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    Saturday, May 18, 2024

    College basketball - Men's conference championship games

    Harvard's Kyle Case gets an earful from a group of Princeton fans while await to make an inbounds pass during Saturday's Ivy League playoff game at Yale. Princeton beat Harvard 63-62 on a buzzer-beating shot to earn a NCAA tournament bid.

    Ivy: Princeton 63, Harvard 62 - Princeton's Douglas Davis hit a leaning jump shot at the buzzer to give the Tigers a trip to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2004 with a wild 63-62 win over Harvard.

    The Crimson, who split the regular season title with Princeton, were seeking their first NCAA bid since 1946.

    Davis had 15 points to lead the Tigers (25-6), who will represent the Ivy League for the 24th time in the tournament after overcoming an eight-point second half deficit.

    Keith Wright scored 16 points for Harvard (23-6).

    Ian Hummer's basket in the lane gave Princeton a 61-60 lead with 37 seconds left. Harvard chose not to call a timeout and Brandyn Curry found himself open for a layup that gave Harvard the lead with 11 seconds left.

    Because the Ivy League is the only one in Division I without a postseason tournament, they had to play the tiebreaker to claim the automatic NCAA bid. It was the league's first tiebreaker since 2002.

    The league played the game on Yale's campus, about 130 miles from each school.

    America East: Boston U. 56, Stony Brook 54 - Boston University is back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2002 because John Holland brought the Terriers back from a 15-point deficit in the second half.

    After going scoreless for the first 17 minutes, the America East player of the year hit two free throws with 2.4 seconds left to cap a 27-point performance and give BU a win over Stony Brook.

    "I knew I had to be aggressive because that's my game," said Holland, who had 23 points in the second half. "It was really important for us to just stay in the moment and not look up at the scoreboard."

    It would have been an ugly sight for the Terriers (21-13) for much of the game. They missed their first seven shots and trailed 41-26 with just more than 3 minutes gone in the second half. And they didn't lead until Holland's final free throws.

    The Seawolves had one last chance, but Bryan Dougher's 50-foot shot at the buzzer bounced off the rim.

    The second-seeded Terriers scored the last eight points to win their 11th straight game, tying it at 54 on Holland's two foul shots with 1:03 left. Then they were helped by referee Bob Adams' foul call against Dallis Joyner as Holland drove along the baseline, setting up the decisive points.

    "I thought he traveled, first of all. I'm not sure about that," said Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell, a former UConn player and assistant. "You would like the players to decide a game, but we had our opportunities."

    Stony Brook (15-17) has never made it to the NCAAs in the 12 years since it moved up to Division I.

    CUSA: Memphis 67, Texas-El Paso 66 - Joe Jackson made two free throws with 7 seconds left and Memphis rallied past UTEP to win the Conference USA championship.

    UTEP had a final chance to win at the buzzer, but Christian Polk's jumper fell short.

    After Jackson's clutch shots gave the Tigers (25-9) their only lead of the game, UTEP pushed the ball up the floor and retained possession after a loose ball was knocked out of bounds by Memphis with 2.5 seconds left.

    Miners coach Tim Floyd called timeout and set up an inbounds play from the baseline. Polk, who scored 27 points, took the pass on the right wing and got off a tough jumper from just inside the 3-point arc with three defenders running at him. The shot bounced off the front of the rim, and Memphis players rushed to the middle of UTEP's home court to celebrate.

    Jackson finished with 17 points and Chris Crawford had 15 for No. 4 seed Memphis, routed 74-47 at UTEP just two weeks earlier. Tarik Black and Will Barton each added 11.

    Julyan Stone pulled down 11 rebounds for the third-seeded Miners (25-9), who led by as many as 13.

    MAC: Akron 66, Kent State 65 (OT) - Steve McNees blocked Carlton Guyton's last-second 3-point attempt, giving Akron an overtime win over Kent State in the Mid-American Conference championship.

    McNees, whose outside shooting in the first half kept the Zips in the game, got his right hand on Guyton's shot as the final horn sounded. It was Akron's 15th block, and it gave the Zips (23-12) their second MAC title in three years.

    Brett McKnight scored 15 points and it was his two free throws with 12.8 seconds left that put the Zips ahead 66-65 and set up another wild finish to the MAC's finale.

    Guyton scored 14 and Justin Greene, the league's player of the year, had 14 before fouling out for the Golden Flashes (23-11).

    MEAC: Hampton 60, Morgan State 55 - Brandon Tunnell scored 20 points, including four free throws in the final 35 seconds, and Hampton secured its first NCAA tournament berth in five years with a victory over Morgan State in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title game.

    The second-seeded Pirates (24-8) overcame poor shooting with stifling defense to hold off the fourth-seeded Bears (17-14), who had won the last two MEAC titles.

    Darrion Pellum added 12 points for Hampton, which held Morgan State scoreless for more than 8½ minutes in the second half.

    SLC: Texas-San Antonio 75, McNeese State 72 - Freshman forward Jeromie Hill scored 25 points to lead Texas-San Antonio over McNeese State in the Southland Conference championship.

    The Roadrunners were up by nine before McNeese State responded with a 12-5 spurt that included a pair of 3-pointers to make it 74-72 with 27 seconds remaining.

    Sei Paye missed a pair of free throws, giving McNeese State another chance. C.J. Collins missed a 3-point attempt and got his own rebound, but stepped out of bounds to give the Roadrunners the ball.

    Melvin Johnson III made one free throw to push the lead to 75-72 and Patrick Richard's desperation heave at the buzzer bounced off the rim, sealing it for UTSA.

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