College Basketball: Radford Wins in NCAA; UVM Drubbed in NIT

Dayton, Ohio — Travis Fields Jr. and Ed Polite Jr. each scored 13 points to lift Radford to its first-ever NCAA Tournament win, 71-61 over LIU Brooklyn in the First Four on Tuesday night.

Carlik Jones added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Highlanders, who move on to face No. 1 seed Villanova on Thursday in Pittsburgh. Radford, the Big South champion, is making its third tournament appearance and first since 2009.

LIU Brooklyn stayed within striking distance for much of the game and got to within a point with five minutes left, but a 9-1 surge by the Highlanders allowed them to close it out.

The Blackbirds went without a field goal in the last seven minutes of the game and shot 30.4 percent in the second half. Both teams were plagued by turnovers.

Jashaun Agosto scored 16 points and Raiquan Clark added 14 for LIU Brooklyn, which is winless in seven trips to the tournament.

NIT

MTSU 91, Vermont 64

Murfreesboro, Tenn. — Giddy Potts made six 3-pointers and scored 25 points, Nick King had 16 points and 12 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season and Middle Tennessee used an 18-0 third-quarter run to roll past Vermont in the first round of the NIT.

Potts hit back-to-back 3-pointers during the decisive run and King closed it for a 69-37 lead.

Brandon Walters added 15 points and Antwain Johnson 14 for third-seeded Middle Tennessee (25-7), which advanced to face the region’s No. 2 seed Louisville.

Anthony Lamb led sixth-seeded Vermont (27-8) with 14 of his 18 points in the first half.

Western Kentucky 79Boston College 62

Bowling Green, Ky. — Justin Johnson had his fifth-straight double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead Western Kentucky over Boston College in a first-round game of the NIT.

Taveion Hollingsworth added 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Hilltoppers (25-10), a four-seed. Darius Thompson had 17 points, eight assists and six rebounds.

Boston College (19-16), a five seed, had an early 9-0 and used that to lead 24-19 after the first quarter. An early 7-0 burst, followed by a 9-0 run helped the Hilltoppers open a 41-33 halftime lead.

Louisville 66Northern Kentucky 58

Louisville, Ky. — Deng Adel had 20 points, including 16 during Louisville’s hot-shooting second half that rallied the Cardinals past Northern Kentucky in a first-round NIT game.

The No. 2 seed Cardinals (21-13) needed a half to shake the mental funk of missing the NCAA Tournament before making 14 of 23 in the final two quarters (61 percent) to win the meeting between Bluegrass State schools. Louisville led 45-44 after three quarters thanks to a monster slam by Darius Perry and scored the first nine points of the fourth to gain some breathing room against the No. 7 seed Norse (22-10).

Baylor 80, Wagner 59

Waco, Texas — Manu Lecomte had no problems with the NIT’s experimental 3-point line, hitting 5 of 8 from distance and scoring 24 points to help Baylor beat Wagner.

Baylor, a top-seed, made seven of its first 11 shots and held eight-seed Wagner to 3-of-23 shooting in the first quarter to take a 21-9 lead. After Wagner went on an 11-2 second-quarter run to pull to 29-22, Lecomte capped an 11-3 run with his fourth 3-pointer of the half to make it 40-25.

It was Lecomte’s 10th 20-plus game of the season.

Nuni Omot’s dunk off an alley-oop pass from Lecomte near midcourt came during a 14-2 run to open the fourth quarter for a 65-45 lead.

Terry Maston had 13 points and eight rebounds for Baylor (19-14), which plays the winner of Wednesday’s Nebraska-Mississippi State in the second round. Omot added 11 points and King McClure scored 10 with three of the Bears’ 10 3-pointers.

Blake Francis made four 3-pointers and scored 23 points for Wagner (23-10). Romone Saunders had nine points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Francis scored 20 of the Seahawks’ first 32 points but Wagner trailed by 13.