UConn crushes Xavier
NEW YORK (AP) — Tristen Newton and Donovan Clingan each had 13 points and seven rebounds and No. 2 UConn blitzed Xavier in the second half Thursday, opening the postseason with an 87-60 blowout in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals.
Alex Karaban and Cam Spencer both scored 12 in a balanced performance by the top-seeded Huskies (29-3), who have won five straight games and 19 of 20. The defending national champions will play fourth-seeded Seton Hall or No. 5 seed St. John’s in the first semifinal Friday evening at Madison Square Garden.
Seton Hall handed the Huskies one of their two conference losses this season back in December.
Samson Johnson also had 12 points off the bench, and Big East Freshman of the Year Stephon Castle added 10 points and eight rebounds to round out six scorers in double figures for Connecticut, seeking its first Big East Tournament title since 2011.
Quincy Olivari scored 17 points and Desmond Claude had 13 for ninth-seeded Xavier (1617), which beat No. 8 seed Butler 76-72 in the first round Wednesday.
NO. 4 UNC 92, FLORIDA STATE 67 WASHINGTON (AP) — Armando Bacot scored 14 points and grabbed 10 of his team’s 48 rebounds to Seminoles’ 22, and fourthranked Tarheels rolled into the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinals with a victory.
Bacot got the double-double with a rebound on his final play before being pulled midway through the second half, and unanimous ACC player of the year RJ Davis scored a game-high 18 points.
Winning their sixth in a row, the Tar Heels flexed their muscles on the boards, at one point grabbing four offensive rebounds on the same possession late in the first half. By halftime, the Seminoles had just six.
A combination of rebounding domination and some timely shooting — as Florida State went ice cold from the floor — helped UNC (26-6, 18-3 ACC) pull away. Shooting for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the ACC’s regular-season champions face Wake Forest or Pitt on Friday night with a spot in the final on the line.
NO. 25 TEXAS TECH 81, NO. 20 BYU 67 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Pop Isaacs scored 22 points, Chance McMillian added 17 points and eight rebounds and the Red Raiders withstood a furious second-half rally by the Cougars for a victory in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
Kerwin Walton added 12 points and Robert Jennings and Joe Toussaint had 10 apiece for No. 4 seed Red Raiders (23-9), who led by as many as 23 in the first half before the Cougars (23-10) embarked on a 15-0 second-half run to make it interesting.
Jaxson Robinson hit a pair of 3-pointers before two free throws from Richie Saunders got the Big 12 newcomers within 62-55 with 5:04 to go. But unperturbed, Toussaint answered with a 3 for Texas Tech, and when Trevin Knell’s answering 3 rimmed out, Darrion Williams added another to give coach Grant McCasland’s team some breathing room.
The Red Raiders advanced from there into a semifinal matchup with No. 1 Houston or TCU on Friday night.
Robinson finished with 22 points to lead the Cougars, who shot 14 of 30 from the 3-point arc in a second-round win over UCF but were just 7 of 35 against Texas Tech. Fousseyni Traore finished with 13 points and Saunders had 12.