No. 1 Houston falls to Memphis in AAC title game
Kendric Davis scored 31 points, including 14 during a 16-2 run before halftime, and Memphis defeated short-handed No. 1 Houston 75-65 in the American Athletic Conference Tournament championship game Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas.
DeAndre Williams added 16 points and 13 rebounds for coach Penny Hardaway's Tigers (26-8).
Houston (31-3) played without AAC player of the year Marcus Sasser, who strained his groin in the first half of Saturday's semifinal game. The Cougars got 12 points and 20 rebounds from J'Wan Roberts.
The Cougars trailed by 18 at halftime, but got within 55-50 with 11:03 left, but that was the closest Houston would get.
NO. 4 ALABAMA 82, NO. 18 TEXAS A&M 63 ❯❯ Brandon Miller scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Crimson Tide (295) smothered the secondseeded Aggies (25-9) in Nashville for their second SEC Tournament championship in three seasons.
Top-seeded Alabama also capped its second SEC double dip in three seasons after also winning the regular-season title.
NO. 5 PURDUE 67, PENN ST. 65 ❯❯ Zach Edey had 30 points and 13 rebounds, and the Boilermakers (29-5) hung on to beat the Nittany Lions (22-13) in the Big Ten Tournament championship game in Chicago.
VCU 68, DAYTON 56 ❯❯ Jalen DeLoach had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and the topseeded Rams (27-7) won their ninth game in a row, beating the second-seeded Flyers (22-12) at Brooklyn's Barclays Center to win the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
PRINCETON 74, YALE 65 ❯❯ Tosan Evbuomwan scored 21 points and the host Tigers (21-8) beat the Bulldogs (218) to win the Ivy League Tournament.
UC IRVINE IN NIT ❯❯ The UC Irvine men's basketball team earned one of its most memorable wins of the season when it stunned then-No. 21 Oregon on its home court in November.
Four months later, the Anteaters are headed back to Eugene for a rematch with the Ducks in a first-round game of the National Invitation Tournament. Oregon (19-14) is one of the four No. 1 seeds in the 32-team tournament and will host UCI (23-11) on Wednesday at 8 p.m.
UCI was the Big West Conference regular-season co-champion with UC Santa Barbara, but the top-seeded Anteaters lost to fourth-seeded Cal State Fullerton in the Big West Tournament semifinals on Friday night.
Oregon finished fourth in the Pac-12 in the regular season then lost to topseeded UCLA in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament on Friday night.
Oregon leads the all-time series with UCI, but the Anteaters were impressive in their 69-56 win on Nov. 11.
UCI last appeared in the NIT in 2017 and is 2-6 all time in the event, last winning a game in 1986.
Ohtani powers Japan to 4-0 mark in WBC
Shohei Ohtani hit a 448foot, three-run home run in the first inning and had four RBIs to lead Japan over Australia 7-1 at the World Baseball Classic.
Japan, already assured of advancement, finished off a 4-0 run in Group B and will play a quarterfinal on Wednesday against Italy, which advanced along with Cuba from Group A on tiebreakers after all five teams finished with 2-2 records.
Ohtani turned on a hanging curveball from loser Will Sherriff and hit it into the Tokyo Dome's right-field seats. It was the first home run of the tournament for Ohtani, who is 6 for 12 with eight RBIs and seven walks.
Winner Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out eight in four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks. The 24-year-old right-hander was the Pacific League's MVP for the Orix Buffaloes in 2021 and 2022.
VENEZUELA 9, PUERTO RICO 6❯❯ Salvador Pérez homered, doubled twice, singled and had five RBIs as Venezuela improved to 2-0 in Pool D in Miami.
Venezuela struck quickly with a four-run first against Puerto Rico starter José Berrios. Pérez hit an RBI single and Anthony Santander followed with his second homer of the tournament, a threerun drive to right.
Pérez made it 7-0 with a three-run shot off Fernando Cruz in the second.
Venezuela starter Pablo López struck out six, while limiting Puerto Rico (1-1) to one run and two hits in 4 2/3 innings.
CANADA 18, GREAT BRITAIN 8, 7 INNINGS ❯❯ Tyler O'Neill had four hits and four RBIs, Freddie Freeman added two hits and Canada (1-0) beat Great Britain (0-2) in a Pool C game in Phoenix.
The game lasted just seven innings because of the WBC's mercy rule. If one team is leading by 10 or more runs after an inning following the seventh, the game is over.
Canada scored in every inning, including five runs in the first, four in the third and six in the fourth.
Great Britain took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, but had a tough afternoon on the pitcher's mound, giving up 17 hits and 16 walks.
ISRAEL 3, NICARAGUA 1 ❯❯ Israel (1-0) used a three-run eighth to beat Nicaragua (0-2) in a Group D game in Miami.
Garrett Stubbles hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the eighth.
ITALY 7, NETHERLANDS 1 ❯❯ In Taichung, Taiwan, Italian players had to wait a few minutes after the final out to find out they advanced with Cuba while the Netherlands, Taiwan and Panama were eliminated. The group was decided by runs allowed divided by outs, and Cuba (15/108, .139) finished first, followed by Italy (17/108, .157), Netherlands (19/102, .186), Panama (21/105, .200) and Taiwan (31/105, .295).
Italy burst through with a six-run fourth that was capped by Nicky Lopez's two-run triple.
Matt Harvey allowed one run and two hits in four innings for Italy, managed by Mike Piazza.
CUBA 7, TAIWAN 1 ❯❯ Cuba got home runs from Yoán Moncada of the Chicago White Sox and Erisbel Arruebarrena.
No. 4 Rudd stunned at Indian Wells
Qualifier Cristian Garin of Chile shocked thirdseeded Casper Ruud of Norway 6-4, 7-6 (2) at the BNP Paribas Open for his first win over a top-five player in nearly two years.
Garin, ranked No. 97, had 39 winners while Ruud, ranked No. 4, managed just 15 winners against 29 unforced errors in a match that lasted 1 hour, 59 minutes.
The 26-year-old Garin improved to 3-1 lifetime against Ruud, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, since they first met on tour in 2019 at Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Cameron Norrie, the 2021 Indian Wells champion, rallied from a set and 3-0 down to defeat world No. 103 Taro Daniel 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-2. The 10th-seeded Norrie improved to 11-3 lifetime at Indian Wells.
Top American woman Jessica Pegula, the No. 3 seed, rallied from a set down for the second consecutive match to beat 26th-seeded Anastasia Potapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.