Elston Turner scored 22 points even with his broken left pinkie wrapped up in a splint, and the Texas A&M Aggies beat Auburn 71-62 Wednesday night in their first Southeastern Conference tournament game.
Texas A&M (18-14) came to the tournament having lost four of five. But the 11th-seeded Aggies drew the SEC's last-place team in Auburn, and now they will play sixth-seeded Missouri on Thursday night in a matchup of the former Big 12 teams.Alex Caruso added 14 points, and Kourtney Roberson and Fabyon Harris had 11 apiece for Texas A&M.The Auburn Tigers (9-23) wrap up the season losing their last 10 games and now have lost 11 straight in Nashville. Coach Tony Barbee has yet to win a tournament game in his first three trips. Frankie Sullivan scored a team-high 19 points, and Chris Denson added 15 points.Turner showed no ill effects early from his broken finger that kept him out of the Aggies' regular-season finale. He hit three of his first four shots and had nine points by halftime. The senior guard said after the game his finger did hurt at times.“It's my last year, I've got to play with it, no matter what,” Turner said. “My teammates did a great job just telling me to stay composed and to fight through it. That's what I did; my teammates were the ones that kept me going.”The Aggies both outshot and outrebounded Auburn. They hit 44.9 percent (22 of 49) compared to 40 percent (20 of 50), and they had a 9-0 scoring edge off second-chance points while outrebounding Auburn 36-24.Both teams started shooting the ball well, and Auburn hit three 3-pointers, the last by Noel Johnson for a 13-10 lead with 16:15 to go. Turner answered with a 3 and a jumper to put the Aggies ahead to stay with 15:14 left. That was the start of 15 straight points by Texas A&M, the last a layup by Young for the Aggies' biggest lead of the half at 24-10 with 11:28 remaining.Auburn went nearly seven minutes without a bucket before Sullivan ended the drought with a jumper. The Aggies led by as much as 11 down the stretch, but the Tigers scored the last six points to pull within 34-27 at halftime, the last on a fast-break layup by Wallace.The Tigers kept whittling away at Texas A&M's lead. When Denson stole the ball and scored on a layup, he finished off the three-point play at the line to tie it up at 47 with 11:16 to go. Harris put the Aggies back up 50-47 with a 3-pointer, the start of a 9-2 run capped by a jumper from Roberson to push the lead to 56-49 with 6:13 left.Auburn couldn't get closer than four the rest of the way, the last when Denson made a three-point play with 33.9 seconds left. The Aggies finished off the win by hitting 11 of 12 at the free-throw line in the final 1:48.• Mississippi State 70, South Carolina 59: Will Fred Thomas scored a career-high 21 points as the No. 13 seed Bulldogs (10-21) defeated the 12th seed Gamecocks (14-18) to advance to a meeting today against Tennessee.Big East• No. 19 Syracuse 75, Seton Hall 63: James Southerland hit five 3-pointers in the first half to keep the fifth-seeded Orange (24-8) in the game and Brandon Triche keyed a big second-half run against the Pirates (15-18) in the second round of the Big East tournament. Syracuse will play fourth-seeded and 17th-ranked Pittsburgh in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Both Syracuse and Pittsburgh are leaving the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference after this season. Syracuse, which had lost four of its last five games, looked more like the team that was second in the league in scoring (72.3). The Orange looked nothing like the team that managed just 39 points in a 22-point loss to Georgetown to close the regular season.• Cincinnati 61, Providence 44: Sean Kilpatrick scored 17 points to lead the Bearscats (22-10) past the Friars (17-14) in a Big East tournament game between teams desperate to improve their postseason credentials. JaQuon Parker added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Bearcats who might have solidified an NCAA Tournament berth with the win. No. 9 seed Cincinnati advanced to a quarterfinal matchup today with fifth-ranked Georgetown, the tournament's top seed, at Madison Square Garden. Wearing special uniforms with neon trim and hideous, camouflage-patterned shorts, Cincinnati hounded the Friars into 28 percent shooting from the field (18 for 64).• Villanova 66, St. John’s 53: Mouphtaou Yarou made his first seven shots and scored 18 points, sending the seventh-seeded Wildcats (20-12) past the Red Storm (16-15) and to a matchup tonight against Louisville.• No. 24 Notre Dame 69, Rutgers 61: Pat Connaughton scored a season-high 21 points and the Irish (24-8) beat the Scarlet Knights (15-16) and will face Marquette.Conference USA• UAB 53, SMU 52: In Tulsa, Jordan Swing scored 17 points, including a layup with 9 seconds to play, and the No. 7 seed Blazers (16-16) beat the No. 10 seed Mustangs (15-17) in the opener of the Conference USA tournament. UAB was up 32-23 at halftime and led until Brian Bernardi hit two free throws to put the Mustangs up 52-51 with 29 seconds remaining. Swing's layup put the Blazers (16-16) back on top. No. 10 seed SMU missed a jumper with a second to play. Jalen Jones led SMU with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Cannen Cunningham had 11 points. UAB will play No. 2 seed Southern Mississippi on Thursday in the quarterfinals. • Houston 72, Rice 67: LaShawn Thomas scored 16 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and the No. 6 seed Cougars (19-11) moved on to the second round against third seed UT El Paso by beating the Owls (5-26).Mountain West• UNLV 72, Air Force 56: Anthony Bennett scored 23 points and the third-seeded Rebels defeated Air Force 72-56 in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference on Wednesday. UNLV will play Colorado State in Friday's semifinals. The second-seeded Rams beat Fresno State 67-61. UNLV shot 51 percent, with Bennett making 10 of his 14 shots. He also grabbed seven rebounds. Air Force's Michael Lyons, the Mountain West's leading scorer, was carried off the floor with an apparent knee injury with 18:24 left in the first half and did not return.Pacific 12• Colorado 74, Oregon St. 68: In Las Vegas, Spencer Dinwiddie scored 20 points and the fifth-seeded Buffaloes (21-10) picked up a much-needed win at the Pac-12 tournament, holding off the No. 12 seed Beavers (14-18), in the first round. Colorado needed a couple of wins in Las Vegas to boost its NCAA chances and got off to a good start by dominating Oregon State defensively most of the second half. Colorado moved on to face No. 4 seed Arizona in Thursday's quarterfinals.• Arizona St. 89, Stanford 88, OT: Jahii Carson scored five of his 34 points in overtime in his first college postseason game, helping the Sun Devils (21-11) hold off the Cardinal (18-14) in the opening round of the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Carson's 34 points were the most by a freshman in tournament history. Ninth-seeded Arizona State went up six with about 2 minutes left in regulation, but Stanford rallied, tying it at 79 on Aaron Bright's four-point play with 38 seconds left. Carson, who missed a 3-pointer at the end of regulation, put Arizona State up three with a layup in overtime, and Evan Gordon hit 5 of 6 free throws to send the Sun Devils to the quarterfinals Thursday against No. 21 UCLA.• Utah 69, USC 66: The Trojans (14-18) gave the Utes (14-17) a run despite the suspensions of leading rebounder Dewayne Dedmon and backup center James Blasczyk.Southland• McNeese St. 62, Nicholls St. 59: In Katy, Dontae Cannon scored 23 points, including the go-ahead basket with 24 seconds remaining, and the No. 8 seed Cowboys (14-16) defeated the Colonels (9-21) in the opening round of the Southland Conference tournament. McNeese State will play fourth-seeded Southeastern Louisiana in the second round on Thursday.Patriot League • Bucknell 64, Lafayette 56: Mike Muscala scored six of his 20 points during a decisive second-half stretch to help the top-seeded Bison (28-5) capture their second NCAA Tournament berth in three seasons, beating the Leopards (19-15).Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
