Northwest Missouri State: 2021-22 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball National Champions
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Despite all the madness, surprises and a five-loss season in Maryville, Missouri, the 2022 DII men’s basketball season ended how many felt it would back in November. The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats are your 2022 DII men’s basketball national champions, defeating Augusta 67-58.
It is the third championship in a row — a DII record — for the Bearcats and fourth in five tournaments. NABC player of the year Trevor Hudgins and his backcourt companion Diego Bernard have been there for every game. The duo are a combined 17-0 in NCAA DII tournament play — the DII record for most consecutive tournament wins, mind you — on arguably the single most dominant stretch in the history of DII men’s hoops.
Hudgins was pivotal in turning the game around. The Bearcats trailed early, by as much as seven, and it was in large part due to Tyshaun Crawford, Augusta’s 7-foot-1 big man. Whether he was scoring or drawing the double team for wide open 3-pointers, the Jaguars were controlling the game and led 17-10 halfway through the first half.
With both Bernard and Wes Dreamer on the bench in foul trouble, Hudgins took over, hitting consecutive 3s and finding a wide open Mitch Mascari for a third to take a 21-20 lead. Northwest Missouri State went on 18-4 run in the latter stages of the first half to open it up and would never trail again.
You can’t look back at the 2022 DII Men’s Elite Eight without discussing the dominance of Augusta’s big man. Crawford set a record by shooting 100% from the field in the semifinals and when you throw on top of it that he is left handed, he is a handful for any team. The 7-footer was a menace against a Bearcats whose tallest players were 6-foot-7, and even without the ball he’s a matchup nightmare, requiring multiple players to keep him at bay and creating opportunities for others.
That was the case on a late 12-2 run that got the Jaguars back in the game. Ja’Queze Kirby (7 poiunts, 9 rebounds) was terrific off the boards and helped lead the Jaguars as they got as close as one with less than four minutes remaining. Augusta had a chance to pull closer, but struggled from the line. One of the best shooting teams in DII had the Bearcats in foul trouble all game, but went just 17-29 from the free-throw line.
Northwest Missouri State was able to hold one of the best shooting teams in DII to 36.7% shooting from the field and 26% from 3. The Jaguars were a team that shot over 40% from both throughout the season. The Bearcats also won the turnover battle and dominated in points-off-turnovers margin.
The Bearcats have cemented their spot as the greatest dynasty in DII men's basketball history. Once again, they end the season as national champions, winners of the 2022 title.
LEADERS NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE AUGUSTA
Points T. Hudgins - 31 T. Crawford - 15
Rebounds B. Alexander, D. Abreu - 5 T. Crawford - 11
Assists T. Hudgins - 5 T. Crawford - 4
Steals L. Waters - 3 T. Myers - 2
3-pointers T. Hudgins - 5 T. Cracknell, M. Arnold - 2
Sand In My Shoes
Two weeks away it feels like the whole world should've changed
But I'm home now
And things still look the same
I think I'll leave it till tomorrow to unpack
Try to forget for one more night
That I'm back in my flat on the road
Where the cars never stop going through the night
To a life where I can't watch the sunset
I don't have time
I don't have time
Tomorrow's back to work and down to sanitation
Run a bath and then clear up the mess I made before I left here
Try to remind myself that I was happy here
Before I knew that I could get on the plane and fly away
From the road where the cars never stop going through the night
To a life where I can watch the sunset
And take my time
Take all our time
I've still got sand in my shoes
And I can't shake the thought of you
I should get on, forget you
But why would I want to
I know we said goodbye
Anything else would've been confused but
I wanna see you again
I've still got sand in my shoes
And I can't shake the thought of you
I should get on, forget you
But why would I want to
I know we said goodbye
Anything else would've been confused but
I wanna see you again
I've still got sand in my shoes
And I can't shake the thought of you
I should get on, forget you
But why would I want to
I know we said goodbye
Anything else would've been confused but
I wanna see you again...
Randolph-Macon: 2021-22 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball National Champions
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FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The road was long, but the destination proved unforgettable.
No. 1 Randolph-Macon topped Elmhurst in the Division III national championship game Saturday night at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum 75-45, delivering the school its first NCAA title in any sport and completing the work started three years ago, before the pandemic began.
“To be able to cut down the nets, it’s been a journey we’re really proud of,” coach Josh Merkel said after the most lopsided championship game in D-III history.
Junior guard Josh Talbert scored 15 points and had 11 rebounds and national player of the year Buzz Anthony added 14 points to lead a balanced offensive attack that delivered the Yellow Jackets the championship in the same dominating fashion they rolled through this year’s NCAA tournament.
Elmhurst went up 18-17 with 8 minutes to go in the half on a basket by Wesley Hooker, putting R-MC (33-1) behind for the first time since 5 minutes into its quarterfinal win over WPI on March 12. The Yellow Jackets responded with a 10-0 run.
“I think we were just feeling it out early on,” said junior forward Miles Mallory, who had 10 points and nine rebounds. “They came out physical. They brought the intensity, so we had to bring it back.”
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Anthony and senior Ian Robertson put Macon ahead 35-23 with 2:18 left in the half, and it went to the locker room up 38-23.
Before 3 minutes had come off the clock in the second half, the Yellow Jackets’ lead had swelled to 44-27. Elmhurst (27-7) never really threatened Macon the rest of the way as it capped a nearly perfect season in the perfect way.
“I thought today was just a culmination of the past three years,” said Anthony, a fifth-year senior guard who came back to R-MC for this moment. “We’ve just had guys step up and step up.”
If not for a single point, a 77-76 overtime loss to Christopher Newport in November, the Yellow Jackets would have been undefeated this season. But Saturday night, no one was lamenting that lone tally, nor were they bemoaning the back-to-back title opportunities wiped out by the pandemic or the bus-flight-flight-bus travel odyssey that got them to Fort Wayne.
This night was all about finishing the job.
The Yellow Jackets have been one of the nation’s top programs for the past three seasons, but the D-III tournament was canceled in 2020 and 2021, first due to the spread of COVID-19 and then because of low participation among schools the second season.
That meant a wait of over two years to show how they could stack up on the national stage. And Macon did not disappoint.
R-MC went 16-0 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference play, breezed through the league tournament and blistered the field in the NCAA draw. Merkel talked to his team this month about “finishing like a buzzsaw,” and it did.
The Yellow Jackets had won each of their first five NCAA games by double figures, advancing to the championship game by an average margin of 23.8 points.
That included Friday night’s dismantling of No. 2 Marietta, an 81-63 win that put the Jackets in their first-ever D-III title game, positioning them to become the first Virginia team to win the title since Virginia Wesleyan in 2006.
“I do think we were a bit of a buzz saw,” said Merkel. “And so no matter what we were going to see today, I think our guys were ready.”
To travel to the Final Four, the Yellow Jackets bussed to Washington, D.C., flew to Chicago and then Toledo, then bussed to Fort Wayne — two hours northeast of Indianapolis — where the tournament’s final weekend was sharing a complex with a national alpaca show and a gun show.
The championship used to be held in Salem — from 1996-2012 and again in 2014 and 2018 — but moved to Fort Wayne the next year. That made for an easier trip — about 200 miles from Elmhurst, Ill. — for the Blue Jays fans and for a decidedly hostile environment for R-MC.
But the Macon fans, most of whom drove the more than 10 hours to Indiana, made their presence felt, too, from the opening introductions to the joyous on-court celebration when time ran out, reveling in the school’s first national title and the completion of a journey.
“I love it for all the athletes at Randolph-Macon,” said Merkel. “Because I think it shows, with hard work and a commitment and that daily, consistent approach, disciplined approach, that you can do anything. You can get here, and it’s a special feeling when you do.”
Loyola (La.) - 2021-22 NAIA Men's Basketball National Champions
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Top-seeded Loyola (La.) used a 23-4 first-half scoring run and a stout defensive effort to seize its first NAIA national title since 1945 with a 71-56 victory over Talladega (Ala.) Tuesday evening in the 84th annual NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship game at Municipal Auditorium.
Zach Wrightsil led a contingent of four double-digit scorers for Loyola with 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Myles Burns added a monster performance of 17 points, 17 boards and four steals to help power the Wolf Pack attack.
The Wolf Pack (37-1) showed their balance during the game’s critical run, as five different players scored during the outburst to help extend the lead to 19 points with just over three minutes to play in the opening half. Wrightsil, who broke Loyola’s single-season scoring record in the opening minutes of the contest, poured home eight of his 10 first-half points during the early run.
Talladega battled back to close the gap to five points in the second half, but the Wolf Pack answered with an 11-2 run to stretch its lead back to double digits. The Loyola defense took care of the rest, limiting the Tornadoes to 35.8-percent shooting for the game to secure the third NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship for the Southern States Athletic Conference.
Defense dominated the early stages of the contest, with the two offenses combining to misfire on their first five shots of the night, before a pair of Terry Smith Jr. buckets, followed by back-to-back three-pointers from Brandon Davis and Andrew Fava sparked a 10-4 Loyola run that handed the Wolf Pack an 11-6 advantage.
Talladega (32-6) responded by scoring seven of the next nine points to even the score at 13-13 with just over 12 minutes left in the half, thanks in large part to two Kamron Brice triples.
But Myles Burns triggered the key Wolf Pack run with a trey at the 11:42 mark, before Cameron Dumas tallied four straight points for Loyola to make it a seven-point game. Wrightsil followed suit with back-to-back buckets, and Davis sank another three to extend the margin into double digits. Wrightsil put an exclamation point on the spurt with a dunk, making it a 36-17 contest with 3:14 to play in the half.
Loyola’s defense played a starring role all night, as the Wolf Pack limited Talladega to 7-of-30 (0.233) shooting, including just 2-of-16 (0.125) from beyond the three-point arc, in the opening 20 minutes of the contest.
After the Wolf Pack scored eight of the first 12 points after the break, Loyola appeared poised to run away with the red banner. But the Tornadoes fought back, registering an 11-0 run fueled by eight straight points from Darryl Baker. The senior guard drilled three consecutive field-goal attempts--including two from distance—and Davion Thomas connected from long range at the 13:15 mark to pull Talladega to within 44-36.
The Tornadoes drew even closer on another Baker three—his fourth of the second half—that sliced the margin to just five points with 8:26 to play.
But Loyola would not be denied its second national title, as Jaylen Galloway tipped in a Wrightsil miss to initiate an 11-2 run. Davis connected on another three-point attempt, before Wrightsil and Burns joined forces to score six straight points for the Wolf Pack.
From there, the Tornadoes got no closer than 11 points, with Loyola extending its lead to as many as 19 points once again in the closing minute.
In addition to big performances from all-tourney honorees Wrightsil and Burns, the Wolf Pack received a lift from Davis, who added 13 points, and Smith, who chipped in with 11.
Loyola finished with a 47-32 advantage on the boards and a 34-18 edge in points in the paint. The Wolf Pack also forced 18 Talladega turnovers and limited the Tornadoes to just 9-of-27 (0.333) shooting from three-point range.
Baker led Talladega with a game-high 22 points and was joined on the all-tournament Team by teammate Jervay Green.
2022 NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship All-Tournament Team:
Noah Schulte, Concordia (Neb.)
Cash Williams, William Jessup (Calif.)
Bryce Davis, Arizona Christian
Ryan Batte, Thomas More (Ky.)
Jake O’Neil, College of Idaho
Jalen Galloway, Loyola (La.)
Zach Wrightsil, Loyola (La.)
Myles Burns, Loyola (La.)
Jervay Green, Talladega (Ala.)
Darryl Baker, Talladega (Ala.)
Hustle Award:
Darryl Baker, Talladega (Ala.)
National Championship Coach of the Year:
Stacy Hollowell, Loyola (La.)
Chuck Taylor MVP Award:
Myles Burns, Loyola (La.)
Dr. James Naismith-Emil S. Liston Team Sportsmanship Award:
Ben Limback, Concordia (Neb.)
National Player of the Year:
Zach Wrightsil, Loyola (La.)
Houston: 2021-22 American Men's Basketball Champions
FORT WORTH, Texas -- — Fabian White Jr. scored 20 points, fellow big man Josh Carlton had 18 and 18th-ranked Houston beat Memphis 71-53 in the American Athletic Conference championship game Sunday.
A day after White played less than three minutes in the Cougars' semifinal win because of back tightness, the first-team All-AAC forward helped the top-seeded Cougars (29-5) earn the AAC's automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.
Memphis (21-10) didn't have to wait long to find out it had made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. The Tigers, who have won 12 of their last 14 games and beat Houston by double figures in both of their regular-season games, are the No. 9 seed in the West Region and will play Boise State.
Tigers center Jalen Duren, a 6-foot-11 freshman who was a first-team All-AAC pick, had 14 points and 10 rebounds. DeAndre Williams had 10 points.
Taze Moore had 11 points and eight assists for Houston, which is the No. 5 seed in the South Region and will play UAB. Jamal Shead scored 10 points. Kyler Edwards had eight points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
Duren also had limited time in the semifinal round, playing 17 minutes in a win over SMU. He got two fouls in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the game, and didn't return until after halftime, when he exited for 6 1/2 minutes after falling hard to the floor after blocking a shot.
The Tigers, after trailing by as many as 15 points in the second half, closed to 51-47 on Duren's emphatic two-handed dunk with 6:55 left. They never got closer.
Carlton had a three-point play on a slam dunk while being fouled after a nice pass from Moore. Shead then had a hustle play to force a turnover when Memphis had a breakaway chance, and White hit two free throws after a hard tumble when the upper half of his body ended up under the scoring table.
White took a shot to the mouth when fouled in the opening part of the second half. But his jumper right after that ignited a quick 8-0 run in which he also had a layup between Shead making two impressive plays. Shead had a basket high off the glass, then a rebound and a long pass ahead to a breaking Edwards for a dunk.
BIG PICTURE
Memphis: After missing the NCAA tourney last year, when they lost to Houston 76-74 in the AAC tournament semifinals, the Tigers went on to win the NIT championship. ... Memphis has won at least 20 games in all four seasons under coach Penny Hardaway, who played in NCAA Tournaments in 1992 and 1993 in his only seasons playing for the Tigers before an NBA career than ended in 2008. ... The Tigers' only other loss the past 14 games was to SMU, which they beat in the AAC Tournament semifinals.
Houston: The Cougars already have one more win than last season, when they won their first AAC tournament championship and then went to their first NCAA Final Four since 1984.
FLAGRANT APOLOGY
Memphis guard Alex Lomax was called for a flagrant foul after hard contact sent Shead sprawling to the floor with 2:10 left when he was driving toward the basket after a steal by Edwards. Shead jumped up and held up his hand to let his teammates know he was OK, and to ease tensions. Carlton and other teammates hugged Shead as they fired up their fans behind the bench. After referees reviewed the play, Lomax hugged Shead and went to the sideline to shake the hand of Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson.
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Iowa: 2021-22 Big Ten Men's Basketball Champions
INDIANAPOLIS -- — Keegan Murray had 19 points and 11 rebounds as No. 24 Iowa beat No. 9 Purdue 75-66 to win its first Big Ten Tournament championship since 2006 and earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
The sixth-seeded Hawkeyes (26-9) became the fourth team in conference history to claim the title by winning four games in four days. Iowa was also the first school to do it, in 2001, and Michigan repeated the feat in 2017 and 2018.
The Hawkeyes won their first title since 2006, one week after the Iowa women won the Big Ten tourney on the same court.
"We knew this team was destined for greatness," said Murray, who was selected the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. "And we changed the direction of the Iowa program today."
Iowa did it with a record-breaking scoring performance and by beating the Boilermakers about a one-hour drive from their campus in West Lafayette. Iowa's 351 points broke Ohio State's tournament record of 322, set last year.
Iowa heads into the NCAA Tournament with nine wins in its last 10 games.
Jaden Ivey scored 20 points and Trevion Williams had 11 points and 11 rebounds to lead Purdue (28-7), which failed to capture either the regular-season or tournament title despite spending most of the season as the highest-ranked team in the conference. Purdue hasn't won the Big Ten Tournament since 2009.
It's not as if the Boilermakers didn't have a chance.
But Purdue had nine turnovers, missed four free throws and never led in the first half as the energized Hawkeyes took a 35-32 halftime lead.
With the Purdue-friendly crowd roaring loudly early in the second half, it looked like the Boilermakers would respond when Eric Hunter Jr.'s 3-pointer with 3:13 to play capped a 7-0 run that trimmed the deficit to 63-62.
But Connor McCaffery responded with a three-point play on the ensuing possession. Iowa only allowed four points the rest of the way, closing it out at the line, silencing the crowd and setting off a wild post-game celebration near midcourt.
"It is hard to describe," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. "This game is really special, special to me because I get to coach my boys and to see them celebrate with their teammates and celebrate together, there's no better feeling."
Indianapolis native Tony Perkins had 11 points and four assists for the Hawkeyes while Payton Sandfort added 10 points.
"We had a lot of goals and sometimes you have to make changes," Fran McCaffery said. "But this team accepted its roles and we beat a really good team today."
Zach Edey had 12 points and 14 rebounds for Purdue.
BIG PICTURE
Iowa: A strong finish — and tourney title — could propel the Hawkeyes to a top-five seed, maybe even a No. 4 seed, and a possible trip to Milwaukee. Regardless of who they play or where they land, one of America's most prolific scoring teams will be a handful.
Purdue: A loss in the championship game could prove costly to the Boilermakers. They could slide from the No. 2 line to the No. 3 line. Will it cost them a second straight bus trip down I-65 to Indianapolis? Maybe. But Purdue needs fewer unforced errors on offense and more production from its 3-point shooters.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Iowa will continue ascending in Monday's rankings, perhaps even cracking the top 15. The bigger question is whether Purdue did enough to extend its record streak of consecutive weeks in the top 10 to 19.
ALL-TOURNEY
Murry and Iowa guard Jordan Bohannon, who banked in the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left to beat Indiana on Saturday, were both selected to the all-tournament team. They were joined by Ivey, Williams and Trayce Jackson-Davis of Indiana.
UP NEXT
The teams wait to see where they fit in the 68-team field.
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Richmond: 2021-22 Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Champions
WASHINGTON -- — Jacob Gilyard scored 26 points, Tyler Burton had 16 points and 12 rebounds and No. 6 seed Richmond beat top-seeded Davidson 64-62 on Sunday to clinch the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament and an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time in 11 years.
Richmond (23-12) was playing in the A-10 championship game — needing two 15-point comebacks in the early rounds — for the first time since winning in 2011. The Spiders are making their 10th trip to the NCAAs, the first since making the Sweet 16 in that 2011 season.
With Davidson's 27-6 record and resume, Richmond's win likely knocked out a bubble team.
The Spiders lost a home game to Davidson 87-84 on Jan. 14 when Michael Jones hit a game-winning 3-pointer with three seconds remaining. Jones had another chance to win this game, getting an inbounds pass with 1.7 seconds left, but his contested 3-pointer from the corner didn't hit the rim as time expired.
Richmond went six-plus minutes without a field goal down the stretch until Burton completed three-point plays on back-to-back possession to get the Spiders within 62-60. Davidson dribbled down the clock and missed a 3-pointer and Burton missed a baseline jumper at the other end but his airball went off a Davidson player.
After a timeout, Matt Grace powered into the lane and completed another three-point play — his first points of the game — to give Richmond a 63-62 lead with 19.1 seconds left. Foster Loyer had a good look at a 3-pointer at the other end but it rolled out and Gilyard, an 85.7% free-throw shooter, was fouled before making 1 of 2 free throws at 2.9.
Davidson called a timeout at 2.5 and Richmond called another after seeing how the Wildcats set up. Davidson made a half-court pass and called another timeout with 1.7 left, but Jones' shot was off.
Gilyard was 9 of 18 from the field, including a long jumper early in the second half to reach 2,000 career points, becoming just the fifth player in program history to do so.
Sam Mennenga scored 18 points and Jones finished with 17 for Davidson. Luka Brajkovic, the A-10 player of the year, had 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Mennenga made his fourth straight 3-pointer to give Davidson a 49-42 lead with 10:03 remaining but the Wildcats didn't make their next field goal until Brajkovic at 4:45. Richmond tied it on three different occasions during Davidson's field-goal drought but couldn't take the lead until the closing seconds.
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Tennessee: 2021-22 Southeastern Men's Basketball Champions
TAMPA, Fla. -- — With the clock ticking down on Tennessee's first men's SEC Tournament title in 43 years, freshman Kennedy Chandler dribbled near midcourt with his left hand and popped the chest of his jersey with his right.
Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi angled for the sideline, where they tried to lure coach Rick Barnes into Sunday's celebration.
"This time of year is about players," said Barnes, who wound up in the mix anyway after the ninth-ranked Volunteers beat Texas A&M 65-50, cut down the nets and the players approached him again to place a portion around his neck.
"I just think it's their moment. It's their time to get the trophy. It's their time to cut down the nets," Barnes added. "They came to Tennessee to help us make it a special place. They've done that. It's truly their time."
A short time later, James walked out of Amalie Arena carrying the tournament trophy.
"Taking it back to the crib," the 6-foot-6 junior guard said.
Tennessee fans have waiting since 1979.
"They beat us from start to finish," Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams said. "We had no answers for their tactical decisions, nor their talent."
Vescovi scored 17 points, James had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and the Vols (26-7) rattled off the first 14 points of the afternoon to win for the 12th time in 13 games since a one-point loss at Texas in late January.
Auburn and Kentucky entered the SEC Tournament ranked in the top five and Arkansas was as hot as any team in the country down the stretch, but Tennessee has emerged as the top team in the league after beating each of those rivals in the past two weeks.
Chandler, the tournament MVP, had 14 points and seven assists for Tennessee, which recorded assists on 19 of 22 baskets, including the first 10 the Vols made after halftime.
Playing its fourth game in four days, Texas A&M (23-12) started slowly and never recovered.
The Aggies missed their first eight shots — seven of them 3-point attempts — while Tennessee began the game with Chandler making a 3-pointer, James delivering a three-point play and then hitting a shot from behind the arc for a quick 9-0 lead.
It was 14-0 before Henry Coleman finally scored for Texas A&M, which never trimmed its deficit to fewer than five the rest of the way. The Aggies missed all nine of their 3-point attempts in the opening half while shooting 27% overall (6 of 22) from the field.
Tennessee also was outstanding defending the 3-point line in Saturday's 69-62 semifinal victory over fifth-ranked Kentucky, which finished 2 of 20 from beyond the arc. Since yielding 80 points in a 10-point victory over Texas A&M in Knoxville on Feb. 1, the Vols have held 10 of 12 SEC opponents under 65.
The closest Texas A&M got after the slow start was five, 34-29, on Tyrece Radford's 3-pointer early in the second half. Chandler answered with a 3 and Vescovi followed with a another to finish a 9-0 burst that rebuilt the lead to 14.
Chandler, falling out of bounds, shoveled a nifty underhand pass to James in the corner, where the Tennessee guard sank a 3-pointer that gave the Vols, who led by as many as 18, their biggest lead of the day.
Radford led Texas A&M, which beat Florida, fourth-ranked Auburn and No. 15 Arkansas to reach its first SEC Tournament final, with 13 points. Henry Coleman finished with 12 points and seven rebounds for the Aggies, who likely played their way into the NCAA Tournament with three wins in Tampa.
The Vols were in the final for the third time in five years after losing to Kentucky in 2018 and Auburn in 2019. This time, they finished it off.
"Very proud of our team," Barnes said. "They have worked hard. They deserve what they've been able to achieve here."
BIG PICTURE
Texas A&M: The Aggies finished 4 of 19 from behind the 3-point line. Leading scorer Quenton Jackson never got on track, finishing with nine points on 3-of-9 shooting.
Tennessee: The Volunteers won the SEC Tournament for the fifth time overall. They also won it in 1936, 1941, 1943 and 1979.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M: With three wins in the SEC Tournament, the Aggies likely ensured their season wouldn't end without a NCAA appearance.
Tennessee: NCAA Tournament.
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Yale: 2021-22 Ivy Men's Basketball Champions
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- — Azar Swain scored 23 points and Yale held on for a 66-64 victory over Princeton to win the Ivy League tournament on Sunday.
The Bulldogs will play in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time. Yale last went to the NCAAs in 2019 and was to be the league representative for the cancelled 2020 event. The Ivy League cancelled its 2020-21 season.
Second-seeded Yale, which led nearly the entire game, was up by nine with a minute left. But Ethan Wright hit a 3-pointer and Jaelin Llewellyn added two more, the final one with 24 seconds remaining, to get the top-seeded Tigers within two after Yale's Bez Mbeng had made a pair of free throws for Yale.
After Yale's Isaiah Kelly missed two free throws with 14.4 seconds to go, Llewellyn drove inside but his effort to kick out a pass went off the bottom of the backboard and struck him as he went out of bounds with 1.5 left. Yale, which had two five-second violations in the final minutes, threw a long inbounds pass that Llewellyn intercepted but his desperation heave wasn't close.
Swain shot 9 of 21 with three 3-pointers. Mbeng added 13 points and 11 rebounds plus three steals and Matt Knowling had 12 points and five assists for the Bulldogs (19-11), who split with Princeton during the regular season but finished a game back of the first-place Tigers.
Tosan Evbuomwan scored 20 points with 11 rebounds and five assists for Princeton (23-6), which came in on an eight-game win streak. Llewellyn added 18 points and Wright 15. Princeton, ranked in the top 10 nationally in field-goal (49.05) and 3-point percentage (38.99) and eighth in scoring offense (80.4), shot 41%, made 10 of 30 from the arc and tied their season low for points.
Yale took a 7-4 lead on a Bbeng 3-pointer and led the rest of the way, holding a 32-25 halftime advantage. The Bulldogs led by as many as 11 in the second half, holding off several Princeton charges.
Yale shot 46%, made 6 of 17 from the arc and was plus-nine on the boards.
Cal State Fullerton: 2021-22 Big West Men's Basketball Champions
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — E.J. Anosike had 22 points and eight rebounds, Damari Milstead hit five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points and CSU Fullerton rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat Long Beach State 72-71 on Saturday night to the Big West Conference tournament.
The Titans, who have won four games in a row, clinched a berth into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018.
Tray Maddox Jr. had 13 points and six assists for Fullerton (21-10) and Jalen Harris scored 10.
Tobias Rotegaard and Jadon Jones sandwiched 3-pointers around a jumper by Joel Murray to give Long Beach State a 54-50 lead midway through the second half but Anosike scored nine points and Harris the other five as CSU Fullerton answered with a 14-2 run to take an eight-point lead about 5 minutes later and the Titans led the rest of the way.
Jones hit a 3-pointer to pull the Beach within a point with 38 seconds left and, after the teams traded turnovers, Milstead was fouled and missed the front end of the 1-and-1 with 19 seconds left but Latrell Wrightsell Jr. poked away the ball at the other end and Long Beach State failed to get off a potential winning shot in the closing seconds.
Murray led Long Beach State (20-12) with 24 points and Colin Slater, the conference's player of the year, scored 23, hitting 5 of 9 from 3-point range. Jordan Roberts added 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Slater scored 13 points, including three 3-pointers, as Long Beach State jumped to a 29-15 lead with 4:37 left in the first half but Maddox scored eight points and Anosike added six in a 17-2 run that gave the Titans a one-point lead at the break. Maddox converted a three-point play with 55 seconds left and Wrightsell stole a pass and found Maddox for a 3-pointer to make it 32-31 just 20 seconds later.
Wrightsell and Fullerton's Jadon Jones were called for a double technical in the closing seconds of the first half.
New Mexico State: 2021-22 Western Athletic Men's Basketball Champions
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Clayton Henry had 15 points and eight rebounds to help New Mexico State beat Abilene Christian 66-52 on Saturday night in the championship game of the Western Athletic Conference tournament to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Sir’Jabari Rice scored 11 points for New Mexico State (26-6). Teddy Allen and Mario McKinney Jr. added 10 points apiece.
The Aggies won their 10th WAC title overall, their first since 2019.
Henry hit a 3 and Allen made three free throws after he was fouled on a shot from behind the arc before Rice capped a 9-0 spurt with a 3-pointer that made it 14-10 about 6 minutes into the game, and the Aggies led the rest of the way.
Coryon Mason led Abilene Christian (23-9) with 14 points. Airion Simmons and Mahki Morris scored 12 apiece.
The Wildcats had their five-game win streak snapped. Abilene Christian, the No. 6 seed, beat seventh-seeded Utah Valley in the first round before knocking off No. 3 seed Stephen F. Austin in the quarterfinals and second-seeded Seattle in the semis.
Rice hit a 3-pointer and added two free throws to spark a 10-2 run that made it 44-30 with 13:56 to play. Mason made two foul shots to trim the deficit to nine, but Johnny McCants hit a jumper to make it 49-38 with 9:41 left and the Aggies led by double figures the rest of the way.
Texas A&M Corpus Christi: 2021-22 Southland Men's Basketball Champions
KATY — The wait is over.
For the first time in 15 years, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team is going to the NCAA Tournament.
Riding a strong defensive performance to hold Southeastern Louisiana to 39 percent shooting, the Islanders held off the No. 2 seed Lions with a 73-65 win in the Southland Conference Tournament championship game.
In his first year leading the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Steve Lutz and the Islanders secured the school's second-ever berth in the Big Dance, holding off a charging Lions squad for their third win in three days.
The Islanders lost twice in the Southland Conference Tournament championship 2016 and 2017 since their lone berth in the tournament, but Saturday they were the bridesmaid no more.
A&M-Corpus Christi used a balanced scoring night led by guards Jalen Jackson and Terrion Murdix, who had 13 points each and 12 points from De'Lazarus Keys.
The 4-seeded Islanders had to beat No. 5 Houston Baptist, No. 1-seed Nicholls and the 2nd-seeded Lions to win the tournament.
A&M-Corpus Christi now awaits the NCAA Tournament selection show on Sunday to find out where they will play next week.
Arizona: 2021-22 Pac-12 Men's Basketball Champions
The Arizona Wildcats are the outright 2021-22 Pac-12 Conference champions after winning both the regular season and conference tournament.
Arizona basketball survived a back-and-forth Pac-12 Tournament championship game in Las Vegas on Saturday night, beating the UCLA Bruins, 84-76.
The Wildcats managed to do so without the help of starting guard Kerr Kriisa the last two contests, as the Estonian suffered an ankle injury in Arizona’s conference tourney quarterfinal win over Stanford on Thursday.
Kriisa was seen walking without a boot or crutches before Saturday night’s contest after being wheelchaired out of the arena on Thursday and seen on the bench with a boot and crutches on Friday.
After trailing 40-35 at halftime, Arizona went on a 22-5 run over a nine-minute stretch in the second half to take a 63-58 lead.
That was largely due to Wildcats guard Bennedict Mathurin, who led the game in scoring with 27 points, 18 of which came in the second half.
Mathurin finished the night shooting 6-of-14 from the field (43%) and 2-of-6 from beyond the arc while going 13-for-15 from the free throw line (87%) in 39 minutes played.
The win improves Arizona’s overall record to 31-3 (18-2 Pac-12) and practically solidifies the Wildcats as a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament.
And with selection Sunday at 3 p.m., there’s a chance Arizona could be the No. 1 overall seed.
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