Temple Bounces Bucknell, Illinois State Wins In NIT Tournament

Will Cummings was angry that Temple didn't get selected for the NCAA Tournament. The senior point guard took it out on Bucknell.

Three days after the Owls' Sunday heartbreak, Cummings scored a season-high 30 points to lead Temple past the Bison 73-67 in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament on Wednesday. Quenton DeCosey added 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the top-seeded Owls (24-10), the first team left out of the NCAA field.

Arizona State 68, UConn 61

Arizona State senior forward Shaq McKissic didn't want to exit the National Invitation Tournament the same way the Sun Devils were knocked out of the Pac-12 Conference tourney last week. And if the Sun Devils were going to travel all the way to Connecticut to play the 2014 NCAA champions, he wanted to keep alive the chance of advancing to the finals in New York City.

"Seven days ago, it was a night just like this and a game that was similar," McKissic said after scoring 22 points to lead Arizona State to a 68-61 first-round victory over the Huskies before 6,045 at Gampel Pavilion. "We got the lead and USC came back to win (67-64). You don't want to go through that twice."

Illinois State 69, Wisconsin-Greey Bay 56

Paris Lee hit the shots when it mattered, scoring 18 points late in the game, and also made two key steals late to lead Illinois State past the Wisconsin-Green Bay 69-56 in Wednesday's first round of the National Invitation Tournament. Daishon Knight added 17 points, and Reggie Lynch and DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell scored 15 and 14, respectively, for the Redbirds (22-12).

ISU went 0 of 8 from the 3-point line until the second half. Lynch nailed a 3 with 16:13 left to put ISU up for good, and Lee followed 12 seconds later with another. The Redbirds went 4 for 16 from beyond the stripe. Lee's two steals of deep passes ISU converted for points in the final six minutes.

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Coming off its first postseason win as a NCAA Division I program, Eastern Illinois men’s basketball is set to host its first postseason game as a NCAA Division I program on Monday night.  EIU will play host to Evansville with a 7 p.m. tip in Lantz Arena for the 2nd round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT).

NIT Tournament Games

Wednesday, March 18 Scoreboard

(1) Temple 73, (8) Bucknell 67

(5) Arizona St 68, (4) Connecticut 61

(1) Old Dominion 65, (8) Charleston Southern 56

(1) Richmond 84, (8) St. Francis BRK 74

(4) Illinois State 69, (5) Green Bay 56

(5) Vanderbilt 75, (4) Saint Mary's 64

(8) South Dakota State 86, (1) Colorado St 76

Friday, March 20 Schedule (All Times Central)

South Dakota State at Vanderbilt, 8:30 p.m.

EIU Hosts Evansville In CIT

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Coming off its first postseason win as a NCAA Division I program, Eastern Illinois men’s basketball is set to host its first postseason game as a NCAA Division I program on Monday night.  EIU will play host to Evansville with a 7 p.m. tip in Lantz Arena for the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT).

EIU improved to 18-14 on Tuesday night with a 97-91 win at Oakland in the opening round of the CIT.

Evansville improved to 20-12 on Wednesday with a home win over IPFW.

The two schools last met as part of the Bracketbusters series with EIU hosting Evansville in 2007-08 and returning the game in 2008-09.

This will be the third time the two schools have met as part of NCAA postseason play.  EIU beat Evansville in both the 1976 and 1978 NCAA Division II Regionals as the Panthers finished third in the nation during both those seasons.

The Purple Aces lead the all-time series 11-8.