Sun Devils lose tourney opener
The last team to make the NCAA Tournament gets to play at least one more.
Oshae Brissett had his 13th double-double while leading Syracuse’s second-half comeback, and the Orange — the last team to make the NCAA Tournament — picked up a 60-56 victory over Arizona State on Wednesday night in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.
The Orange next play TCU on Friday in Detroit in the Midwest Region.
Syracuse (21-13) had to sweat out Selection Sunday and wound up as the last team to make the bracket, relegated to the First Four. The Orange prevailed in a matchup of teams that started fast but faded onto the tournament bubble.
“Our offense struggles,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. “But I thought our defense has been good all year and that’s where we hang our hats, on the defensive end.”
Arizona State (20-12) opened the season with 12 wins, including victories over tournament No. 1 seeds Xavier and Kansas. The Sun Devils went 8-12 the rest of the way, and their offense got shut down in their biggest game.
Arizona State scored a season low — only the third time it has been held to fewer than 70 all season. The Sun Devils’ previous low was 64.
“Usually we’re scoring 56 in a half, and we ended up with 56,” head coach Bobby Hurley said. “So there were limited possessions. It was a rock fight, and we just didn’t make enough shots.”
Brissett overcame a hard fall in the first half, scored 23 points and had 12 rebounds. He had a three-point play and a step-back jumper as the Orange overcame a sevenpoint deficit with seven minutes left.
“I knew he was going to get back up,” said Tyus Battle, whose three-pointer put Syracuse ahead to stay. “He’s hit some huge shots. He’s done that countless times this year.”
With a chance to take the lead, Arizona State’s Shannon Evans II missed a three-point attempt with two seconds to go. Frank Howard got the rebound, was fouled and made both free throws to clinch it.
Kodi Justice had 15 points for Arizona State, which hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2009. Texas Southern 64, North Carolina Central 46: Ina matchup between two No. 16 seeds in Dayton, Damontrae Jefferson had 25 points and eight rebounds and Donte Clark added 18 points as the Tigers (16-19) defeated the Eagles (19-16) to become the first team with a losing record to win an NCAA Tournament game.
“It was for the university,” Jefferson said. “We actually made history today for the university, and we kind of knew that coming into this game.”
Texas Southern, which started the season 0-13, will face Xavier — the No. 1 seed in the West Regional — in Nashville on Friday. USF 72, Colgate 68: Souley Boum scored 26 points and Matt McCarthy added 16 points and 14 rebounds as the host Dons (19-15) defeated the Raiders (19-14) in the College Basketball Invitational.
USF will host Utah Valley in the quarterfinals Monday.
The Dons trailed 8-0 early but took the lead for good when Boum hit a layup with 2:46 left in the first half. USF was up 24-17 at intermission.
Colgate cut its deficit to 69-68 with 27 seconds remaining, but three free throws by Jordan Ratinho kept the Raiders at bay. NIT first round: Jaylen Nowell scored 25 points to lead host Washington (21-12) to a 77-74 win over Boise State (23-9) and a second-round meeting with St. Mary’s in Moraga on Monday. Chandler Hutchison scored 39 points for the Broncos . ... Justin Bibbins scored 21 points and host Utah (20-11) pulled away for a 69-59 win over UC Davis (22-11). The Utes, who face LSU in the second round, erased an 11point deficit . ... Markus Howard scored 22 points as host Marquette (20-13) picked up a 67-60 victory over Harvard (18-14) . ... Duop Reath had 26 points and 11 rebounds to lead host LSU (18-14) to an 84-76 win over Louisiana-Lafayette (27-7) . ... Josh Reaves had 19 points and 11 rebounds as host Penn State (22-13) advanced with a 63-57 win over Temple (17-16) . ... Aric Holman had 16 points and 10 rebounds as host Mississippi State (23-11) prevailed 66-59 over Nebraska (22-11). Coaching news: Tubby Smith was fired as Memphis’ head coach after two seasons amid dropping attendance and donations to the athletic department. Smith went 40-26 at Memphis, including 21-13 this season. The Tigers won seven of their final nine games before losing Saturday 70-60 to No. 8 Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinals, their third loss to the AAC champ this season . ... Former St. Mary’s assistant David Patrick was hired as the head coach at UC Riverside.