Holy Cross ( 14- 19) earns NCAA berth

Malachi Alexander scored 26 points and Holy Cross ( 14- 19) capped its stunning run to the Patriot League title and an NCAA tournament berth with a 5956 victory over Lehigh on Wednesday night at Bethlehem, Pa.

The Crusaders failed to win a conference road game during the regular season. Once the tournament started, the Crusaders won at Navy and American, then knocked off second- seeded Lehigh ( 17- 15) to reach the NCAAs for the f irst time since 2007.

Holy Cross is the 20th team since 1985 to make the NCAA tournament with a losing record.

Also:

Nevada Las Vegas 108, Air Force 102 ( 3OT): Senior Ike Nwamu scored a careerhigh 38 points and Patrick McCaw added 27 with 14 rebounds to help the Rebels ( 18- 14) advance to the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament in Las Vegas. Jacob Van scored a career- high 37 points for the Falcons, who had five players foul out.

No. 19 Duke 92, North Carolina State 89: A bloodied Marshall Plumlee’s tiebreaking three- point play with 1: 14 left helped the Blue Devils overcome a secondhalf deficit against the Wolfpack for the third time in three meetings in the Atlan- tic Coast Conference tournament at Washington. The defending NCAA champions ( 23- 9) face Notre Dame in the quarterfinals.

Pittsburgh 72, Syracuse 71: Cameron Johnson scored a career- high 24 points off the bench as the Panthers ( 21- 10) strengthened their NCAA resume with the victory in the ACC tournament. Pitt’s bench outscored Syracuse’s 39- 10 to finish a season sweep and deal a significant blow to the tournament

hopes of the Orange ( 19- 13).

Women

Long Beach State 54, Cal Poly 52: Raven Benton made a 15- foot jumper with 0.6 of second to play to give the 49ers ( 24- 7) the victory in the first- round Big West tournament game at UC Irvine.

UC Davis 71, UC Santa Barbara 67: Morgan Bertsch had 26 points and eight rebounds for the Aggies ( 18- 12) in the f irst- round Big West game.