College Basketball Top 25 results | Tuesday
Men’s
No. 10 Creighton 90, No. 9 Arkansas 87
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Ryan Nembhard drove the lane for an authoritative dunk in the closing minutes and scored a career-high 25 points for Creighton, which survived a tense second half to beat Arkansas and advance to the championship game of the Maui Invitational.
Trey Alexander made two free throws with 1.9 seconds left for Creighton, which will play for the title Wednesday against either No. 14 Arizona or No. 17 San Diego State.
The Bluejays (6-0) and Razorbacks (4-1) played an electrifying second half worthy of a March Madness matchup. Arkansas has reached the Elite Eight in consecutive seasons and Creighton got to the second round last year after advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2021.
Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 21 points, Baylor Scheierman 20 and Alexander 12 for the Bluejays, who had a 12-point lead late in the first half.
Anthony Black scored 26 points, Ricky Council IV 24 and Trevon Brazile 17 for the Razorbacks.
There were 10 lead changes and the game was tied 10 times in the second half.
Nembhard made two free throws after the Arkansas bench was whistled for a technical foul with 13:57 to go for a 53-53 tie. Creighton was in the double bonus for the final 13 minutes.
Nembhard, the shortest player on the floor at 6 feet, drove for a dunk and a 79-76 lead with 2:34 to go. Brazile answered with a 3-pointer the next time down the floor to tie it at 79.
No. 13 Auburn 85, Bradley 64
CANCUN, Mexico — Wendell Green Jr. and Johni Broome each scored 14 points and Auburn beat Bradley in the first round of the Cancun Challenge.
Auburn (5-0) advances to play in Wednesday night’s championship game of the Riviera Division.
Green also had six assists and Broome, who got the start after sitting out the last game due to injury, had nine rebounds and three blocks.
Green was scoreless for the first 16 minutes of the game, but he made a 3-pointer to end a 7-0 Bradley run late in the first half and he beat the halftime buzzer with a layup to give the Tigers a 45-32 lead. It was the most points Auburn has scored in the first half this season.
Connor Hickman and Duke Deen each scored 15 points for Bradley (3-2), which will play in the third-place contest on Wednesday. Malevy Leons added 11 points.
No. 14 Arizona 87,
No. 17 San Diego State 70
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Courtney Ramey and Kerr Kriisa scored 21 points apiece and No. 14 Arizona pulled away in the second half to beat 17th-ranked San Diego State 87-70 on Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational.
Arizona (5-0) will play No. 10 Creighton in Wednesday’s championship game. San Diego State will take on No. 9 Arkansas in the consolation finals.
Azuola Tubelis had all 14 of his points in the first half and Ramey scored 12 for Arizona. A twisting layup by Tubelis on an alley-oop pass gave the Wildccats a 31-15 lead at 5:06 before intermission. Darrion Trammell hit a 3-pointer for San Diego State and turned two steals into layups to help the Aztecs close out the half on an 18-6 run to get within 37-33.
Keshad Johnson had two rebound baskets and a three-point play dunk and San Diego State used a 9-3 spurt to grab a 42-40 lead just 2:40 into the second half. It was the Aztecs first and only lead of the game.
Pelle Larsson sank a 3-pointer, Trammell missed a 3 and Oumar Ballo followed with a three-point play to put Arizona up 46-42. The Wildcats upped their lead to 10 on a Ballo free throw with 11:43 remaining and pushed it to 71-56 on a Cedric Henderson jumper with 6:58 left to play.
Ramey, a graduate transfer from the University of Texas, hit all five of his 3-point shots in his second game with Arizona. Kerr added five assists. Ballo finished with 12 points and nine rebounds before fouling out. Henderson scored 10.
No. 21 Texas Tech 70, Louisville 38
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Kevin Obanor scored 15 points and No. 21 Texas Tech held Louisville to its lowest point total in 74 years in a 70-38 victory in the Maui Invitational on Tuesday.
The Red Raiders (4-1) bounced back from their 76-65 loss to No. 10 Creighton on Monday with their most dominating defensive performance since holding Incarnate Word to 37 points in 2018.
Louisville (0-5) was held scoreless for more than 10 minutes spanning the halves. The Cardinals missed 13 field goals and two free throws and committed six turnovers during the drought.
When it started, Texas Tech led 20-13. When it ended with Sydney Curry’s layup, the Red Raiders were ahead 45-15.
The Cardinals’ 38 points were their fewest since a 62-34 loss to Xavier on Jan. 7, 1948.
Women’s
No. 1 South Carolina 79, Cal Poly 36
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Aliyah Boston had her fourth double-double of the season as top-ranked South Carolina rolled to a 79-36 victory over Cal Poly Tuesday night.
Boston, the reigning AP Player of the Year, had 12 points and 10 rebounds for her 64th career double-double, which is the most among active NCAA players in all divisions.
The Gamecocks (5-0), coming off a 76-71 overtime victory at second-ranked Stanford Sunday, led throughout. Laeticia Amihere was the leading scorer off the bench with 13 points, Zia Cooke added 11 and Ashlyn Watkins had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Annika Shah led Cal Poly with eight points, all in the fourth quarter. The Mustangs were 8 of 55 from the field before making four of their last five.
No. 16 Creighton 93, Omaha 71
OMAHA, Neb. — Emma Ronsiek scored 26 points, Lauren Jensen added 20 and No. 16 Creighton defeated Omaha, giving the Bluejays the Nebraska championship.
Creighton, now sporting its best ranking ever, beat then No. 22 Nebraska 77-51, which beat the Mavericks 100-36 in the season opener.
Morgan Maly added 18 points for the Bluejays (5-0), who are off to their best start since the 1986-87 team went 8-0. Carly Bachelor had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Creighton shot 57%, going 12 of 29 from 3-point range, led by Ronsiek making 5 of 8.
Aaliyah Stanley had 15 points for the Mavericks (3-2) and Jaylen Townsend
13. Omaha shot 40%, going 7 of 17 from 3-point range and was outrebounded by 12.