Racers take charge with outside shots

CONWAY, S.C. — JaCobi Wood scored 23 points and Murray State took down No. 24 Texas A&M 88-79 on Thursday in the Myrtle Beach Invitational.

The Racers (2-1) will take on UMass in the semifinals while Texas A&M (2-1) faces Colorado today.

The victory was the first for Murray State over a ranked team in a decade. The Aggies made their first appearance this week in The Associated Press Top 25 since Jan. 1, 2017.

Wood led a foursome of transfers for the Racers. Kenny White Jr. (Tennessee Tech) scored 18 points, Jamari Smith (Queens of North Carolina) had 17 and Rob Perry (Stetson) had 12. Wood transferred from Belmont.

Murray State shot 50% and made 10 of 22 three-point attempts.

Steve Prohm, in his second stint as Murray State’s coach — the first coming 2011-15 before leaving for Iowa State — was pleased with the performance of the Racers’ reconstructed roster.

“It’s a terrific win,” Prohm said. “We’re trying to set the foundation. This program has been so good for so long, but we do have brand-new guys. We do have some pieces to make a good puzzle at the end of the day if we build our foundation the right way.”

Tyrece Radford scored 19 points to lead Texas A&M, Wade Taylor IV added 16, Manny Obaseki scored 12 and Julius Marble had 11.

NO. 4 KENTUCKY 106, S.C. STATE 63

LEXINGTON, Ky. — CJ Fredrick scored 17 points to lead Kentucky to a win over South Carolina State.

The Wildcats (3-1) easily bounced back from an 86-77 double-overtime loss to unranked Michigan State two nights earlier in the Champions Classic.

Chris Livingston scored 13 points, while Lance Ware and Cason Wallace had 12 points each.

NO. 10 CREIGHTON 80, UC RIVERSIDE 51

OMAHA, Neb. — Baylor Scheierman scored 17 points and the 10th-ranked Bluejays pulled away from UC Riverside.

Ryan Kalkbrenner, Arthur Kaluma and Trey Alexander had 12 points apiece for the Bluejays (4-0).

Wil Tattersall had 11 points to lead the Highlanders (1-2).

NO. 15 TCU 95, LOUISIANA-MONROE 60

FORT WORTH — Emanuel Miller had 16 points and JaKobe Coles scored 15, helping TCU overwhelm Louisiana-Monroe in an Emerald Coast Classic matchup.

Micah Peavy added 12 points for TCU (3-1) and O’Bannon had 11 in the first half. Tyreke Locure had 14 points for the Warhawks (2-2).

TOP 25 WOMEN

NO. 1 SOUTH CAROLINA 85, CLEMSON 31

CLEMSON, S.C. — Zia Cooke scored 15 points and Aliyah Boston added 12 points and six rebounds in No. 1 South Carolina’s (3-0) victory over Clemson (3-1).

Freshman Ashlyn Watkins had 14 points, including a fourth- quarter, one-handed dunk that brought the South Carolina bench to its feet in celebration.

NO. 8 OHIO ST. 86, OHIO 56

ATHENS, Ohio — Jacy Sheldon scored 16 points, Taylor Mikesell added 14 and No. 8 Ohio State rolled to a win over Ohio.

The Buckeyes weren’t real sharp on offense but the defense was dialed in, forcing the Bobcats into 33 turnovers they turned into 41 points.

NO. 12 INDIANA 96, BOWLING GREEN 61

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Sara Scalia scored 17 points and the No. 12 Indiana beat Bowling Green.

Scalia was the first to reach 10 points, doing so in the first quarter to help Indiana lead 28-10. Yarden Garzon reached 11 points with 4:02 left in the fourth quarter as Indiana had six players with 10 or more points for the first time since 2016.

Mackenzie Holmes had 16 points and eight rebounds and Grace Berger added 14 points and six assists for Indiana (4-0).

NO. 24 VILLANOVA 67, PENN 41

PHILADELPHIA — Maddy Siegrist scored 18 of her 22 points in the first half and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead No. 24 Villanova to a win over Penn.