Georgia Southern 78, UMKC 75
ESTERO, Fla. – Mike Hughes tallied 17 points and five rebounds, and Georgia Southern held UMKC to one field goal in the last four minutes to earn a 78-75 men's basketball victory over the Kangaroos in the semifinals of the Gulf Coast Showcase Tuesday evening in Germain Arena.
The Eagles advance to the championship game Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. against Towson in Germain Arena. The Citizen's Bank Countdown to Tipoff Pregame Show on the Georgia Southern Sports Network starts at 7 p.m.
With the Eagles leading 76-75, Hughes was fouled with 3.3 on the clock and calmly sank two free throws to make it a 3-point lead. Xavier Bishop tried a 30-footer for the tie, but Tookie Brown slapped the ball away as he rose up and time expired.
Brown finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Eagles (5-0), and Ike Smith collected 12 points and eight rebounds. Montae Glenn had 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Jake Allsmiller scored eight.
Isaiah Ross scored 16 points to lead UMKC (2-4), and Broderick Robinson added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists. Aleer Leek posted 10 points and six rebounds.
Ross hit a triple from the corner to put UMKC ahead 73-71 with 4:21 to play and after a GS turnover, Ross had another 3-point try from the wing rim out. The Eagles dug down from there, forcing back-to-back shot-clock violations, before Jared Hamilton got a steal and Allsmiller took a charge, on the Roos' next four possessions.
Hughes made a jumper to tie the score 73-73, and Hamilton, who provided a huge spark with six points in 10 minutes off the bench, turned his steal into a transition jumper for a 75-73 lead with 1:11 to go. Allsmiller took the charge with 33 seconds left, and UMKC was forced to foul Brown, who made one for the three-point lead. Ross made a layup with seven seconds left, and GS got the ball inbounds to Hughes, who was fouled with 3.3 to go.
The Eagles survived a 14-of-28 night from the free-throw line. GS will try to win its first in-season tournament championship since taking the Islander Classic at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in 2003.
#25 Alabama 77, UTA 76
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- In a game that came down to the last shot, the UT Arlington men’s basketball team battled valiantly but dropped a 77-76 decision at 25th ranked Alabama Tuesday in Coleman Coliseum.
UTA senior Kevin Hervey led the Mavericks with 24 points, while classmate Erick Neal registered his third-straight double-double with 16 points and 12 assists. UTA dropped to 2-1 on the season and returns to action Friday against Western Carolina in Buffalo, N.Y.
Alabama, which entered the Associated Press top 25 this week for the first time since Dec., 2011, improved to 3-1 and will face BYU Friday in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The Crimson Tide were led by freshman guard Collin Sexton’s 29 points, which included an 11-for-14 performance from the free throw line.
UTA jumped out to an early advantage right from the tipoff, leading by as many as 12 points just 15 minutes into the game. The Mavericks shot 63 percent from the field during the first 20 minutes, buoyed by Hervey’s 6-for-6 shooting and 3-for-3 performance from behind the 3-point arc.
The Crimson Tide chipped away at UTA’s lead and, eventually, tied the game at 51-51 on a pair of Sexton free throws with 14:15 remaining. The two teams traded the lead until the home side went on a 14-5 run over a six minute period late in the game.
With Alabama leading by a game-high seven points with 3:35 remaining, Neal connected on consecutive 3-pointers to bring UTA back to within one point with 2:28 left. Another Sexton foul shot put the hosts back up by two points before Hervey made two free throws to tie the game at 73-73 with 1:33 remaining.
Alabama went up by four late in the game before Neal made another 3-pointer with just :19.6 seconds remaining to climb to within one point at 77-76. A stout defensive effort forced a turnover on the Crimson Tide inbounds to give UTA possession.
But, UA defended the final shot and came away with the win in front of 11,737 Crimson Tide faithful.
UTA returns to action Friday at 6 p.m. (CST) against Western Carolina in a neutral site contest at Niagara University’s Gallagher Center. The game will be preceded by Niagara hosting Alabama A&M at 3 p.m. The results of Friday’s games will determine Saturday’s matchups and game times. All four games, along with UTA’s contests at BYU and Alabama, are part of the Barclays Center Classic.
The Mavericks return home Monday, Nov. 27 for the first of three straight games at College Park Center with a 7 p.m. contest against UT Dallas.
Wyoming 70, Louisiana 61
GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands – Frank Bartley scored a game-high 19 points with JaKeenan Gant adding 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds, but the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team was handcuffed by poor shooting in dropping a 70-61 decision to Wyoming in the semifinals of the 2017 Cayman Islands Classic on Tuesday at John Gray Gymnasium.
Louisiana (3-2), which had its three-game win streak snapped, will face either No. 12 Cincinnati or Richmond in the third-place game on Wednesday at 4 p.m. CST.
After posting an 80-71 win over Iowa in Monday’s first round, the Ragin’ Cajuns struggled from the floor against Wyoming (4-0), shooting 22-for-66 (33.3 percent) from the floor and 4-for-27 (14.8 percent) from behind the 3-point line. The Ragin’ Cajuns trailed 21-19 on a Bartley layup with 4:25 remaining before the Cowboys scored the next nine points to push their lead to 30-19.
Alan Herndon and Louis Adams combined for five free throws that gave Wyoming a 26-19 lead with 2:55 remaining in the half before Adams and Cody Kelley followed with driving layups to extend their lead with 1:49 left.
After Cedric Russell scored on a layup that halted the 9-0 run, the Cowboys added a 3-pointer by Alex Aka Gorski and a follow-up dunk by Andrew Moemeka for a 35-21 lead just before the half.
Wyoming took a 38-23 lead early in the second half on a 3-pointer by Nyaires Redding with 19:19 remaining before Louisiana chipped away at the lead with a 9-0 run.
Gant, who finished 6-for-10 from the floor, opened the spurt for Louisiana with a bucket and Bartley followed with three free throws to quickly close the gap to 38-28. Marcus Stroman followed with a jumper and Bryce Washington added a bucket that helped the Ragin’ Cajuns close the deficit to 38-32 with 16:41 remaining.
But the Cowboys responded with a 13-3 run that was capped by a dunk by Moemeka, giving Wyoming its largest lead of the game at 51-35 at the 13:44 mark.
Louisiana trailed 64-53 with 1:55 remaining and got as close as 66-61 after a 3-pointer by Malik Marquetti with 35 seconds left, but Gorski and Moemeka closed out the game with a pair of free throws.
Gorski led Wyoming with 16 points, including a 3-for-6 performance from behind the 3-point line. Adams added 14 points off the bench for the Cowboys, who held a 38-13 advantage in bench points while finishing 19-for-45 (42.2 percent) overall from the floor.