James, No. 17 Tennessee top Mississippi in SEC tourney
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Josiah-Jordan James had game-highs of 20 points and seven rebounds, leading No. 17 Tennessee past Mississippi 70-55 Thursday in the SEC Tournament.
The fifth-seeded Vols (23-9) will play No. 4 seed Missouri in the quarterfinals Friday.
“The start of this game they were relaxed and really making some shots,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “We got a little bit slow getting going. But I thought the second half we were able to pick our intensity.”
James made four 3-pointers, including a shot on the Vols' first possession of the game. His 3 from the corner with 5 seconds left in the first half gave Tennessee a 39-33 lead at the break.
“Tennessee had the momentum going into the second half," interim Mississippi coach Win Case said. “That last 3-point shot by Jordan James was very tough for us to end the first half. I felt like they had the momentum going into the second half because of that 3-point shot."
The Vols led 52-48 with 11 1/2 minutes left before increasing the margin to 64-50 on Julian Phillips' two free throws with 7 1/2 minutes to go. Santiago Vescovi added 15 points for the Vols. Myles Burns scored 14 points and also had three steals for Mississippi (12-21). Jae Brakefield and Murrell each had 12 points.
NO. 2 UCLA 80, COLORADO 69
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Freshman Amari Bailey scored a season-high 26 points and No. 2 UCLA beat Colorado 80-69 Thursday in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
The Bruins (28-4) kept pushing for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament with their 11th straight win. UCLA has won 25 of 27 games overall and will next face fourth-seeded Oregon in Friday's semifinals.
Colorado coach Tad Boyle was ejected with 54.4 seconds left after arguing a call. He had to be restrained by his assistants before leaving the floor.
Bailey eclipsed his previous high of 24 points on Feb. 9 at Oregon State. Tyger Campbell scored 18 points for the Bruins, Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 16 and Adem Bona totaled 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Tristan da Silva led the Buffaloes (17-16) with 17 points.
NO. 3 KANSAS 78, WEST VIRGINIA 61
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Playing without ailing coach Bill Self on the sideline, Kansas turned to big offensive performances from Jalen Wilson and Dajuan Harris Jr. along with some stingy defense to pull away from West Virginia in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
Wilson had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Harris had 13 points with eight assists, as the top-seeded Jayhawks (26-6) began the defense of their tournament crown by knocking off the Mountaineers for the third time this season.
Assistant Norm Roberts filled in for Self, who was hospitalized at the University of Kansas Health System after having a medical procedure.
Gradey Dick scored 18 points for the Jayhawks, who will play fifth-seeded Iowa State in Friday night's semifinals.
Erik Stevenson had 13 points to lead the No. 8 seed Mountaineers (19-14), who likely secured an NCAA Tournament bid with an opening win over Texas Tech. Tre Mitchell and Joe Toussaint added 11 points apiece. NO. 6 MARQUETTE 72,
ST. JOHN'S 70,
OT
NEW YORK (AP) — Tyler Kolek scored 19 of his points after halftime, including the tiebreaking free throws with 15.8 seconds left in overtime, and Marquette rallied past St. John's in the Big East
Tournament quarterfinals.
Olivier-Maxence Prosper added 16 points with some highlight-reel dunks and Oso Ighodaro had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the top-seeded Golden Eagles (26-6), who have won seven straight and 12 of 13.
Dylan Addae-Wusu and David Jones each scored 16 to lead eighth-seeded St. John's (18-15).
IOWA STATE 78, NO. 10 BAYLOR 72
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Gabe Kalscheur hit six 3-pointers and scored 24 points to help Iowa State beat Baylor in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
Iowa State overcame a spectacular performance by Baylor forward Jalen Bridges and will play thirdranked Kansas in Friday's semifinals.
Jaren Holmes scored 17 points, Tamin Lipsey had 12 and Tre King 10 for the fifth-seeded Cyclones (19-12), who followed up a win over the Bears (22-10) on Saturday by beating them for the fifth time in six conference tournament games.
Bridges went 10 of 11 from the field, 6 of 6 from the 3-point arc and finished with a career-best 28 points.
NO. 11 CONNECTICUT 73, PROVIDENCE 66
NEW YORK (AP) — Jordan Hawkins scored 19 points and UConn held off a furious second-half rally to beat Providence in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals.
The fourth-seeded Huskies (257) pushed their winning streak to six games and advanced to face top-seeded Marquette in Friday night's semifinals.
UConn led by as many as 26 with 12:30 left. The Friars (21-11) turned up the pressure and had the lead down to five several times in the final few minutes.
Bryce Hopkins scored 16 points to lead fifth-seeded Providence, which has lost three straight and four of five.
NO. 13 VIRGINIA 68, NORTH CAROLINA 59
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Jayden Gardner had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 13 Virginia dealt a damaging blow to North Carolina's already shaky NCAA Tournament hopes, beating the Tar Heels the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
Reece Beekman added 15 points, five assists and five steals for the second-seeded Cavaliers (24-6), who finally wrestled away control of the game with a 9-0 run in the final two minutes after the Tar Heels had cut a 10-point deficit to 57-55. Much of that production came at the foul line, where the Cavaliers made 9 of 10 as UNC finally ran out of gas.
R.J. Davis scored 24 points to lead the Tar Heels (20-13), who shot just 35.8% to lose for the second time in three meetings with the Cavaliers.
NO. 14 MIAMI 74, WAKE FOREST 72
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Jordan Miller had 18 points and nine rebounds for Miami, which held off Wake Forest's furious comeback in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. ACC player of the year Isaiah Wong had 17 points and five assists and Norchad Omier had 14 points and 10 rebounds for top-seeded Miami (25-6).
Tyree Appleby had 24 points behind five 3s for ninth-seeded Wake Forest (19-17), which fell just short in rallying from an 18-point second half deficit. Cameron Hildreth added 17 points.
NO. 20 SAN DIEGO STATE 64, COLORADO STATE 61
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Lamont Butler scored 16 points and San Diego State held on to beat Colorado State in the Mountain West Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
The top-seeded Aztecs (25-6) never led by more than five points in the second half, and Isaiah Stevens' 3-pointer gave the eighth-seeded Rams (15-18) a 59-58 lead with 1:42 left. Jordan LeDee and Matt Bradley each hit two free throws to give San Diego State a 62-59 lead with 16 seconds remaining.
Bradley had 13 points for the Aztecs. LaDee added 10 points and eight rebounds.
John Tonje led Colorado State with 17 points while Stevens added 16 points and eight assists.
NO. 21 DUKE 96, PITTSBURGH 69
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Kyle Filipowski overcame an early ankle injury to score 22 points, Tyrese Proctor added 11 points and 10 assists, and Duke cruised past Pittsburgh in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.
Dereck Lively II had 13 points and Mark Mitchell added 12 for the fourth-seeded Blue Devils (24-8) who shot a season-high 62% from the floor in their seventh straight win. It's the longest active streak of any ACC team.
Nike Sibande had 17 points and Guillermo Diaz Graham had 14 for Pitt (22-11).