Owls reach tourney to punctuate turnaround
KENNESAW STATE 67, LIBERTY 66
Terrell Burden scored 19 points and made a free throw with less than a second left to rally host Kennesaw State past Liberty, 67-66, for the school’s first Atlantic Sun championship and first trip to the NCAA tournament.
It is a remarkable turnaround for Kennesaw State under fourthyear coach Amir Abdur-rahim. The Owls finished with a 1-28 record in 2019-20 — Burden’s freshman season and the first under Abdur-rahim. They went 5-19 in Abdur-rahim’s second season and 13-18 last year. Now they will bring a school-record 26-8 mark to their first NCAAS. Liberty dropped to 26-8.
DRAKE 77, BRADLEY 51: Tucker Devries scored 22 points, and the Bulldogs (27-2) raced to their sixth NCAA tournament berth with a romp in St. Louis in the Missouri Valley tournament championship game.
Top-seeded Bradley (25-9) had a 12-game winning streak snapped.
UNC ASHEVILLE 77, CAMPBELL 73: Drew Pember had 29 points, Tajion Jones scored 16 in the final 7:35, and the Bulldogs stormed back to beat the Fighting Camels (16-18) and win the Big South tournament championship to advance to the NCAA tournament for the fifth time.
Top-seeded UNC Asheville improved to 27-7.
HOUSTON 67, MEMPHIS 65:
Jamal Shead scored 16 points, including the winning basket as time ran out, and the top-ranked Cougars escaped in the regular season finale at Memphis.
Memphis’s Kendric Davis drove to the basket with nine seconds left and tied the game at 65. Shead then maneuvered along the top of the key, created space with a stepback move, let it go from about 18 feet and saw the ball nestle through the net.
Houston improved to 29-2, 17-1 in the American Athletic Conference. Davis led Memphis (23-8, 13-5) with 26 points.
PURDUE 76, ILLINOIS 71:
Brandon Newman scored 19 points and Zach Edey added 17 as the No. 5 Boilermakers held on to win in West Lafayette, Ind.
Braden Smith added 15 points for Purdue (26-5, 15-5 Big Ten). It is the first time a team has won the league title by three or more games since 2014.
Matthew Mayer led the Illini (20-11, 11-9) with 16 points.
INDIANA 75, MICHIGAN 73: Trayce Jackson-davis had 27 points, nine rebounds and six assists in his final home game, and the No. 15 Hoosiers forced a steal on the Wolverines’ final possession to seal an overtime victory in Bloomington, Ind.
The Hoosiers (21-10, 12-8) clinched a double bye into Friday’s Big Ten tournament quarterfinals. Hunter Dickinson had 24 points and 14 rebounds for Michigan (17-14, 11-9), which will open conference tourney play Thursday.
American falls short
Leo O’boyle scored 23 points and Lafayette beat American, 84-76, in double overtime in Easton, Pa., to advance to the Patriot League championship game.
O’boyle added six rebounds for the Leopards (11-22), who will play regular season champion Colgate for the title Wednesday.
The Eagles (17-15) were led by Matt Rogers with 24 points, 13 rebounds and four assists.
SOUTH ALABAMA 75, JAMES MADISON 66: Isaiah Moore scored 18 points to lead the Jaguars (19-15) past the Dukes (22-11) in the Sun Belt tournament semifinal in Pensacola, Fla.
South Alabama will play Louisiana Lafayette for the championship Monday.