CIT 2014 bracket results: VMI, Wright State among seven teams advancing to round two

Throw together a pair of very strong offensive teams with suspect defenses, and an NBA score is what you get. Both the Virginia Military Keydets and the Canisius Golden Griffins shot 50 percent or better from the field on Tuesday night. The Golden Griffins even made 45 percent of their 24 three-point attempts in a losing effort. But it was the Keydets' ability to get to the free throw line -- and make their shots once they got there -- that made the difference in the game. VMI made 30 of 34 attempts from the charity stripe and forced Chris Manhertz, Canisius' senior forward, to foul out in the process.

6'9 center D.J. Covington was a dominant presence on the interior. Covington led the Keydets in scoring with 37 points, making 12 of his 17 field goal attempts and 13 of his 14 tries from the free throw line. The senior also added six rebounds, five blocks and a steal.

The East Carolina Pirates are one of the worst defensive teams in the country, and the Wright State Raiders, a bad offensive team in its own right, took full advantage. The Raiders shot 61.4 percent from the field, including 60 percent from behind the arc. East Carolina, meanwhile, shot just 40 percent from the field, making just four of its 23 attempts from three-point range.

AJ Pacher led Wright State with 20 points on eight of nine shooting, three rebounds and a steal.

The ability of the Eastern Michigan Eagles' defense to force the Norfolk State Spartans into bad shots and turnovers (17) allowed the Eagles to overcome a pedestrian shooting performance (41 percent) and a significant rebounding disadvantage (39 to 21) in their round one win over the Spartans. Junior guard Mike Talley scored 14 points for EMU and logged three assists, two steals and a defensive rebound.

The story of this game is simple: the East Tennessee State Buccaneers shot the ball well, the Chattanooga Mocs didn't. The Mocs made just 31 percent of their field goal attempts and 12 of their 21 attempts from the free throw line. The Buccaneers shot well (45.8 percent) and turned the ball over just nine times, allowing them to pull away from Chattanooga in the second half.

Jalen Riley came off the bench to lead ETSU in scoring with 23 points. Riley also hauled in a pair of defensive rebounds and blocked two shots.

The Sam Houston State Bearkats completely shut down the Alabama State Hornets' offense on Tuesday night. The Hornets managed to make just 15 of their 58 field goal attempts and turned the ball over 12 times en route to scoring a meager 49 points. Alabama State was also out-rebounded on the offensive glass despite having 14 more misses than Sam Houston State.

This matchup pitted two of the best teams in the CIT against one another, and the Columbia Lions ultimately pulled it out by shooting the ball a bit better than the Valparaiso Crusaders did. Lions center Cory Osetowski led all scorers with 21 points.

Johnny Dee poured in 22 points to lead the San Diego Toreros to an easy opening-round win over the Portland State Vikings on Tuesday night in San Diego. Dee hit four three-pointers and also grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists for San Diego, which scored 51 points to pull away in the second half. DaShaun Wiggins led the Vikings with 14 points in defeat.