CINCINNATI - Corey Santee sank a high-arcing floater with 8.1 seconds left to lift Texas Christian to a 64-62 win over Marquette in the first round of the Conference USA tournament on Wednesday.
Santee scored on a similar shot to give the Horned Frogs a 62-60 lead with 50.5 seconds left. After Dameon Mason made two free throws to tie, Santee dribbled almost 16 seconds off the clock before driving to the right baseline and hitting the winner.
Mason missed a driving layup with two seconds left for the eighth-seeded Golden Eagles (17-11).
Ninth-seeded TCU (12-16) plays top-seeded DePaul in a quarterfinal today.
Chudi Chinweze led four Horned Frogs in double figures with 13 points. Nucleus Smith added 12, Marcus Shropshire scored 11 and Santee finished with 10.
Travis Diener tied career highs with 31 points and seven 3-pointers Marquette. He scored 17 in the second half to help the Golden Eagles erase a 13-point deficit for a 58-51 lead with 4:46 remaining. Chinweze's dunk sparked a 9-0 run that gave TCU a 60-59 lead.
LOUISVILLE 61, E. CAROLINA 54: Francisco Garcia scored 22, making clutch shots on an aching ankle, for the Cardinals.
Louisville (20-8) overcame 19 turnovers and poor shooting as it advanced to a second-round game against Cincinnati.
Garcia, who has sprained both ankles this season and plays with them heavily taped, had to come out twice after aggravating them in the second half.
He stayed on the floor long enough to decide the game. Garcia scored seven during a 12-2 spurt that put the Cardinals ahead to stay with 7:50 left.
Mike Cook scored 14 for the Pirates (13-14), who shot 33 percent from the field.
Neither team could put together much of a run because of the turnovers and off-target shots. Both shot under 35 percent from the field and had 15 turnovers with nine minutes left.
Louisville made only three jumpers in the first half - the rest of its 21 points came off layups.
CHARLOTTE 78, TULANE 48: Demon Brown had 15 points to lead five 49ers in double figures, and Charlotte took advantage of the Green Wave's poor shooting to advance to today's quarterfinal against fourth-seeded Alabama-Birmingham.
Eddie Basden added 14 points, Butter Johnson 12 and Curtis Withers had 10 points and 12 rebounds for the fifth-seeded 49ers (21-7), who have won six of their past seven and 10 of 12.
Tulane (11-17), the No.12 seed, shot a season-worst 27 percent (16-for-59) from the field in losing for the sixth time in seven games.
Vincent Camper and Marcus Kinzer each scored nine for the Green Wave in its worst loss of the season.
SAINT LOUIS 52, SO. MISS. 46: Reggie Bryant's 3-pointer with 1:57 left put the Billikens ahead to stay.
Josh Fisher had a steal and a pair of rebounds in the closing minutes to help Saint Louis (17-11) hold on. His two free throws with 22 seconds left clinched it.
Phillip Hunt had a career-high 14 points for the Billikens, who wasted a 10-point lead in the second half before rallying.
The Golden Eagles (13-15) lost five of their past six. Coach James Green resigned Friday, leaving them to play their last two under assistant Jeff Norwood.
Southern Mississippi led by as many as six in the first. Saint Louis shot 28.6 percent from the field and trailed 23-19 at halftime.
The Billikens opened the second with a 16-2 run, putting them up 35-25. The Eagles tied it at 37 on David Haywood's 3-pointer with 8:15 left.
It was tied six times before Bryant's 3-pointer put Saint Louis up 49-46 with 1:57 to play.
