Murray State: 2018 Ohio Valley Men's Basketball Champions

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Jonathan Stark finished with 24 points and Ja Morant added 15 to give Murray State a 68-51 victory over Belmont on Saturday night in the Ohio Valley Conference championship game.

With the win, the Racers (26-5) became the first team to qualify for the NCAA tournament. They advance for the first time since 2012 and will await to learn their seeding on March 11.

Murray State earned revenge over Belmont, which had won the previous two times the schools met in the OVC title game in 2013 and 2015. The Racers extended their winning streak to 13, the longest in the nation after Michigan State lost to Michigan in the Big Ten Conference tournament semifinal earlier Saturday.

The Racers went on a 16-3 run in the last seven minutes of the game to put it out of reach. Shaq Buchanan connected on a 3-pointer with 3:23 remaining to boost the lead to 62-49. Murray State made seven 3-pointers and shot 43.8 percent from beyond the arc in the second half.

Belmont led 32-29 at halftime after trailing by 12 early in the game. It used a 15-2 run over the final six minutes of the first half to take the lead.

Kevin McClain finished with 17 points, and Dylan Windler had 10 for the Bruins.

BIG PICTURE

Belmont: The Bruins have won at least 20 games each season since they left the Atlantic Sun and joined the OVC in 2013.

Murray State: The Racers matched their highest win total in six years, when they went 31-2 and were the No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament.

UP NEXT

Belmont: Hoping for an invite to the National Invitation Tournament.

Murray State: NCAA tournament.

St. Peter's: 2017 College Insider.com Tournament Champions

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- Quadir Welton had a double-double and Trevis Wyche made the winning free throw with less than a second remaining and Saint Peter's won the CIT championship with a 62-61 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday night.

Cavon Baker scored 15 points to lead the Peacocks (23-13). Welton, the CollegeInsider.com Tournament MVP, had 12 points and 13 rebounds.

"A lot of emotion. I'm very happy right now," Welton, the newphew of former NBA standout Rasheed Wallace, said. "We've been doing it all season. I'm happy for my team, happy for our school."

Saint Peter's trailed most of the game had its biggest lead, 60-55, after Chazz Patterson made two free throws with 1:01 to play. Cole Martinez made it a two-point game with a 3-pointer from the right corner with 14.5 seconds left. After Bake made 1 of 2 free throws, Martinez was fouled on a desperation 3-point attempt with three seconds left and he calmly tied the game.

The Peacocks threw the ball into the front court and called a time out. On the inbounds play from in front of their bench, they went over the top to Baker, who drove toward the basket from the left wing and was fouled as he went up for the shot with .9 to play. After his first free throw rolled in, he missed the second on purpose

Rashawn Thomas had 20 points and 13 rebounds for the Islanders (24-12) and Kareem South had 11 points.

The Islanders got off to a quick start, using a 9-0 run to go up 11-3 less than five minutes into the game. Baker and Antwon Portley had back-to-back 3s to make it a two-point game. Elijah Cook answered with five straight and after a Saint Peter's basket Thomas scored seven straight to make it 23-11 with 7:51 to go.

Welton sparked a 15-0 run, scoring the first six points, with a 3-pointer by Samuel Idowu putting Saint Peter's ahead 26-23 with 1:44 left. Ehab Amin tied it with a 3-pointer and Joseph Kilgore put the Islanders on top 28-26 at the break.

The Islanders surged ahead by eight with 13:40 to go but Saint Peter's quickly erased that and the game was tight down the stretch.

Saint Peter's, which lost in the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference semifinals, won by four points at Albany, New York, and four at Texas State, before beating Furman by 26 at home in the semifinals on Wednesday, before returning to Texas.