BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -A.D. Vassallo made 11 of 14 field goal tries and scored 27 points in 25 minutes Wednesday night as sharp-shooting Virginia Tech made easy work of Morgan State, 94-62, in the first round of the NIT.
The Hokies (20-13) showed no letdown after feeling snubbed by the NCAA tournament. They led 40-25 at halftime and shot better than 65 percent for the game.
Morgan State (22-11), guaranteed a spot in the NIT as a regular season conference champion knocked out of its league tournament, trailed 21-18 before the Hokies went on a 19-7 run to close the first half. Vassallo had nine points in the burst.
Virginia Tech led by no fewer than 13 throughout the second half and advanced to a meeting with UAB in the second round. The Blazers (23-10) won 80-77 at VCU.
Marquise Kately led UAB with 21 points, Boubacar Coly had 11 and Jermaine Bolden 10, but the Bears were outrebounded 35-21 and outscored 18-5 at the free-throw line.
Dayton 66, Cleveland State 57
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) – Brian Roberts scored 21 points to lead third-seeded Dayton to a win over Cleveland State.
Roberts scorched sixth-seeded Cleveland State on 7-of-10 shooting, and the undersized Vikings had no answer for 6-fot-10 Kurt Huelsman inside, especially with Cleveland State center Chris Moore in foul trouble.
Huelsman tallied 12 points, and Marcus Johnson and Andres Sandoval each added 11 for Dayton (22-10).
The Vikings (21-13) had the lead for nearly six minutes in the first half, but surrendered a 15-4 run to the Flyers to end the half.
UAB 80, Virginia Commonwealth 77
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Reggie Huffman had 21 points, including a game-saving layup with 5.6 seconds left, as UAB took a commanding second-half lead and held off Virginia Commonwealth.
The Blazers (23-10) led 62-47 with 6:38 remaining after a layup by Lawrence Kinnard, but the Rams cut it to 66-59 with 3:23 to go. The Blazers rebuilt their lead to 11, but Joey Rodriguez’s 3-pointer pulled the Rams to 75-73 with 38.7 seconds left.
UAB converted just 8 of 14 free throws in the last 66 seconds, and Jamal Shuler’s 3-pointer – a desperate, twisting leaner from the left corner – pulled the CAA regular season champions (24-8) to within 78-77 with 9 seconds left.
On the inbounds play, however, the Rams pressed and Huffman slipped downcourt, where Aaron Johnson hit him with a baseball pass and he went in for an easy layup.
Eric Maynor missed a 3-pointer for the Rams just before the buzzer.
Add A Comment