The opening day of the 2019 Air Force Reserve C-USA Men’s Basketball Championship presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star in Frisco tipped off Wednesday afternoon. (8) Louisiana Tech edged (9) Florida Atlantic, 57-56 in the lid-lifter. (5) UAB downed (12) Middle Tennessee, 70-61 in the second game of the evening. (10) North Texas led wire-to-wire in a 71-57 triumph over (7) FIU. (6) Marshall closed the evening with an 82-65 victory against (11) Rice.
Championship Central
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First Round Game 1
(8) Louisiana Tech 57, (9) Florida Atlantic 56
Louisiana Tech trailed by 16 points early in the second half before rallying to take the lead and hold off Florida Atlantic as the buzzer sounded, 57-56, in the first game at the 2019 Air Force Reserve C-USA Men’s Basketball Championship presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star in Frisco. The eighth-seeded Bulldogs (20-12), who led for just 35 seconds in the game, will advance to face No. 1 seed Old Dominion at 6 pm CT on Thursday.
Florida Atlantic (17-15) scored the game’s first six points and eventually took a 21-7 lead midway through the first half. The Owls connected on 9 of their first 16 shots from the field (.563), while the Bulldogs were successful on just 3 of their first 16 field goal attempts (.188).
C-USA Co-Sixth Player of the Year Xavian Stapleton showed why he won that honor during the first half, coming off the bench for FAU to score 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting in just 12 minutes played. He scored the final seven points of the half over the final 3:00 to give the Owls a 34-20 halftime advantage.
After FAU scored the first field goal of the second half LA Tech went on a 19-3 run to tie at 39-39. FAU missed 12 of first 14 shots from the field while LA Tech forced five turnovers during the stretch.
Later in the half, Amorie Archibald hit a free throw and then sunk a pair of field goals to give LA Tech a 55-53 lead. Stapleton answered with a three to put FAU back ahead, 55-53 before a DaQuan Bracey layup tied it at 55-55 with 48 seconds to go.
Anthony Adger missed a three with 41 second remaining and 30 seconds later Archibald was fouled driving the lane. He calmly sank a pair of free throws to give the Bulldogs a 57-55 advantage.
At the other end of the floor, Karlis Silins drew a foul with one second to play. He nailed the first free throw but his second attempt rolled out. A rebound tip-in attempt by Stapleton would not fall and Louisiana Tech survived with a one point victory.
Bracey led the Bulldogs in scoring (17) and rebounding (9), with Anthony Duruji adding 14 points and seven boards and Archibald chipping in with 11 points.
Stapleton finished with 17 for the Owls, while Simeon Lepichev scored all but two of his 13 points in the second half. He had seven of his 11 second half points during a stretch between 11:01 and 8:31.
NOTES:
*In six of the last eight years, the opening game of the C-USA men’s championship has been decided by a single possession, including four one-point games (LT over FAU tonight 57-56, Southern Miss over FIU last year, 69-68, UAB over SMU in 2013, 53-52 in 2013), one overtime contest (North Texas 63, Rice 62 in 2014) and another decided on a half-court game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer (FIU 57, UTSA 54 in 2015).
*Louisiana Tech reached the 20-win total for the third time under head coach Eric Konkol and for the sixth time in the past seven years.
*Despite the loss tonight, Florida Atlantic (17-15) finishes with its best record since the 2010-11 season.
First Round Game 2
(5) UAB 70, (12) Middle Tennessee 61
No. 12 Middle Tennessee put up a valiant comeback effort against No. 5 UAB, but it wasn’t enough as the Blazers powered a late 70-61 victory on Wednesday night to advance to the C-USA Quarterfinals. UAB will face No. 4 UTSA at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on Stadium and Facebook.
UAB (19-13) is riding the momentum of Saturday’s win over C-USA Regular-Season Champion Old Dominion. The Blazers posted four players in double figures for the 19
th time this season. The squad also won the battle of the boards and improved to 17-5 when successful on the glass.
Zack Bryant, the team’s leading scorer and all-conference selection, chipped in 15 points (5-11), four assists and two steals. Lewis Sullivan muscled 17 points on 6-of-9 FG shooting and seven boards. Middle Tennessee was led by Donovan Sims with his 17 points, and Karl Gamble who posted 18 points (8-3) and 13 rebounds.
MT and UAB went pound-for-pound in the first half. The Blue Raiders came out firing and sunk a pair of treys before a Jalen Perry jumper handed UAB a 9-8 lead. From there, Middle Tennessee would lock down and take control of the half, extending its advantage out to nine on an and-1 play for Tyree Scott-Grayson at the 8:59 mark.
A 10-2 run for the Raiders capped by a Sims 3 cut the deficit to one with just over five to play. UAB responded with a quick layup, but 2019 C-USA Newcomer of the Year Antonio Green would hit a long shot to knot things up at 29. The teams would trade baskets to run out the clock until a 3-pointer from Gamble sent Middle into the break ahead 34-33.
UAB rattled off six-straight points to open the second frame, highlighted by a Bryant dunk one minute into the action.
The Blazers ran away with it from there and led by as much as 14 at the halfway mark. Middle Tennessee turnovers only bolstered UAB’s lead, but a layup from Green at the 8:18 mark changed the game. UAB turned the ball over which ignited an 8-3 run for Middle, including back-to-back Sims 3-pointers, to cut the deficit to five, but that’s as close as the squad would get. UAB held on and strung together six-straight points with a final foul shot from Bryant to seal the game.
First Round Game 3
(10) North Texas 71, (7) FIU 57
North Texas led wire-to-wire in posting a 71-57 victory over FIU in a first round game at the 2019 Air Force Reserve C-USA Men’s Basketball Championship presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star in Frisco. The 10th-seeded Mean Green (21-11) will advance to face No. 2 seed WKU at 8:30 pm CT on Thursday.
Zachary Simmons registered his third double-double of the season to spark the Mean Green, finishing with 19 points and a season-high 16 rebounds. He was 7-for-7 from the field and scored 15 points in his first 10 minutes of action. Simmons also scored 11 consecutive points for North Texas to extend its first half lead to 29-16.
Umoja Gibson topped the 20-point mark for the fifth time this season, posting a game-high 21 for the Mean Green. All 21 of his points came on three-pointers, matching his career-high for treys.
Ryan Woolridge provided the highlight play of the game when he ended the first half by banking in a three-pointer from just behind the half court line to put the Mean Green up 39-22 at the break.
Brian Beard, Jr. had a tough night shooting, but still led FIU with 13 points and added five assists. Devon Andrews and Osasumwen Osaghae finished with 10 points apiece, while Osaghae pulled down 12 rebounds and blocked six shots (tied for third-most in C-USA Championship history).
NOTES:
*North Texas gained revenge on an FIU team that defeated them twice in Miami during the regular season.
*The victory was the Mean Green’s first in the C-USA Championship since 2014, snapping a four-game losing streak in the event.
*Zach Simmons is the first Mean Green player to go 7-for-7 from the field or better since George Odufuwa was 7-for-7 against Arkansas State on Feb. 20, 2008.
*The six blocked shots by Osasumwen Osaghae are the most in a C-USA Championship Game since 2008 and tied for the third-most all-time. The record of eight is held by Tulsa’s Jerome Jordan vs. East Carolina in 2008 and Cincinnati’s Kenyon Martin vs. Louisville in 1998.
*This game marked the first time in C-USA Championship history that both teams recorded eight blocked shots in a game.
First Round Game 4
(6) Marshall 82, (11) Rice 65
Jon Elmore fired off 6-of-9 from 3-point range and poured in 32 points as No. 6 Marshall defeated No. 11 Rice 82-65 in Wednesday’s final first-round matchup. No. 3 Southern Miss awaits the Thundering Herd in the C-USA Quarterfinals 9 p.m. Thursday.
A slew of offensive records were shattered by Elmore & Co. The senior’s 32 points tied for eighth in C-USA postseason single-game history, while his 77 percent clip from long range and his six shots both tied for fourth. Marshall tied for fourth in team single-game 3-pointers (13) and the team's 20 assists tied for fifth.
Elmore also inked six rebounds and six assists, while hitting 10-of-13 FG shots and knocking down all six foul shots. Taevion Kinsey chipped in 12 points, five boards and a pair of steals. Three Owls reached double-figures, led by Robert Martin (16) and Jack Williams who taped up a 14-10 double-double.
The Thundering Herd shot 54 percent as a team, 75 from the foul line, and forced 21 turnovers. The Owls shot 74 percent from the charity stripe and won the battle of the boards 35-28.
Marshall opened on a 9-0 run, five of those points courtesy of Darius George. Rice would scratch the board out of a timeout with a trey from Robert Martin and Williams jumper, but George had the hot hand and another 3-pointer extended Marshall’s lead 15-5 with just under 14 to play.
The Herd couldn’t be stopped late in the half and built up a 20-point lead shooting 60 percent from the floor and from 3-point range, compared to Rice’s 28.6 percent clip. Elmore drained a shot from beyond the arc to send Marshall up 31-11 at the 5:56 mark. Josh Parrish of Rice would force the and-1 with less than a minute to chip away at the deficit, but another 3 from Elmore would close out the first-half action with the Herd leading 41-23.
Elmore stayed hot out of halftime and registered Marshall’s first eight second-half points. Rice ran out of offensive gas more than three minutes into frame while the Herd’s advantage grew to 27 points from a Kinsey layup. More than halfway into the frame, Marshall held a comfortable 32-point lead and would never look back.
NOTES:
*In four Thundering Herd wins at The Star, Jon Elmore is averaging 25.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists, while connecting on 20 three-pointers (5.0 per game). He had six 3-pointers tonight after setting a C-USA Championship final game record last season with seven.