Louisiana earns first berth in NCAA field since 2014
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Themus Fulks scored a career-high 23 points, Jordan Brown had 13 points and 16 rebounds and second-seeded Louisiana beat No. 8 seed South Alabama 71-66 on Monday night to claim the Sun Belt Conference tournament title.
The fifth NCAA Tournament berth for Louisiana (26-7) will be its first since 2014.
FURMAN 88 CHATTANOOGA 79
Jalen Slawson scored 20 points and the Paladins won the Southern Conference tournament at Asheville, N.C., and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1980.
A 35-footer at the buzzer gave Chattanooga a 64-63 win over Furman in last year’s final. This time the Paladins secured the victory by holding on after an early 18-0 run.
NO. 16 SAINT MARY’S 76 BYU 69
Alex Ducas scored 23 points to lead four Gaels
in double figures as they held off a late rally in the West Coast Conference semifinals at Las Vegas.
Saint Mary’s (26-6) will play in its fourth WCC title game in five years Tuesday, facing No. 9 Gonzaga or San Francisco. Saint Mary's will try to win its first tournament title since 2019.
KENNESAW ST. REBOUNDS
In a remarkable turnaround under fourth-year coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, Kennesaw State has gone from a 1-28 season
three years ago to its first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.
In Abdur-Rahim’s first season, the Owls managed only a single victory in 2019-20, then improved to five wins the next season, then 13 and now they are 26-8 after beating Liberty 67-66 on Sunday in the Atlantic Sun Conference final.
Terrell Burden scored 19 points and made a free throw with less than a second left for the winning margin.
While Kennesaw State was enjoying its first taste of March Madness, Drake raced to its sixth NCAA Tournament berth with a 77-51 romp past top-seeded Bradley on Sunday in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament final at St. Louis. Tucker DeVries scored 22 points for second-seeded Drake (27-7).
Other schools to punch their NCAA tickets were Southeast Missouri State (Ohio Valley) and UNC Asheville (Big South).
TECH NAMES INTERIM
Texas Tech named second-year assistant Corey Williams as its interim coach for the Big 12 tournament as the school continues its investigation of suspended coach Mark Adams.
Athletic director Kirby Hocutt said he was doing a more thorough inquiry into Adams’ interactions with his players and staff after the coach’s suspension for what the school said was the “use of an inappropriate, unacceptable, and racially insensitive comment” when addressing a player last week.