Longwood rules the Big South

Virginia Beach’s Michael Christmas scored 18 points, Walyn Napper approached triple-double territory, and fifthseeded Longwood defeated No. 2 UNC Asheville 85-59 Sunday in High Point’s arena to win the Big South Conference Tournament.

Napper had 10 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds. Drew Pember led UNC Asheville with 14 points. The victory sends the Lancers, coached by Virginia Beach native Griff Aldrich, to the NCAA Tournament for the second time. They also qualified in 2022, but that was as the top seeds. This year’s edition erased a 15-point deficit Saturday to stun top-seeded High Point on the Panthers’ floor, then maintained that momentum Sunday.

The Lancers pushed their lead to 25 within the first four minutes and led by at least 25 throughout the final nine minutes. They shot 59.6%.

USCAA national quarterfinal Apprentice 96, Maine Fort Kent 79:

The top-seeded Builders beat their eighth-seeded foes in Petersburg to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association Division I tourney.

Saturday night, Apprentice’s Karree Smith won the USCAA dunk contest with three perfect scores of 50 and was named a first-team All-American.

Also for Apprentice, Adrion Wall earned second-team honors. Donovan Means received honorable mention, and Climente Riddick and Clifton Goode gainedd All-Academic accolades.

Missouri Valley final Drake 84, Indiana State 80:

Tucker DeVries scored 27 points, Darnell Brodie had four of his 17 in the last 67 seconds, and secondseeded Drake (28-7) defended its MVC Tournament title and gained an NCAA berth despite blowing an 18-point lead in the last 10 minutes in St. Louis. The Bulldogs will make their seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament after matching the school record for wins.

The top-seeded Sycamores (28-6) got 22 points and nine rebounds from Jayson Kent. They’ll hope for an at-large berth.

Atlantic Sun final Stetson 94, Austin Peay 91:

Jalen Blackmon scored a careerhigh 43 points, making 14 of 17 free throws, as the second-seeded Hatters (22-12) won at home in DeLand, Florida, to gain their first NCAA berth.

Blackmon made 3 of 4 from the line in the final 13 seconds, dealing a defeat to the fourth-seeded Governors (19-15). Sai Witt had 28 points and 10 rebounds for Austin Peay.

Late Saturday Sun Belt quarterfinal James Madison 81, Marshall 64:

Terrence Edwards scored 18 points for the second-seeded Dukes (29-3), who faced No. 11 seed Texas State (17-17) in a semifinal Sunday night at Pensacola Bay Center in Florida.

Edwards had seven rebounds and six assists for the Dukes, who have won 10 games in a row.

NCAA Division III quarterfinal Hampden-Sydney 68, Nebraska Wesleyan 60:

Senior Adam Brazil scored a game-high 22 points, including 12 points in the first 4:50 of the contest with four 3-pointers, to lead the host Tigers — who are ranked No. 1 by d3hoops.com — over No. 19 Nebraska Wesleyan at Fleet Gym. H-SC improved to a school-record 30-2.

The Tigers advanced to Thursday’s Final Four at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort

Wayne, Indiana. They will face Old Dominion Athletic Conference rival Guilford.

Regular season No. 2 Connecticut 74, Providence 60:

Alex Karaban scored 16 points and Tristen Newton had 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists as UConn bounced back after falling behind 15-2 in Providence.

Southern California 78, No. 5 Arizona 65: DJ Rodman and Kobe Johnson scored 19 points each against the Pac-12 champion Wildcats as host USC achieved its first three-game winning streak of the season.

No. 8 Marquette 86, Xavier 80:

Kam Jones scored 30 points and Oso Ighodaro added 24 in Cincinnati as Marquette snapped a two-game losing streak.

Texas Tech 78, No. 11 Baylor 68:

Pop Isaacs scored 20 points, including the first of Texas Tech’s four consecutive 3-pointers after Baylor had taken its only lead after halftime.

No. 20 Brigham Young 85, Oklahoma State 71: Fousseyni Traore scored 19 points and Jaxson Robinson added 17 to lead BYU. Spencer Johnson had 14 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for the Cougars (22-9, 10-8), who earned their sixth straight home win and the fifth seed in the Big 12 Tournament.

Wake Forest 81, Clemson 76:

Hunter Sallis had 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists for the host Demon Deacons (19-12, 11-9 ACC) in a regular-season finale against the Tigers (21-10, 11-9). Wake is an NCAA bubble team.

Pittsburgh 81, N.C. State 73: Carlton Carrington scored 23 points, Blake Hinson added 21 and the host Panthers (21-10, 12-8) took fourth place and a double bye in the ACC Tournament. Jayden Taylor had 28 points for the Wolfpack (17-14, 9-11).