Belmont, Fairleigh Dickinson advance

Kevin McClain scored a game-high 29 points Tuesday night, and center Nick Muszynski added 16 as Belmont put the Ohio Valley Conference’s first at-large bid in 32 years to good use, knocking off Temple 81-70 in a battle of East Region No. 11 seeds at the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.

The Bruins (27-5) advance to a first-round matchup Thursday in Jacksonville against sixthseeded Maryland. Making the win even more impressive was that their leading scorer, 6-foot-8 Dylan Windler, hit just 2 of 7 shots and managed just five points, more than 16 under his average.

Shizz Alston tallied 21 points to pace the Owls (2310), while Nate Pierre-Louis had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Quinton Rose and J.P. Moorman II each added 10 points, but it wasn’t enough to keep coach Fran Dunphy on the sideline for one more game. Dunphy, who announced his pending retirement last spring, won 270 games in 13 years at Temple.

FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON 82, PRAIRIE VIEW A&M 76 » Darnell Edge scored a careerhigh 33 points as Fairleigh Dickinson rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to advance in the NCAA Tournament West Region play-in game at Dayton, Ohio.

Fellow guard Jahlil Jenkins scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half as the 16th-seeded Knights (21-13) recorded their first NCAA Tournament victory in the program’s history. Northeast Conference champion Fairleigh Dickinson will face No. 1 seed Gonzaga (30-3) on Thursday in Salt Lake City.

Mike Holloway Jr. collected 10 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks, and Kaleb Bishop added 10 points and 11 boards for the Knights.