) around like bowling pins in the championship game. Ayton made 14 of 20 shots from the floor and all four of his free throws to lead top-seeded Arizona (27-8) to its ninth Pac-12 title overall.
Nick Rakocevic led Southern Cal with 13 points.