College hoops roundup: Creighton knocks off DePaul 84-70
CHICAGO (AP) — Trey Alexander scored 21 points as Creighton beat DePaul 84-70 on Saturday night.
Ryan Nembhard and Ryan Kalkbrenner added 20 points apiece for the Bluejays (20-11, 14-6 Big East Conference).
The Blue Demons (9-22, 3-17) were led in scoring by Javan Johnson, who finished with 18 points and five assists. Nick Ongenda and Caleb Murphy each added 13 points for DePaul, which lost its 12th in a row.
Creighton took the lead with 15:39 left in the first half and did not relinquish it. The score was 39-24 at halftime, with Nembhard racking up 10 points. Creighton was outscored by DePaul in the second half by a one-point margin, but still wound up on top, while Alexander led the way with a team-high 14 second-half points.
Colorado sinks slumping Utah with 69-60 win
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Julian Hammond III and Tristan da Silva each scored 15 points and Nique Clifford had his first-career double-double and Colorado ended the Pac-12 regular season beating Utah 69-60 on Saturday.
Clifford scored 14 points and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds and Ethan Wright scored 10 for Colorado which ended a three-game skid; all against ranked opponents at the time they played.
Rollie Worster scored 15 points, Branden Carlsen scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Lazar Stefanovic scored 12 for Utah.
Colorado played without second-leading scorer KJ Simpson (15.9 points) who coach Tad Boyle announced will miss the conference tournament due to mononucleosis.
Colorado (16-15, 8-12) heads to the conference tournament in Las Vegas as the ninth seed and will face No. 8 Washington on Wednesday.
Utah (17-14, 10-10) — which has dropped five straight — will be the seventh seed and will face Stanford on Wednesday.
The Buffaloes used a 9-0 run in just under three minutes to take a 15-7 lead and they led the rest of the game.
No. 18 San Diego State beats Wyoming to celebrate MWC title
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jaedon LeDee scored 21 points and Adam Seiko 14 for the No. 18 San Diego State Aztecs, who celebrated the outright regular-season Mountain West Conference title with a 67-50 victory against Wyoming on Saturday night.
Matt Bradley added 11 points for the Aztecs (24-6, 15-3 MWC), who clinched the conference championship at halftime, thanks to Boise State's 86-73 loss at Utah State.
The Aztecs had earned a share of the title a week earlier with a buzzer-beating win at New Mexico, but missed taking it outright when they failed to hold a late nine-point lead and lost 66-60 at Boise State on Tuesday night.
But that gave a sellout crowd of 12,414 at Viejas Arena the chance to celebrate and watch the players cut down the nets on Senior Night. It's the third regular-season title in Brian Dutcher's six seasons as coach.
Dutcher did a “trust fall” from a ladder after cutting the final piece of net, falling backward into the arms of his players before heading to a locker room celebration.
“Nothing gets old about Gatorade baths,” Dutcher said. “It's an incredible accomplishment for this team. Regular-season titles are always the hardest thing to get because it takes months. A lot of work. To win this conference by two games is an incredible accomplishment.
“I tell them, they have to tell the players coming in next year, ‘We win titles at this university. If you leave here without one, you're one of the few.'”
SDSU heads to Las Vegas as the No. 1 seed in pursuit of its seventh MWC tournament title and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
The Aztecs have won nine regular-season MWC titles, eight of them outright. Both are records. Coupled with six tournament titles, SDSU has won a record 15 league championships overall. The next closest school is New Mexico with eight.
“I wanted the ring,” said Bradley, a fifth-year senior in his second season at SDSU. "I’ve seen my teammates having it and I was like, ‘I need one for myself.’ That’s what I did and now it’s time to win games in March.”
Jeremiah Oden scored 17 and Xavier DuSell had 16 for last-place Wyoming (9-21, 4-14), which was coming off an impressive win against Nevada but couldn't keep pace with the Aztecs.
SDSU led by one point six minutes into the game before taking control with a 10-0 run. LeDee started it with a slam dunk, Darrion Trammell and Micah Parrish hit 3-pointers and Aguek Arop scored inside for a 19-8 lead.
The Aztecs pushed the lead to 34-15 before Wyoming scored the last seven points of the half.
SDSU had a season-high nine blocked shots, three by Arop.
Bradley hit a step-back corner 3 with 1:57 left, his final shot at home. ,
“It was a good way to cap my time off here, for sure,” he said. “I was struggling at the beginning, but we were blowing them out and I just wanted to have one more thing to stamp my time here. That step-back 3 in the corner did it for me.”
BIG PICTURE
Wyoming: The Cowboys lost for the 10th straight time to the Aztecs.
San Diego State: The Aztecs never trailed for the seventh time this season.
UP NEXT
Wyoming: Will be the 11th seed and face sixth-seeded New Mexico in a play-in game on Wednesday at the MWC Tournament in Las Vegas.
San Diego State: Plays in the first quarterfinal game Thursday against the Colorado State-Fresno State winner.
South Dakota St. beat Omaha 63-55 in Summit tourney
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Alex Arians had 18 points in South Dakota State's 63-55 victory over Omaha on Saturday night in the quarterfinals of the Summit League Tournament.
Arians was 4-of-14 shooting, including 2 for 6 from distance, and went 8 for 8 from the foul line for the Jackrabbits (19-12). Zeke Mayo scored 14 points and added nine rebounds. Matthew Mims shot 3 for 11, including 3 for 8 from beyond the arc to finish with nine points. The Jackrabbits picked up their eighth straight win.
Jaeden Marshall led the Mavericks (9-23) in scoring, finishing with 19 points. Frankie Fidler added 11 points and 12 rebounds for Omaha. In addition, Dylan Brougham had nine points.
An 11-0 run in the first half gave South Dakota State a six-point lead. The teams entered the break with South Dakota State ahead 40-39, while Arians led his club in scoring with nine points. South Dakota State turned a one-point second-half lead into a nine-point advantage with a 10-2 run to make it a 58-49 lead with 2:56 left in the half. Arians scored nine second-half points in the game.
Johnson, N. Colorado beat Portland State in Big Sky tourney
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Matt Johnson led Northern Colorado with 22 points and Dalton Knecht sealed the victory with a layup with 56 seconds remaining as the Bears knocked off Portland State 84-80 on Saturday in the first round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament.
Johnson was 6 of 13 shooting, including 5 for 9 from distance, and went 5 for 6 from the free-throw line for the Bears (12-19). Knecht added 18 points while going 7 of 18 from the floor, including 1 for 5 from distance, and 3 for 4 from the foul line, and they also had six rebounds. Daylen Kountz recorded 18 points and was 4 of 11 shooting and 10 of 11 from the free-throw line.
Cameron Parker led the way for the Vikings (12-19) with 23 points, six rebounds and 10 assists. Jorell Saterfield added 14 points for Portland State. In addition, Hunter Woods had 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
Northern Colorado went into halftime ahead of Portland State 40-33. Johnson scored 13 points in the half. Kountz scored 16 points in the second half for Northern Colorado.
Moore's 33 lead San Jose State over Air Force 63-61
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Omari Moore recorded 33 points as San Jose State beat Air Force 63-61 on Saturday night.
Moore was 14 of 24 shooting, including 3 for 8 from distance, and went 2 for 3 from the line for the Spartans (19-12, 10-8 Mountain West Conference). Alvaro Cardenas Torre added 10 points.
Carter Murphy led the way for the Falcons (14-17, 5-13) with 17 points. Camden Vander Zwaag added 13 points, six rebounds and two steals for Air Force. Jake Heidbreder also had 13 points.
Moore's 18-point second half helped San Jose State close out the two-point victory.