Hampton University’s season ended Wednesday with an 83-67 first-round College Basketball Invitational loss at Coastal Carolina, and a Lafayette High graduate had a lot to do with the Chanticleers’ success.
Coastal overcame a five-point second-half deficit in Conway, S.C. Former Ram Colton Ray-St. Cyr had 12 points, including a couple of second-half dunks, plus seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks for Coastal (17-17).
Ray-St. Cyr has started every game this season. He entered Wednesday’s contest with averages of 9.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 27 minutes per game, with 42 percent field-goal shooting and 76 percent field-goal shooting.
Coastal’s Jaylen Shaw had 22 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Demario Beck had 21 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.
HU freshman Jermaine Marrow, a Heritage High graduate, closed the Pirates’ 14-17 season with 17 points and three steals. Akim Mitchell added 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Pirates began the second half on a 9-4 run for a 40-35 lead. But St. Cyr’s layup with 9:17 to go gave the Chanticleers the lead to stay at 56-55. In the final 6 1/2 minutes, Coastal outscored the Pirates 25-10.
Loyola (Md.) 73, George Mason 58: The Greyhounds, who will be Coastal’s next CBI opponent at a time and place to be announced, won in Fairfax behind Cam Gregory’s 16 points and eight rebounds.
Jaire Grayer had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Patriots (20-14), but they couldn’t overcome a 13-0 run that put them behind 17-10, as well as a 10-0 burst that made the score 41-22.
George Washington 73, Toledo 69: The host Colonials (20-14) prevailed behind Tyler Cavanaugh’s 29 points and seven rebounds. He hit two free throws at the 7-second mark for the game’s final points.
The Rockets (17-17), who never led, got 25 points from Jaelan Sanford.
Daly, Moore in all-star game: Christopher Newport’s Tim Daly and Virginia Wesleyan’s Khory Moore were among the seniors chosen to play in the annual Reese’s Division III College All-Star Game.
It will be at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Salem Civic Center, just before the national championship game. Daly, Moore and Lynchburg guard Zach Burnett all will be on the West team.
NCAA tournament:
Southern California 75, Providence 71: Bennie Boatwright scored a career-high 24 points as USC rallied from a 17-point deficit in the second half to win a First Four game in Dayton, Ohio.
The comeback victory was revenge for the Trojans, who lost to Providence by one point in the NCAA tournament last year. They move on to play sixth-seeded SMU in Tulsa, Okla., on Friday.
After Providence led by 15 points at halftime and went up by 17 to start the second half, USC (25-9) mounted a furious rally. The Trojans closed it to five points at the 10-minute mark and went up 61-60 on a jumper by Chimezie Metu off a turnover with 6:46 left.
Metu hit both ends of a one-and-one to put USC up 71-64 with 1:23 remaining and kept Providence from getting back into it down the stretch.
Jordan McLaughlin scored 18 points for the Trojans, and Metu added 15 on 9-for-12 free-throw shooting.
Emmitt Holt led Providence with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Jalen Lindsey and Kecoughtan High graduate Rodney Bullock added 17 each.
The comeback was USC’s 12th this season of at last 10 points, the most in the nation.
Providence outshot USC 49 percent to 42 percent, but the Friars outscored them in the second half 46-27.
UC Davis 67, N.C. Central 63: Chima Moneke had 18 points and 12 rebounds as the Aggies won in their first NCAA appearance, a First Four game in Dayton.
Dajuan Graf paced Central (25-9), which won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament last week in Norfolk, with 15 points.
The Big West tournament champion Aggies rallied in the second half to earn a trip to Tulsa, Okla., to play No. 1 seed Kansas on Friday.
Brynton Lemar scored 15 points and Lawrence White added 14 for UC Davis.
The Aggies (23-12) won despite 18 turnovers that led to 20 points for streaky Central. But the Eagles couldn’t overcome poor shooting.
NCCU pulled within 64-63 with 1:49 left in the game on a 3-pointer by Graf. Central got the ball back with 37 seconds left, but another 3-point try by Graf was off the mark. Graf fouled Lawrence White, who made two free throws with 16 seconds remaining. Lemar hit a foul shot with 4 seconds left to put it away.
NIT:
Syracuse 90, UNC Greensboro 77: Richmond native Andrew White III made seven of his nine 3-point attempts and scored 34 points at the Carrier Dome, giving Orange coach Jim Boeheim a landmark 903rd win.
Boeheim moved a victory ahead of Bob Knight for second place all-time in Division I basketball. Boeheim’s total does not include 101 wins vacated as a result of NCAA penalties.
White, a graduate transfer, set the Syracuse single-season record with 109 3-pointers, on 269 attempts. The record had been held by current Orange assistant coach Gerry McNamara (2004-05), who made 107 on 315 tries.
Tyus Battle added 20 points for Syracuse (19-14), a No. 1 seed who will host fifth-seeded Mississippi in the second round. Tyler Lydon had 13 points and 10 rebounds for his eighth double-double this season.
Diante Baldwin led the Spartans (25-10), who were three-way co-champs in the Southern Conference, with 19 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Francis Alonso, the team’s leading scorer at 15.2 ppg, was 1 of 9 shooting for three points.
Boeheim drew the ire of the city of Greensboro when he remarked at the ACC tournament that there was “no value” in the conference holding its tournament in the North Carolina city. Then Sunday, the two teams were matched in the NIT, much to the amusement of Greensboro, who tweeted that they appreciated the NIT selection committee’s sense of humor, though the committee chair, Reggie Minton, insisted the teams were not paired because of Boeheim’s remarks.
The city of Greensboro was gracious in defeat in a tweet : “Congratulations Syracuse on its first round #NIT win. Proud of the effort by @UNCGBasketball. The (Orange) is welcome to Greensboro anytime.”
WOMEN
Monacan High senior Megan Walker, a Connecticut recruit and Boo Williams AAU player, was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year and was presented with the award at halftime of the Mavericks-Wizards game by the WNBA Washington Mystics’ Elena Delle Donne.
Walker averaged 25.9 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.2 steals per game this season in leading the Chiefs to their third consecutive state Group 4A championship. She earlier was named the Naismith Player of the Year.
