Arkansas Little-Rock: 2015-16 Sun Belt Men's Basketball Champions

NEW ORLEANS -- Roger Woods scored 19 points and Arkansas-Little Rock punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a dominant second half, beating Louisiana-Monroe 70-50 on Sunday in the Sun Belt Tournament final.

Trailing 33-28 at halftime, the Trojans raised their defensive intensity several notches and went on an 18-4 run to take control. Woods gave Arkansas-Little Rock the lead for good at 37-35, faking an outside shot and driving for an emphatic dunk with 15:01 left.

Marcus Johnson Jr. hit an open 3-pointer as the Trojans took their first double-digit lead, 53-42, at the 8:06 mark.

Woods, the tournament MVP, hit eight of 10 shots and added nine rebounds. Johnson scored 14 points for top-seeded Arkansas-Little Rock (29-4), which tied a Sun Belt conference record for wins in a season.

Justin Roberson had 17 points for second-seeded Louisiana-Monroe (20-13), which entered the final on a 10-game winning streak and having won 14 of its last 15 after a 6-11 start.

Getting little room to operate, the flustered Warhawks never recovered after committing four quick turnovers and missing their first six shots of the second half. They hit 6 of 25 after going 14 of 24 in the first half.

The closest they came in the last 8 minutes was nine points, and they could not capitalize on Arkansas-Little Rock's rare mistakes.

When Josh Hagins' pass on the perimeter was intercepted, Louisiana-Monroe gave the ball right back when an outlet pass was tipped off a player's leg and out of bounds.

The Trojans began celebrating after Kemy Osse's 3-pointer from the corner made it 64-50. They entered the tournament with an outside shot at at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament thanks to road victories over San Diego State and Tulsa, but they erased any doubt about their destination.

ALL-TOURNAMENT

Johnson Jr., Roberson and Majok Deng of Louisiana-Monroe joined Woods on the all-tournament team along with Louisiana-Lafayette's Shawn Long, the Sun Belt regular season player of the year.

TIP-INS

Arkansas-Little Rock: Hagins, the Trojans' leading scorer for the year, had five points and went 2 for 7 from the field. ... Arkansas-Little Rock is returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011 and the second time since 1990.

Louisiana-Monroe: The Warhawks had five chances to finish three-point plays in the first half but missed the free throw on the first four before Roberson finally made one. . Roberson and guard Nick Coppola played all 40 minutes, and coach Keith Richard used only seven players, but he said fatigue was not a factor in the Warhawks' second game in less than 24 hours.

UP NEXT

Arkansas-Little Rock: The Trojans will play in the NCAA T.

Louisiana-Monroe: The Warhawks will be in a postseason tournament, probably the CIT or CBI.

Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners: 2015-16 WAC Men's Basketball Champions

LAS VEGAS -- Dedrick Basile's clutch shot sent Cal State Bakersfield to its first NCAA Tournament appearance.

Basile hit a 3-pointer with two-tenths of a second remaining, lifting Cal State Bakersfield to a 57-54 victory over No. 1 seed New Mexico State in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament title game.

"It was our night, our turn, our time," coach Rod Barnes said. "It's been a fantastic year."

Basile led the second-seeded Roadrunners (24-8) with 18 points, and Damiyne Durham added 15. Cal State Bakersfield had never beaten New Mexico State, losing their first 11 meetings, including twice during the regular season.

Pascal Siakam and Braxton Huggins each had 11 points for the Aggies (23-10), and Ian Baker added 10.

The Aggies, who never led, trailed by as many as 12 points but came back in the second half. They tied it at 54 when Tanveer Bhullar made one of two free throws with 14 seconds left, but that set the stage for Basile's buzzer-beating long shot won the game for the Roadrunners.

"The great thing about this team, they never panicked," Barnes said. "As I was talking to them, they never seemed to be in a situation where they were nervous or afraid that we were going to lose."

Teammates piled on Basile near mid-court, believing the game was over, but officials determined that two-tenths of a second were still left.

"That's something I always dreamed about," Basile said, "and it just happened."

A long inbounds pass, however, was deflected by Bakersfield, ending the game and giving the Roadrunners a second celebration.

The Aggies, who won the WAC regular-season title, lost in the tournament title game after four consecutive wins.

"When they needed big shots, they got them every time, usually from one of their upper classmen," New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies said. "They just produced when they needed to. It was kind of heart-wrenching to say the least."

Bakersfield led for just about the entire first half, combining exceptional shooting with a turnover-prone offense by New Mexico State to take a 32-22 lead.

The game was tied at 10 before the Roadrunners went on a 20-9 run over the next 10 minutes. The Aggies committed eight turnovers in the opening half and compounded their troubles by shooting just 36 percent.

TIP-INS

Bakersfield: The Roadrunners had never played in a WAC tournament final until Saturday's game. They struggled with their shooting in the second half, making just 10 of 28 shots.

New Mexico State: Pascal Siakam, the conference player of the year, never got going. He scored two points in the game and finished with 11. Braxton Huggins also had 11, while Bhullar came off the bench to score a team-high 13.

UP NEXT

Cal State Bakersfield: makes its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

New Mexico State: hopes for an invitation to the NIT.

Green Bay Phoenix: 2015-16 Horizon League Men's Basketball Champions

DETROIT -- Linc Darner is speeding into the NCAA tournament in his first season as Green Bay's coach.

Jordan Fouse scored 16 points, and the Phoenix wrapped up a spot in the NCAAs for the first time since 1996 by beating Wright State 78-69 on Tuesday night in the Horizon League title game. Darner took over at Green Bay after leading Florida Southern to the Division II national championship last year, and his up-tempo style worked wonders as his team won four games in four days in the Horizon tournament.

"These guys have believed in our system all year," Darner said. "I think a lot of people probably thought, 'Well, you can't win the big ones playing the way you guys play.' I think they proved everybody wrong with that."

Charles Cooper added 15 points for the Phoenix, who jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half. Green Bay (23-12) and Wright State (22-13) were in the championship game after beating top-seeded Valparaiso and second-seeded Oakland the previous night.

Michael Karena scored 14 points for Wright State. The Raiders were able to control the tempo against high-scoring Oakland in the semifinals, winning that game 59-55, but they were playing catch-up throughout against Green Bay.

"All year we kept hearing, 'They aren't going to be able to win. That style isn't going to be able to win in a tournament setting,'" Fouse said. "That's just not right. Coach said it from the beginning -- nobody wants to see us when we have to play four games in four days -- and he was right."

Jamar Hurdle's basket capped a 13-0 run that gave the Phoenix an early 17-6 lead, and Green Bay led by as many as 15 points in the first half. Wright State missed 14 of 15 shots during one stretch, and although the Raiders recovered a bit from their slow start, they were down 42-30 at halftime.

"We kept thinking, 'They're going to fall. There's going to be a time that (the shots are) going to fall,'" Wright State guard Grant Benzinger said. "I guess right now it starts to set in that, yeah, we didn't shoot the ball like we could."

Wright State could never cut into its deficit all that much in the second half. Cooper's one-handed dunk on a fast break made it 60-41 with just under 10 minutes remaining.

Wright State was playing in the title game for the third time in four years, but hasn't made it to the NCAA tournament since 2007.

Green Bay beat Valpo 99-92 in overtime Monday, and the Phoenix came into Tuesday averaging 84 points a game. They were held below that figure, but not by much. According to kenpom.com, Green Bay is the most fast-paced offensive team in the country.

Both teams were playing their fourth game in four days, after Valpo and Oakland were given byes to the semifinals. Wright State shot 37.5 percent from the field Tuesday, a far cry from the patient execution that enabled the Raiders to beat Oakland.

Wright State's JT Yoho, who played a big role in the semis, scored eight points in the final on 2-of-17 shooting.

FAMOUS FAN

The Phoenix apparently caught the attention of another Green Bay star. A message on Aaron Rodgers' Twitter account that said "Let's go UWGB" showed up Tuesday night.

RUN WITH THEM

Wright State coach Billy Donlon said he felt his team needed to slow the game down against Oakland, but he was comfortable with a more up-tempo approach against Green Bay.

"Green Bay and Oakland are different animals for us," Donlon said. "We don't have a problem trying to score with Green Bay. ... The way I talked about it with our players was, 'We have to attack this game.'"

TIP-INS

Green Bay: The Phoenix improved to 12-0 when holding opponents under 70 points. ... Green Bay lost to Valpo 54-44 in last year's Horizon final.

Wright State: The Raiders led only once, at 6-4.

UP NEXT

Green Bay will hear its name called on Selection Sunday. Donlon said he thinks Wright State is an NIT-caliber team, but he is not really expecting to receive a bid to that tournament.

Iona Gaels: 2015-16 Metro Atlantic Men's Basketball Champions

ALBANY, N.Y. -- A.J. English hit a fadeway jumper with 1:39 left to break a tie and Deyshonee Much followed with a driving layup that he converted into a three-point play, and second-seeded Iona beat top-seeded Monmouth 79-76 on Monday night to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament title and the NCAA tournament berth that goes with it.

The Hawks (27-7), who joined the MAAC in 2013, were seeking their first tournament appearance since 2006 when they were members of the Northeast Conference. They entered the title game on a five-game winning streak and had won 13 of 14 in a storybook season, the lone loss coming at Iona (22-10).

With a solid resume, the Hawks were still in the running for an at-large bid and the MAAC has twice had multiple bids (1995, 2012).