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UCF is headed to NCAA Tournament

NASHVILLE - Dexter Lyons scored 18, and Central Florida beat Troy State 60-55 on Saturday to win the Atlantic Sun tournament and earn its third NCAA Tournament berth.

UCF (25-5) never trailed, but Troy State (24-6) never let the Golden Knights stake a double-digit lead in the second half.

"Early in the game we had good ball movement and swung the ball, shifted the defense, got it inside, hit open jumpers and we got the lead," UCF coach Kirk Speraw said. "We thought that was very important, to play in front."

After Troy State's Greg Davis, the A-Sun Player of the Year, hit a 3-pointer to make it 53-50 with 2:02 left, the game came down to free throws. UCF was 7-of-8 from the line in the final 58.4 seconds, while Troy State went 3-of-6.

ECKERD 75, ROLLINS 73: The Tritons withstood a late rally to upset the top seed in the semifinals in Winter Park and faces Florida Southern today. Anthony Washington scored 26 to lead Eckerd.

FLA. SOUTHERN 73, TAMPA 57: Mark Borders finished with 23 points and 10 assists for the Spartans in a losing effort.

SWMS 84, CREIGHTON 75: Anthony Shavies and Merrill Andrews each scored 19 for the Bears in the quarterfinals in St. Louis. Fifth-seeded Southwest Missouri meets No. 15 Southern Illinois (25-3) in a semifinal at 2:30 today.

N. IOWA 68, ILLINOIS ST. 54: David Gruber, playing with a broken bone in his left wrist, had 19 points to lead the Panthers.

MURRAY ST. 66, AUSTIN PEAY 60: Adam Chiles hit a jumper with 3:43 left that put the Racers ahead for good on the way to their 12th NCAA berth. It's their fifth NCAA berth in the past eight years, and first since 2002. They won their eighth straight, handing regular-season champ Austin Peay its first loss to a league opponent this season.

LIBERTY 89, HIGH POINT 44: Larry Blair scored 29 and tied a championship-game record with seven 3-pointers to lead the host Flames earn their second NCAA Tournament berth with the largest margin of victory in the Big South tournament history.

E. TENN. ST. 78, CHATTANOOGA 62: Tim Smith scored 25 and the Bucs earned the NCAA Tournament's first automatic bid in North Charleston, S.C. Smith, as he's been for two seasons, was the difference for the Bucs. The 5-foot-9 sophomore was selected MVP for the second year in a row.

CHARLOTTE 79, TULANE 65: Seven-footer Martin Iti had a career-high 16 points to give the host 49ers their first 20-win season in 12 years.

Sophomore Curtis Withers had a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds and Demon Brown added 12 points for Charlotte.

Vincent Camper scored 15 to lead Tulane.

UAB 87, TCU 62: Gabe Kennedy scored 18 and Demario Eddins added 15 for the host Blazers. Corey Santee led TCU with 17 points. It was 9-9 when Sidney Ball hit a 3-pointer to spark a 10-0 UAB run. The Blazers were in control the rest of the way.

E. CAROLINA 63, SOUTHERN MISS 50: Derrick Wiley scored 15 for the visiting Pirates, a day after Golden Eagles coach James Green resigned with at least two games to play.

OLE MISS 55, ARKANSAS 45: Senior Justin Reed scored 19 in his final home game as the Rebels rallied in the second half. Aaron Harper, the Rebels' other senior, added 11 points as Ole Miss snapped a five-game losing streak. The Razorbacks offensive output was a season low and the first time they were held to less than 50.

TENNESSEE 63, S. CAROLINA 56: Scooter McFadgon scored 17, including a pair of shots to help fight off a late rally for the host Vols.

South Carolina lost its second in a row and seventh of the past 10.

GEORGIA 71, VANDERBILT 61: Rashad Wright scored 21 for the host Bulldogs, whose victory gives Florida second place in the East and a bye in the conference tournament. Wright made 5 of 8 3-pointers. Overall, the Bulldogs made 10 of 16 3-pointers.

Vanderbilt, held to 20 first-half points, made only 6 of 16 free-throw attempts and trailed by double figures most of the game.

AUBURN 78, LSU 66: Brandon Robinson scored 21 of his career-high 27 in the second half and Auburn avoided the West cellar. Ian Young added 14 points as the Tigers snapped a four-game losing streak and swept the season series with LSU. Darrel Mitchell scored 18 on six 3s for LSU.

IOWA 63, PURDUE 62: Pierre Pierce made two free throws with 30.6 seconds left to propel the visiting Hawkeyes. The Boilermakers had two chances to stay in the game in the closing seconds, but David Teague missed a 3-pointer.

MICHIGAN 63, NW 56: Daniel Horton had 16 points for the visiting Wolverines. The victory keeps Michigan's slim NCAA Tournament hopes alive, but it will have to win a few in this week's conference tournament. Northwestern finishes Big Ten play with a .500 record for the first time since 1968.

ND 89, ST. JOHN'S 62: Chris Thomas scored 25, and the Irish kept their NCAA Tournament hopes alive at Madison Square Garden. Thomas was 9-of-14 from the field, including 6-for-11 from 3-point range.

TEXAS TECH 72, IOWA ST. 58: Ronald Ross scored 23 and the host Red Raiders gave coach Bob Knight his 830th career win, tying Jimmy Phelan, who retired from Mount St. Mary's last year after 49 seasons. Knight, in his 38th season, trails only Dean Smith of North Carolina (879) and Adolph Rupp of Kentucky (876) among Division I male coaches.

OKLAHOMA 46, BAYLOR 41: Freshman Lawrence McKenzie hit a pair of free throws with 21.4 seconds left and Jaison Williams made a steal on the next possession, to helping the host Sooners avert a loss that would have been extremely detrimental to their NCAA Tournament hopes.

WOODEN AWARD: Emeka Okafor of Connecticut, Josh Childress of Stanford and Jameer Nelson of Saint Joseph's are among 20 finalists for the Wooden Award as player of the year.

WEST VIRGINIA 58, MIAMI 53: Kevin Pittsnogle and D'or Fischer each scored 19 and the Mountaineers eliminated any chance of the the Hurricanes making the Big East tournament. A running jumper shot by Darius Rice put Miami ahead 53-51 with 2:54 left, but the Hurricanes failed to score again. The loss hands the Hurricanes their second straight 4-12 season in the Big East.