We are at the cusp of the greatest event in sports. Some of the smallest conference tournaments have begun, signaling the impending doom of work productivity for a full month. The office pools are beginning to be organized. The dust is all settling.
College basketball scores and bracket update: Wichita State dominates, 6-25 Citadel advances
We take a look at the conference tournament brackets, and give an update on who’s advancing and who has had their season put to an end.
Dilip Vishwanat
Below is an update on those small-school tournaments.
Missouri Valley Conference
No. 2 Wichita State 80, Evansville 58: Wichita State showed why it is the clear-cut favorite to win the conference tournament on the heels of its undefeated regular season. The game was out of hand early in the second half when an 11-0 Shocker run extended their lead to 57-36. No Shocker player played more than 30 minutes thanks to the blowout, keeping rested for their semifinal matchup with Missouri State.
Missouri State 53, Illinois State 48: Freshman Austin Ruder set a career-high with 21 points, 18 coming from behind the arc in leading the Bears to their face-off against the Shockers. The only points he scored that weren’t from behind the arc came from three free throws he earned after he was fouled attempting a three-point attempt.
Indiana State 75, Loyola 62: Indiana State used a strong second half to pull away from Loyola, with the lead stretching to as many as 20 at one point. Jake Odum scored a game-high 28 for the Sycamores, scoring the team's last nine points of the first half.
Southern Illinois 63, Northern Iowa 58: A double-double from Desmar Jackson led the way for Southern Illinois. Jackson had 23 points and 11 rebounds with six steals thrown in. Southern Illinois will face Indiana State for a chance to play in the final.
Southern Conference
The Citadel 86, UNC Greensboro 76: The Citadel Bulldogs came in last in the regular season, notching two wins over the entirety of conference play. Those two wins came at the very end of conference play, and now The Citadel is on a three-game winning streak heading into its quarterfinal game against Wofford.
Georgia Southern 65, Furman 50: Georgia Southern’s Jelani Hewitt scored a game-high 20 and added in eight rebounds in leading his team past Furman. The Eagles held Furman to only four offensive rebounds all game long in dominating the battle on the boards. Georgia Southern plays Chattanooga next.
Samford 70, Appalachian State 56. Tim Williams came up big for Samford, his double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds were key in taking down the Mountaineers. Samford moves on to play top-seeded Davidson in the quarterfinal round of the SoCon tournament.
Big South
Winthrop 62, High Point 60: High Point was the No. 1 seed in the North, and Winthrop was the No. 4 seed in the South, but a last-second three-pointer from Andre Smith catapulted the underdog Eagles into the semifinals. Adam Weary scored with six seconds left to tie it for high point, but Smith's three made it a moot point.
UNC Asheville 96, Radford 87: Jaron Lane and Andrew Rowsey combined for 56 points, going a combined 7-of-10 from behind the arc as the 62 percent shooting from the Bulldogs was just too much for Radford. Rashun Davis led Radford with 22 points off the bench for the Highlanders. UNC Asheville will play Winthrop in the semifinals.
Coastal Carolina 73, Charleston Southern 68: The top seed from the South has outlasted the top seed from the North, with Coastal Carolina edging out Charleston Southern 73-68 in a double overtime contest. Charleston Southern shot 1-of-7 from the field in the second overtime.
Virginia Military Institute 90, Gardner-Webb 77: An early 12-0 VMI run put the Keydets up 16-8, and they would never trail again.
Horizon League
Wright State 73, Oakland 57: Wright State is now on a five-game winning streak, a streak that began with a victory on the road against Oakland. Wright State has a great all-around game from Miles Dixon to thank. The guard scored 20 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists.
Milwaukee 74, Valparaiso 57: The game was close for absolutely no time at all. Milwaukee opened up with a 9-0 lead and never trailed. Jordan Aaron scored 20 for the Panthers, a game-high. Valparaiso pulled off the rare feat of not grabbing a single offensive rebound for the entire game, despite missing 20 shots.
Ohio Valley
Belmont 86, Morehead State 63: Belmont's balanced scoring led the way for the Bruins in the semifinal matchup. Five players scored in double figures, with two more scoring nine. J.J. Mann led the way with 16, going 4-of-6 from behind the arc.
Eastern Kentucky 86, Murray State 83: Murray State almost fought all the way back from a double-digit deficit with just over ten minutes to go, but missed two threes in the waning seconds and Eastern Kentucky moves on to face Belmont in the final.
Colonial
Hofstra 78, UNC-Wilmington 70: In what amounts a a play-in game for the two worst teams by record in the conference, Hoftra played well enough to advance to face top-seeded Delaware.
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