American wins Patriot League title
First Posted:
BOSTON (AP) — Tony Wroblicky had 15 points, down eight rebounds and two blocks to help American University beat top-seeded Boston University 55-36 on Wednesday night in the Patriot League championship game, sending the Eagles to the NCAA tournament for the first time in five years.
Darius Gardner scored 18 points and had four assists for American, which never trailed while claiming its first conference title since winning back-to-back Patriot League championships in 2008 and 2009 for the first two NCAA tournament appearances in school history.
The Eagles (20-12) closed on a 9-2 run, then celebrated together in a team huddle before being overcome by the American fans who traveled for the game and swarmed the players.
ACC Tournament
Wake Forest 81, Notre Dame 69
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Coron Williams scored a season-high 25 points, including four 3-pointers and Devin Thomas added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the 12th-seeded Demon Deacons (17-15).
They shot a season-best 61 percent, built a 33-23 rebounding advantage and earned their first ACC tournament win since 2007 — when the late Skip Prosser was their coach.
Wake Forest will play fifth-seeded Pittsburgh (23-8) today in the second round.
Pat Connaughton scored 19 points for the 13th-seeded Fighting Irish (15-17), who lost their ACC tournament debut. The league newcomers shot 40 percent and had won at least one game in their previous five Big East tournaments.
Miami 57, Virginia Tech 53
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Erik Swoope scored 14 points and hit the go-ahead basket with 2:42 left to help Miami beat Virginia Tech.
Rion Brown scored 15 points to lead the 10th-seeded Hurricanes (17-15), who hit four free throws in the final 8 seconds to hang on against the last-place Hokies (9-22). Miami shot just 39 percent but the reigning tournament champion did just enough to advance, hitting 16 of 19 free throws.
Big East Tournament
Seton Hall 51, Butler 50
NEW YORK — Eugene Teague had 14 points, 11 rebounds and scored all of Seton Hall’s points over the final 9:30 as the Pirates prevailed in a battle of second-half runs for a 51-50 victory over Butler in the opening round.
The eighth-seeded Pirates (16-16) gets top-seeded and third-ranked Villanova in the quarterfinals today.
Seton Hall used an 11-0 run to take a 38-26 lead over the ninth-seeded Bulldogs (14-17) with 12:53 to play. Butler came up empty on nine straight possessions in the run and the Pirates extended their lead to 45-32 on a 3-pointer by Brian Oliver with 9:46 to go.
