Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Rogers leads Texas Wesleyan to NAIA title over Life
KANSAS CITY, MO. >> Dion Rogers scored 28 points, Ryan Harris added 21 and Texas Wesleyan defeated Life University 86-76 on Tuesday night to win its second NAIA championship.
Naiel Smith had 17 points and six assists and Najeal Young had 10 with 11 rebounds for the third-seeded Rams (29-7), who also won the championship in 2006. Rogers, who went 11 of 13 from the foul line and grabbed eight rebounds, received the Chuck Taylor Award as the tournament MVP.
Rogers opened the game with a 3-pointer, followed with a steal and Texas Wesleyan, from Fort Worth, Texas, and the Sooner Athletic Conference, grabbed two offensive rebounds before Young scored and the Rams never trailed. It was 35-23 at the half.
The Running Eagles (2611) out of Marietta, Georgia, and the Mid-South Conference, closed within 49-44 on a 3-point by Jonathan Beausejour with 11:02 to play. The Rams responded with 10 straight points, the last four by Smith and the lead remained in double figures.
NIT
TCU 86, RICHMOND 68 >> Vlad Brodziansky scored 20 points, Kenrich Williams had the first triple-double in TCU history and the Horned Frogs rolled over Richmond 86-68 on Tuesday night to win their bracket of the NIT and advance to the Final Four for the first time.
Williams had 11 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists for TCU (22-15), which was seeded fourth and knocked out top-seeded Iowa in the second round. Desmond Bane added 13 points and Alex Robinson had 12.
The Horned Frogs, under first-year coach Jamie Dixon, will play the winner of UCFIllinois in Madison Square Garden next Tuesday.
T.J. Cline had 33 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the sixth-seeded Spiders (22-13), De’Monte Buckingham had 11 points and Khwan Fore 10.
Brodziansky had six points in an early 11-0 run that put TCU up 21-9 and added another basket and two free throws to help push the lead to 32-15 with 4:39 left in the first half. He had 16 points and Williams had 9 with 10 rebounds as the Frogs shot 50 percent and led 41-26 at the break.