Terrence Edwards scored 21 points, J’Vonne Hadley added 20 points and nine rebounds and No. 13 Louisville beat No. 10 Clemson 76-73 on Friday night in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinals.
Rice, Queen help No. 11 Maryland rout No. 24 Illinois 88-65 in Big Ten quarterfinals
Rodney Rice scored 26 points, Derik Queen had 19 points and 10 rebounds and No. 11 Maryland routed No. 24 Illinois 88-65 on Friday night in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals.
Lendeborg’s 30 points lead third-seeded UAB past No. 6 seed East Carolina 94-77 in AAC quarterfinals
Yaxel Lendeborg's 30 points led third-seeded UAB past sixth-seeded East Carolina 94-77 on Friday in the American Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals. UAB will take on No. 2 seed North Texas in the second of Saturday's semifinals. Lendeborg added 20 rebounds, eight assists, five steals, and four blocks for the Blazers (21-11).
Ejiofor powers No. 6 St. John’s past No. 25 Marquette 79-63 into 1st Big East final since 2000
Zuby Ejiofor scored a career-high 33 points, a St. John’s record in the Big East Tournament, and the sixth-ranked Red Storm pulled away from No. 25 Marquette 79-63 on Friday night to reach the conference championship game for the first time in 25 years.
UConn-Creighton game at Big East tourney ends with heated skirmish
A scuffle broke out at the end of Creighton's victory over UConn in the Big East Tournament semifinals on Friday night after Jamiya Neal threw down a needless dunk for the Bluejays in the final seconds. Huskies guard Hassan Diarra shoved Neal in the chest and appeared to square up with his fists for a split second as the two were face-to-face. Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner separated them by pushing Neal away as whistles blew and players came streaming off the benches at Madison Square Garden.
Big 12 teams picking up injuries during conference tourney with NCAA Tournament on the horizon
The Big 12 Tournament hasn't exactly been kind to its own teams when it comes to staying healthy. Second-ranked Houston cruised into the title game with a 76-56 victory over No. 17 BYU on Friday night, despite top rebounder J'Wan Roberts sitting on the bench with his sprained ankle in a boot. A few hours later, Arizona joined the Cougars in the title game with an 86-80 victory over No. 9 Texas Tech, which was missing Chance McMillian and Darrion Williams due to injuries.
ACC tournament: Clemson comeback attempt halted after refs miss multiple clear fouls
This was a brutal ending for the officials.
UConn runs out of steam in 71-62 loss to Creighton in Big East Tournament semifinals
Jasen Green and Jamiya Neal each scored 19 points in second-seeded Creighton’s 71-62 win over No. 3-seed UConn on Friday in the semifinals of the Big East Conference Tournament.
Neal’s 19 lead Creighton over UConn 71-62 in Big East Conference Tournament
Jasen Green and Jamiya Neal each scored 19 points in second-seeded Creighton's 71-62 win over No. 3-seed UConn on Friday in the semifinals of the Big East Conference Tournament. Creighton, the No. 2 seed, will face top-seeded St. John's in Saturday's championship game. Alex Karaban's layup for the third-seeded Huskies tied the game at 28-28 with under seven minutes left in the first half, but the Bluejays ran off 11-straight points, six by Green, to take a 46-35 lead into the break.
Austin Reaves' 37-point effort not enough as Lakers fall to Denver in wild finish
Lakers coach JJ Redick lately has repeated a lyric from an old Jay-Z song: “It was all good just a week ago."
Entering Friday's game against the Denver Nuggets, things were not good for the Lakers. They entered on a three-game losing streak. They were down three starters in LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes. A fourth, Luka Doncic, was sitting out on the second night of a back-to-back. Two more key rotation players, Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent, also were unavailable as they managed long-term injuries.
A week ago the Lakers were mostly healthy, flying to Boston on an eight-game winning streak. A week ago they were climbing the standings, not sliding.
Read more:Luka Doncic's 45 points can't save Lakers from third straight loss, but hope lies ahead
But even if the personnel didn’t mirror the Lakers of a week ago, at least the energy did Friday, the team pushing the Nuggets over four quarters before making one too many mistakes in a 131-126 loss.
“I’m proud of the group for the level of fight and resiliency,” Redick said.
Nuggets stars Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic ran a pick and roll, opening up Murray for a clean look at a three-pointer with 5.6 seconds left. Like he has so many times against the Lakers, the point guard hit the big shot.
Austin Reaves, who capped his rookie season with a 31-point triple-double in Denver, nearly led the Lakers (40-25) to the upset, scoring 37 along with 13 assists and eight rebounds. Dalton Knecht, starting near his hometown, had his most points since mid-November with 32, and Shake Milton scored 16 off the bench.
Knecht scored his final two points on a dunk and landed awkwardly on his back and head. He was able to stay in the game.
“I told him in the huddle, I said, 'Hey, if you want to shoot it, shoot it. I don't care if you shoot it 35 times, we're going to need every bucket you can get,'” Reaves told Knecht. “So he's a hooper.”
Read more:Lakers newsletter: What's going on with all the Lakers' injuries?
The Lakers led by three in the final minute before a Jokic three-point play and Murray’s triple. All five starters scored in double figures for Denver (43-24).
Reaves, who had to ice his right wrist after the Lakers’ loss in Milwaukee on Thursday, said he wasn't sure he'd play, but ultimately the chance to compete carried him.
“We know when we're full healthy and got everybody on the team that we have a really good chance to beat anybody," Reaves said. "I just see this group, coming together, locking in on one common goal and that's to win. And tonight I think is the biggest testament to that. Very shorthanded and went and played a really good basketball team with probably the best player in the world. And went toe to toe and had an opportunity to win it and just didn't execute the last 50 seconds.”
He played 39 minutes.
“Certainly asked a lot of him on the second night of a back-to-back, not just the 40 minutes, but just the vast majority of playmaking duties,” Redick said. “And I thought he did an outstanding job.”
The Lakers had a chance to force overtime but they couldn’t get the inbounds pass to Reaves, with Russell Westbrook getting the steal and dunking in the final seconds.
Before the game Redick again sounded optimistic about the Lakers getting more help over the next week, when the team plays five games in Los Angeles, including a pair of back-to-backs Sunday and Monday and Wednesday and Thursday to wrap a stretch in which they’ll play six times in eight days.
The Lakers are the first team since 2022 to have six games in eight days, playing a makeup of a game with the San Antonio Spurs that was postponed during the wildfires in January.
They head back to L.A. on a season-worst four-game losing streak, with full health still some time away.
“We went 0-4, so it's a pretty bad trip. But ... JJ said, ‘A week ago, everybody's like Lakers in five.' So we just don't listen to any of it,” Reaves said.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Love helps Arizona topple short-handed No. 9 Texas Tech 86-80 in Big 12 tourney semifinals
Caleb Love scored 27 points and Arizona took advantage of injuries that left Texas Tech short-handed for an 86-80 victory over the No. 9 Red Raiders in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals Friday night. KJ Lewis added 15 points and Henri Veesaar scored eight of his 10 in the closing minutes for the Wildcats (22-11), who advanced to the championship game against No. 2 Houston on Saturday night in their first season in their new league. Kevin Overton had 20 points and Christian Anderson scored 19 for the Red Raiders (25-8), who played without Chance McMillian and Darrion Williams because of injuries, and then watched star forward JT Toppin throw up in the arena tunnel.
Zuby Ejiofor much more than just most improved in record-setting performance for No. 6 St. John’s
Maybe most improved didn't really do Zuby Ejiofor justice. The junior forward delivered an overpowering performance Friday night for No. 6 St. John's, scoring a career-best 33 points — a school record in the Big East Tournament — as the Red Storm rolled into the conference championship game for the first time in 25 years with a 79-63 victory over No. 25 Marquette.
Withers’ lane violation adds improbable twist to UNC’s failed comeback against No. 1 Duke in ACCs
North Carolina nearly completed a comeback from a 24-point deficit against top-ranked Duke in the ACC tournament, only to see it slip away on the most unusual of mistakes. With the Tar Heels trailing by one with 4.1 seconds left, Jae'Lyn Withers committed a lane violation to negate Ven-Allen Lubin's tying free throw. The Blue Devils then closed out a 74-71 win in Friday night's semifinals.
Top-seed Norfolk State defeats Morgan State 58-55. advances to MEAC championship game
Christian Ings scored 19 points and top-seeded Norfolk State held off No. Morgan State 58-55 Friday night to earn a spot in Saturday's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament championship game. The Spartans will face second-seeded South Carolina State, which beat sixth-seeded North Carolina Central, in Saturday's championship contest.
Wright puts up 24 as No. 2 North Texas knocks off No. 10 Tulsa 77-59 in AAC quarterfinals
Wright shot 7 for 16 (3 for 11 from 3-point range) and 7 of 7 from the free-throw line for the Mean Green (24-7). Jasper Floyd added 11 points while shooting 3 of 5 from the field and 4 for 4 from the line while they also had five assists. Brenen Lorient had 10 points and shot 4 of 7 from the field and 2 of 4 from the free-throw line.