The 2019 Air Force Reserve C-USA Men’s Basketball Championship presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star in Frisco continued with semifinal play on Friday afternoon.  For the second straight day, top-seeded Old Dominion went down to the final play, as the Monarchs held off (5) UAB, 61-59.  (2) WKU pulled away from (3) Southern Miss midway through the second half for a 70-59 win that put the Hilltoppers into the final game for the second year in a row.

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Semifinals Game 1
(1) Old Dominion 61, (5) UAB 59
No. 1 Old Dominion found a way to survive and advance once again as a three-point play with four seconds remaining sent the Monarchs to the C-USA Championship final for the first time since 2016. ODU closed the game on an 11-3 run to clip No. 5 UAB 61-59.

Ahmad Caver sunk a pair of free throws to pull Old Dominion (25-8) within one with 15 seconds left. A layup from Xavier Green then handed the Monarchs the slight edge before the foul was drawn. UAB (20-14) was heartbroken with a final turnover and wild pass from Zack Bryant before the clock ran out. Old Dominion awaits the winner of No. 2 WKU and No. 3 Southern Miss in the second semifinal matchup. The C-USA Championship game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network 7:30 p.m. CT Saturday.

Green registered a career-high eight field goals on 12 attempts, falling just one point shy of tying his career-high 22 points. The sophomore guard launched a pair of threes and was perfect in three tries at the charity stripe. Caver and B.J. Stith reached double-figures with 11 and 13 points, respectively. Stith, the C-USA Player of the Year, went 3-of-5 from 3-point range and chipped in seven rebounds, a block and a steal. Caver has inked double-figures in 31 of 33 games this year.

The Monarchs won the game at the foul line, sinking 11-of-12 baskets while UAB struggled with a 6-for-13 showing. The Blazers out-performed ODU with a 48 percent FG percentage compared to the Monarchs’ 40. Old Dominion won the battle of the boards 36-28 and found a game-best 26 points in the paint.

Bryant paced the Blazer offense with 23 points (10-14). He also chimed in with three steals. Jalen Perry tallied 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor and five rebounds. Lewis Sullivan compiled 10 points and six rebounds.

NOTES:
*Old Dominion is the first team in C-USA Championship history to reach the title game by winning back-to-back final possession games. Note that Tulsa did win back-to-back overtime games to reach the 2008 title game.
*Old Dominion avenged a loss to WKU in the 2018 C-USA Semifinals.
*The Monarchs have now won eight of their last 10 games.
*Once old rivals in the Sun Belt Conference, UAB and Old Dominion have met 36 times. The Blazers hold a 21-13 advantage in the all-time series.
*UAB moved to 14-3 when leading at halftime and 16-3 when holding opponents to 70 points or less this season.
*Bryant picked up his eighth 20+-point game of the season and his third-straight.

Semifinals Game 2
(2) WKU 70, (3) Southern Miss 59
Josh Anderson scored 18 points and Tavion Hollingsworth had 17 as WKU topped Southern Miss, 70-59, in a semifinal contest 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 No. 2 seed Hilltoppers (20-13) advance to the title game to face Old Dominion at 7:30 pm CT on Saturday.
 
The first half featured a series of runs by each team.  Southern Miss had a 10-0 run, then WKU had a 6-0, Southern Miss had its own 6-0 run and then WKU scored nine straight.  Southern Miss finished the half on a 7-0 run, holding WKU scoreless over the final 3:10.  The Golden Eagles took a 29-27 advantage to the break.
 
The team see-sawed back and forth for the first 11 minutes of the second half, with neither team leading by more than three points.  Then, with Southern Miss leading 48-46, WKU went on an 8-0 run, highlighted by a pair of Charles Bassey dunks.  The Hilltoppers extended the run to 13-3 and would not look back. 
 
Charles Bassey posted his league-leading 16^th double, scoring 10 points and pulling down 14 rebounds.  That was the sixth time this season that Bassey has grabbed 14 or more boards. 
 
With Bassey the focal point, WKU’s size advantage played a key role in the game’s outcome.  The Hilltoppers outrebounded the Golden Eagles 44-27 and outscored them in the paint, 32-12. 
 
Anderson’s 18 points today gave him 31 in two Topper victories in the championship.  He registered eight rebounds today to give him 15 boards over the two wins.
 
Southern Miss (20-12) was led by Tyre Griffin who scored 19 points, connected on four 3-pointers and dished out four assists to set a Golden Eagle single-season record for helpers.
 
Cortez Edwards was the only other Southern Miss player to reach double figures, notching 10 points. 
 
The Golden Eagles had more three-pointers (11) than two-point field goals (10) in the game.  But, after a solid first half shooting (47.8%), they connected on just 31.3% in the second stanza.
 
NOTES:
*WKU will play in the title game of the C-USA Championship for the second straight season.  The Hilltoppers dropped a 67-66 decision to Marshall last year in the first one-point game in championship final history.
*The title game matchup between No. 1 seed Old Dominion and No. 2 seed WKU will be the seventh time in 24 C-USA Championships that the top two seeds have met in the final game.  The No. 1 seed has won five of the first six matchups.
 
2014      No. 2 Tulsa 69, (1) Louisiana Tech 60
2013      No. 1 Memphis 91, (2) Southern Miss 79 (ot)
2008      No. 1 Memphis 63, (2) Tulsa 39
2006      No. 1 Memphis 57, (2) UAB 46
2002      No. 1 Cincinnati 77, (2) Marquette 63
1998      No. 1 Cincinnati 71, (2) Charlotte 57
 
*Old Dominion won both regular season meetings against WKU, both of which took place in Norfolk, Virginia.  The Monarchs posted a 69-66 win on Jan. 5 and then took a 67-63 victory on Feb. 23 to open bonus play in C-USA.
*WKU secured the program’s 45th all-time 20 win season, the seventh-most in Division I history.
*With WKU winning for the 20^th time in 2018-19, C-USA has six teams that have reached the 20-win mark.  That is the second year in a row that six league schools have reached 20 wins.
*Southern Miss’ Tyre Griffin set the program’s single-season record for assists (223).