Category: Basketball

Maxime Raynaud scored 23 points and Jaylen Blakes scored 21 points and seventh-seed Stanford beat No. 15 seed Cal 78-73 on Wednesday night in the second round of the ACC Tournament. Stanford (20-12) advances to face second-seeded Louisville on Thursday. Playing for a chance to reach overtime for the third-straight game and trailing 76-73, Cal's Mady Sissoko was called for a blocking foul attempting to set a screen for Andrej Stojakovic with 6.9 seconds remaining.

Point guard Deivon Smith's status is uncertain for No. 6 St. John's heading into the postseason. Smith has been in and out of the lineup since January because of a nagging shoulder injury. The 6-foot senior practiced Tuesday and a little bit Wednesday, according to coach Rick Pitino. But he wasn't sure if Smith will play Thursday for the top-seeded Red Storm in their Big East Tournament quarterfinal against No. 9 seed Butler.

NCAA men's tournament bubble teams started their conference tournament journeys on Wednesday with chance to impress the selection committee.

VJ Edgecombe had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Norchad Omier added 12 points and 14 boards, and seventh-seeded Baylor rolled to a 70-56 victory over No. 10 seed Kansas State in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament on Wednesday night. Jayden Dunn also scored 18 points for the Bears (19-13), who built a 20-point lead early in the second half and then cruised into a quarterfinal matchup with ninth-ranked and No. 2 seed Texas Tech on Thursday night. David N'Guessan had 20 points and Dug McDaniel finished with 14 for the Wildcats (16-17), who edged Arizona State in the first round but were unable to keep the momentum going against the same team that rallied from 12 down to beat them in January.

Jalen Myers had 22 points and top-seeded Norfolk State beat No. seed Maryland-Eastern Shore 77-70 on Wednesday night to begin the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament. Myers also had six rebounds for the Spartans (22-10).

Brock Harding scored 15 points that included a clutch 3-pointer to help 15th-seeded Iowa pull away from No. 10 seed Ohio State for a 77-70 victory on Wednesday night in a Big Ten Tournament opener. Bruce Thornton converted a three-point play and then added a pullup jumper following a Harding turnover to cut the Ohio State deficit to 72-70 with 45 seconds left. Harding answered with a 3-pointer, Thornton missed a 3 on the other end and Payton Sandfort added two free throws to seal it for the Hawkeyes.

On the opening day of the Big East Tournament, Providence was done by dinner time. The eighth-seeded Friars never led and fell behind by 14 in the second half of a 75-69 loss to No. 9 seed Butler late Wednesday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. Afterword, coach Kim English didn't sugarcoat his comments.

Pierre Brooks had 25 points in Butler’s 75-69 win against Providence on Wednesday in the Big East Conference Tournament.

Quadir Copeland scored 18 points and McNeese defeated Lamar 63-54 in a cold-shooting, defensive battle on Wednesday, giving the Cowboys back-to-back Southland Conference Tournament championships. The top-seeded Cowboys (27-6) will be making their fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Cowboys led wire-to-wire.

Virginia will not retain interim basketball coach Ron Sanchez, who took over three weeks before the season began following Tony Bennett’s surprising retirement.

Nick Martinelli scored 28 points to help No. 13 seed Northwestern beat No. 12 seed Minnesota 72-64 on Wednesday to begin the Big Ten Tournament.