Jailen Bedford scored 17 points, Tyler Johnson had 12 rebounds to go with nine points, and Virginia Tech beat Colorado State 66-64 Wednesday night to move into the winners’ bracket at the Battle 4 Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
Tech, which moved ahead 33-21 in the first half, led for the entire second half, but Colorado State got within 51-50 with 6:30 remaining. Ben Hammond answered with a 3-pointer and, on the Hokies’ next possession, Neoklis Avdalas made a jumper from the corner with his foot on the 3-point line for a 56-50 lead.
Bedford made layups on back-to-back possessions, sandwiched around a Colorado State miss from 3-point range, to take a 64-59 lead.
CSU guard Jevin Muniz sank a 3-pointer from the wing with 24.8 left to cut the deficit to 66-64. Bedford missed the front end of a one-and-one at 16.3, and Colorado State secured the rebound without a timeout. Josh Pascarelli had a good look from 3-point range in the closing seconds, but it hit off the back of the rim and Tech’s Amani Hansberry secured the rebound at the buzzer.
Avdalas added 13 points and Hansberry scored 10 for Tech (6-0), which will play at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday in a semifinal on ESPN against the winner between Saint Mary’s of California and Wichita State.
Carey Booth scored 15 points for Colorado State (4-2). Rashaan Mbemba added 12 points and Kyle Jorgensen had 11 points and nine rebounds. CSU, which entered ranked fourth in the nation by shooting 45% from 3-point range, went 4 of 19 behind the arc.
Tech led 33-26 at halftime after holding CSU to 38% shooting, including 2 of 10 from 3-point range. The Hokies only made two field goals in the opening nine minutes of the second half — both from 3-point range — but still led 43-38.
VCU 78, South Florida 66: Lazar Djokovic’s 20 points and eight rebounds led the Rams (4-2) over the Bulls at the Battle 4 Atlantis, giving VCU the chance to face Vanderbilt at noon Thursday on ESPN in a semifinal.
Terrence Hill Jr. had 15 points and Barry Evans had 10 points and 10 rebounds for VCU. Evans’ steal and dunk just before the first-half buzzer put the Rams ahead 36-33, and they led throughout the second half.
Izaiyah Nelson had 16 points and 12 rebounds for USF, which will take on Western Kentucky on Thursday.
No. 24 Vanderbilt 83, Western Kentucky 78: Duke Miles scored 28 points, including two key free throws with 1.9 seconds left, Devin McGlockton added 22 points and the Commodores (6-0) won. They were held well under their nation-leading average of 103.0 points per game after shooting just 45% from the field with 17 turnovers.
Tyler Nickel made a 3-pointer with 2:21 left to put Vandy ahead 76-66, but the Commodores did not make another field goal the rest of the way.
Teagan Moore led the Hilltoppers (4-1) with 24 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
PLAYERS ERA
No. 15 Iowa State 95, Syracuse 64: Milan Momcilovic scored 24 points to lead Iowa State on the final day of the Players Era event in Las Vegas. The Cyclones (7-0) won all three of their games at the tournament but were playing in the consolation round because of a point-differential tiebreaker.
Sadiq White Jr. led the Orange (4-3) with 14 points, but they were 0-3 in the event.
No. 3 Houston 66, Notre Dame 56: Emanuel Sharp scored 17 points in a consolation game of the Players Era tourney. Houston (7-1) opened with a 26-4 run against Notre Dame (5-3) and withstood a late comeback try by the Irish. Milos Uzon scored 15 points for Houston, while Markus Burton led Notre Dame with 19.
MAUI INVITATIONAL
Southern California 88, Arizona State 75: Chad Baker-Mazara scored 23 points and Jaden Brownell added 16 as USC (7-0) claimed the Maui Invitational championship in Hawaii over the Sun Devils (6-2).
Baker-Mazara won the tournament championship for the second straight year after scoring 14 points in Auburn’s 90-76 victory over Memphis last season. Baker-Mazara finished 9 of 16 from the field against Arizona State, hitting four 3-pointers.
Maurice Odum scored 17 for ASU.
ESPN EVENTS INVITATIONAL
Bradley 74, Liberty 64: Demarion Burch had 21 points and eight rebounds as the Braves (4-4) defeated the Flames (5-2) for third place in the Adventure Bracket at the ESPN Events Invitational in Kissimmee, Florida.
Brett Decker led Liberty with 21 points, and Zach Cleveland had 11 rebounds and eight assists.
FDU BASKETBALL CLASSIC
Army 81, Fairleigh Dickinson 73: Jaxson Bell had 16 points and seven rebounds and fellow reserve Joshua Eli had 12 points and 11 rebounds as the Black Knights (2-6) won at the FDU Basketball Classic in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Cape Henry Collegiate graduate Jack Castleberry’s Knights fell to 1-6.
MORE
Virginia State 62, Delaware State 58: The Division II Trojans (2-2) edged the D-I Hornets (2-6) in the “HBCU in D.C. Tip-off Experience” event in Washington.
No. 20 Texas Tech 82, New Orleans 50: JT Toppin had 19 points and 16 rebounds and Christian Anderson added 23 points for the Red Raiders (5-2), who won their 43rd consecutive nonconference home game. Jakevion Buckley led the Privateers (2-5) with 16 points.
Navy 84, Gardner-Webb 51: Aidan Kehoe had 20 points and 14 rebounds and Austin Benigni had 12 points and six assists to help the Midshipmen (4-3) dominate the Runnin’ Bulldogs (0-7) in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Boston College 73, Harvard 60: Fred Payne scored 17 points for BC (4-4), which used a big second-half run on its home floor to go ahead 68-48 and beat the Crimson (4-4). Landstown High graduate Donald Hand Jr. had nine points and seven rebounds for BC.
Tey Barbour had 15 points and nine rebounds for Harvard.
