Links to follow Xavier men's and women's basketball at NAIA national tournaments

Men: Xavier Gold Rush (23-8) vs. LSU-Shreveport Pilots (25-7)

9 a.m. CDT Thursday at Kansas City, Mo.

• Live stats
• Game notes (PDF, four pages)
• Quick facts on national tournament
• Tournament scores
• www.naiahoops.com
• Watch live webcasts (for a fee)
• Tournament bracket (PDF)

Women: Xavier Gold Nuggets (25-8) vs. Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm (24-9)

8:45 p.m. CDT Thursday at Frankfort, Ky.

• Live stats
• Game notes (PDF, four pages)
• Quick facts on national tournament
• Tournament home page
• Tournament scores
• Watch live webcasts (for a fee)
• Tournament bracket (PDF)

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

Howard, Mississippi Valley named to Postseason WNIT Field Announced

FORT COLLINS, Colorado -- The Women’s National Invitation Tournament Selection Committee announced the 64-team field for the 2012 Postseason WNIT on Monday. The WNIT is celebrating its 15th season and has selected one of its most competitive fields in tournament history featuring 36 teams with 20 or more wins this season.

First-round action tips off on Wednesday, March 14 and concludes on Friday, March 16. Second-round games begin March 17-19, Round Three March 21-23, Quarterfinals March 24-26, and Semifinals March 28-29. The championship game will be played on Saturday, March 31. All games are hosted by participating schools.

Among teams receiving automatic berths are Howard University and Mississippi Valley State, the MEAC and SWAC representatives. Howard will open play at University of Virginia on March 15 at 7 p.m. ET. Mississippi Valley State gets the ball rolling at 8 p.m. ET, with Tulane in New Orleans on March 15.

The Pac-12, Colonial and Atlantic 10 led all conferences with five teams represented in this year’s field. The Big East, Big West, Mid-American and Missouri Valley each added 4. Other conferences represented in the field include: Atlantic Coast (3), Southern (3), Summit (3), America East (2), Big 12 (2), Conference USA (2), Sun Belt (2), West Coast (2), Atlantic Sun (1), Big Sky (1), Big South (1), Horizon (1), Ivy (1), MAAC (1), MEAC (1), Mountain West (1), Northeast (1), Ohio Valley (1), Patriot (1), Southland (1), SWAC (1) and WAC (1).

The Postseason WNIT is owned and produced by Fort Collins, Colo.-based Triple Crown Sports, which also organizes men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments in Cancun, and the Preseason WNIT. Triple Crown is the leader in grassroots sports and manages over 300 amateur sporting events across the country in volleyball, fastpitch, baseball, and basketball. With 28 years of experience in the event business, Triple Crown is nationally-recognized as a premier tournament organization.

MVSU's collapse and WKU's comeback get tournament off to rousing start

DAYTON, Ohio – The first word out of the mouths of Ray Harper and Sean Woods after their First Four game ended was the same. And it fit perfectly.

Wow.

That's the only way to describe what had just happened in the final five minutes of the First Four game between Western Kentucky and Mississippi Valley State. The Delta Devils took a 16-point lead with 5:07 remaining, and it looked like President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron were getting ready to watch the SWAC champions put on a dunk contest.




Then -- like it has so many times this season for Western Kentucky -- the light suddenly switched on for Harper's Hilltoppers. They erased Mississippi Valley State's lead in fewer than three minutes, going on a 21-1 run to complete a miraculous comeback win over the Delta Devils, 59-58.

“The one thing we never did was quit,” Harper said. “You could see that look in their eyes, that we're going to win this.”

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Tennessee State Drops 68-60 Contest to Mercer in CIT

MACON, Georgia - A run midway in the second half was too much to overcome as the Tigers dropped a 68-60 contest to Mercer in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

Mercer (23-11) used 14 points from Justin Cecil in the second half to take over the game and advance to the second round of the CIT. TSU (20-13) fell to 0-3 in postseason play since joining NCAA Division I.

The Bears held the Tigers scoreless for a stretch of four minutes and took the go ahead advantage. TSU was held at 35 percent shooting, knocking down 22-of-62 field goal attempts. Mercer connected on 41 percent (20-of-49) and knocked down eight triples.

Robert Covington extended his double-figure scoring streak to 32 straight games with 18 points and eight rebounds in the loss. The junior also notched two blocks, two steals and dished out an assist.

Senior Kenny Moore tallied 11 points, three rebounds and three assists. Jordan Cyphers connected on three triples and a free throw for 10 points. Guards Wil Peters and Patrick Miller each had eight points with a combined six assists.

At the half, Tennessee State held a 21-19 advantage, scoring 10 points off Mercer turnovers. Cyphers led the Tigers with seven points, while Covington had five points and five rebounds.

Mercer opened up to a to a six point lead with 10:19 left before the Tigers came firing back. TSU used a couple of solid runs and a great play from Cyphers.

The junior connected on a long range triple to put the Tigers up 14-13. From there, TSU went on a 7-to-6 run, taking a 21-19 lead into the locker room.

Mercer took a run to start the second half, before TSU opened up on a 42-38 lead with 12:23 remaining in the contest.

Langston Hall buried two consecutive treys for the Bears to put MU up 47-44 with 7:54 left in the contest. The Bears extended their advantage to seven with less than five minutes remaining.

Tennessee State could not find a long run to cut down the Bears' deficit as Mercer took the 68-60 victory.

Tennessee State concluded a season that saw the school's first winning season since 1996 and first 20-win campaign since 1979. The Tigers also defeated an SEC opponent (South Carolina) and a ranked opponent (No. 7 Murray State) for the first time in the program's history.

BOX SCORE

COURTESY: TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Howard to Face UVA in WNIT First Round

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Howard University women's basketball team will travel to Charlottesville, Va. to face the University of Virginia Cavaliers in the first round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament on Thurs. March 15 at John Paul Jones Arena. Both teams earned an automatic berth to the 64-team postseason tournament. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The winner of Thursday's contest will face the winner of Richmond vs. Miami (Ohio) in the second round.

For more information on the 2012 WNIT, please visit http://www.womensnit.com/.

VIEW BRACKET

Virginia to host WNIT game Thursday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia - Virginia coach Joanne Boyle gathered with her players in their locker room Monday night to watch the NCAA women's basketball tournament selection show on ESPN.

They were greatly disappointed.

UVa (22-10) was not one of the four ACC teams that made the NCAA field and has instead been relegated to the WNIT.

"We lost our point guard [China Crosby to a torn ACL in December]. We had no bad losses. We had 22 wins. We finished 9-7 in the conference. They're always talking about having a great resume. My question is: What didn't we do for you?" Boyle said Tuesday.

"Our body of work and resume stacks up."

UVa was one of the first four teams left out of ...
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West Liberty Runs Shaw Out of Regional Final

WORCESTER, Massachusetts - Atlantic Region and CIAA Player-of-the-Year Malik Alvin scored 28 points but Shaw just couldn't keep up with West Liberty's run-and-gun offense, falling 89-78, in the Atlantic Region final of the men's Division II tournament in Worcester, Massachusetts Tuesday.

The Hilltoppers (32-2), ranked no. 3 in the nation, advanced to the Elite 8 for the second straight year and will take on unranked Stonehill March 21 in Highland Heights, Kentucky.

For seventh-ranked Shaw (27-4), it was a disappointing end to a chance for the Bears to join the Lady Bears in the Elite 8.

The Bears led 43-42 at the half, not just with offense but with defense, limiting the Hilltoppers, who lead Division II with 102.8 points per game.

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Tennessee Holds Off Savannah State In NIT Opener

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee - Tennessee almost followed up its latest flop in the Southeastern Conference tournament with another early exit from the 75th NIT.

Almost.

The No. 1 seeded Vols (19-14) stormed out to a 22-5 lead, but had to hold off the scrappy Savannah State Tigers (21-12) in the second half before escaping with a 65-51 first-round victory before a meager crowd of 6,289 at Thompson-Boling Arena on Tuesday night.

The Vols will host the No. 4 seed Middle Tennessee State, an 86-78 winner over No. 5 Marshall, in the second round at a date and time to be determined.

Jarnell Stokes led Tennessee with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Trae Golden scored 11 and Yemi Makanjoula, who was starting for junior Jeronne Maymon, sidelined with a bruised right knee, and Josh Richardson each had 10 points. Makanjuola also had eight rebounds.

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