Ducks stun Arizona in Pac-12 semis
Oregon to face Colorado for title Saturday
Jackson Shelstad scored 21 points, Jermaine Couisnard had 20, and Oregon upset No. 6-ranked Arizona 67-59 on Friday in the Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament semifinals at T-mobile Arena.
The fourth-seeded Ducks (22-11) will play Colorado in Saturday’s championship game.
Arizona (25-8) will learn its seed and destination in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. The top-seeded Wildcats, who closed as 12-point favorites at most Las Vegas sportsbooks, suffered their first tournament loss in three seasons under coach Tommy Lloyd.
N’faly Dante had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Oregon, overcoming a tough early fall.
Oumar Ballo had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Arizona, his 18th double-double this season. Pelle Larsson added 11 points, but Pac12 Player of the Year Caleb Love was held to six points on 2-for-11 shooting.
Oregon threatened to run away in the second half, taking a 61-48 lead before Arizona stormed back with a 9-0 run. Four points came on one possession — a blocking foul and a technical on the Ducks’ bench protesting the call. But Arizona’s rally fizzled from there.
■ Colorado 58, Washington State 52: KJ Simpson had a team-high 16 points and seven rebounds to help the No. 3 seed Buffaloes (24-9) knock off the No. 2 Cougars (24-9).
Tristan Da Silva added 13 points, and J’vonne Hadley finished with 12 points, four assists and three steals for Colorado.
Isaac Jones had 13 points for Washington State, which trailed 27-23 at halftime and committed 19 turnovers.
Big West
■ Long Beach State 83, UC Irvine 79: At Dollar Loan Center, Aboubacar Traore posted 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to help the fourth-seeded Beach (20-14) upset the No. 1 seed Anteaters (24-9) in the semifinals. Long Beach State will face either No. 2 UC Davis or No. 3 Hawaii in the final Saturday night.
Justin Hohn led UC Irvine with 19 points, and Pierre Crockrell II added 18 points and nine assists.
WAC
■ Grand Canyon 80, Seattle 73: At Orleans Arena, Tyon Grant-foster finished with 28 points and six rebounds, and the top-seeded Antelopes (28-4) beat the No. 4 Redhawks (19-14) in the semifinals. Grand Canyon plays either No. 2 Tarleton State or No. 3 Texas-arlington in the championship game Saturday.
Alex Schumacher paced Seattle with 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Top 25
■ No. 1 Houston 82, No. 25 Texas Tech 59: At Kansas City, Mo., L.J. Cryer hit six 3-pointers and totaled 20 points for the Cougars (30-3), which held a 50-30 second-half scoring edge.
Coronado product Pop Isaacs (16.2 ppg), the top scorer for the Red Raiders (23-10), had six points on 2-for-13 shooting.
■ No. 2 Connecticut 95, St. John’s 90: At New York, Tristen Newton scored 20 of his 25 points in the first half and had nine assists for the Huskies (30-3), who shot 57.4 percent. Daniss Jenkins had 27 points for the Red Storm (20-13), who trailed by 14 with 12:28 left.
■ No. 3 Purdue 67, Michigan State 62: At Minneapolis, Zach Edey had 29 points and 12 rebounds for the Boilermakers (29-3), who recovered after blowing a 12-point lead. The Spartans (19-14) had an 18-0 edge in fast-break points.
■ No. 4 North Carolina 72, Pittsburgh 65: At Washington, R.J. Davis hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with four minutes left and totaled 25 points for the Tar Heels (27-6). Carlton Carrington scored 24 points for the Panthers (22-11), who led by nine in the first half.
■ Mississippi State 73, No. 5 Tennessee 56: At Nashville, Tenn., Cameron Matthews and Josh Hubbard each scored 18 points for the ninth-seeded Bulldogs (21-12), who shot 55.3 percent and never trailed. The top-seeded Volunteers (248) were down by 23 midway through the second half.
■ No. 7 Iowa State 76,
No. 14 Baylor 62: At Kansas City, Mo., UNLV transfer Keshon Gilbert had 20 points, seven assists and seven rebounds for the Cyclones (26-7), who opened the second half with a 17-3 run. The Bears (23-10) had won seven of their past 10 against ISU.
■ Texas A&M 97, No. 9 Kentucky 87: At Nashville, Tenn., Wade Taylor IV scored 32 points for the seventh-seeded Aggies (20-13), who led 48-42 at halftime and halted a five-game win streak by the second-seeded Wildcats (23-9) that had been the SEC’S longest headed into the tournament.
■ No. 10 Marquette 79, Providence 68: At New
York, Kam Jones scored 23 points and Oso Ighodaro 20 for the Golden Eagles (258), who were without point guard Tyler Kolek (oblique strain) for a fifth straight game. Devin Carter scored 20 of his 27 points in the second half for the Friars (21-13).
■ No. 12 Auburn 86,
No. 15 South Carolina 55:
At Nashville, Tenn., Johni Broome had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers (25-7), who held the Gamecocks (26-7) to 28.1 percent shooting and had a 44-22 scoring edge in the paint.
■ No. 13 Illinois 77, Ohio State 74: At Minneapolis, Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 28 points for the Illini (24-8), who trailed by 10 with 11 minutes left. Jamison Battle had 21 points for the Buckeyes (20-13) but missed a potential tying 3-pointer in the final seconds.
■ Florida 102, No. 19 Alabama 88: At Nashville, Tenn., Walter Clayton Jr. scored 23 points for the sixth-seeded Gators (23-10), who shot 50.8 percent and didn’t trail in the second half. The third-seeded Crimson Tide went up 8-0 but yielded a 21-2 run to end the first half.