VCU handles Memphis with late surge
Men’s basketball: Treveon Graham scored 26 points and Rob Brandenberg added 15, including two late 3-pointers, and VCU beat No. 19 Memphis 78-65 on Thursday night in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis at Paradise Island, Bahamas.
The Rams used their frenetic style of play to take a 16-point lead in the first half only to see the Tigers get to 63-61 with 4:05 to play. VCU then went on an 11-0 run with all the points scored by Graham and Brandenberg. Brandenberg hit two 3s in the run and Graham one as the Rams finished 13 for 22 from behind the arc.
VCU (3-1) will meet No. 5 Duke in today’s semifinals.
Adonis Thomas had 19 points for the Tigers (2-1), who committed 22 turnovers that the Rams turned into 33 points.
• Duke manhandles Minnesota: Seth Curry scored 25 points and Mason Plumlee added 20 points and a career-high-matching 17 rebounds as No. 5 Duke’s starters scored all but two of the Blue Devils’ points in an 89-71 victory over Minnesota in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The Blue Devils (4-0) extended their regular-season tournament winning streak to 21 games, a run that stretches to the championship game of the 2006 CBE Classic.
Rodney Williams had 16 points for the Golden Gophers (4-1), who just couldn’t cut into the Blue Devils’ lead in the second half.
• Louisville sneaks past Northern Iowa: Russ Smith scored 16 points and No. 2 Louisville overcame a terrible offensive effort for a 51-46 victory over Northern Iowa (3-1) in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The Cardinals somehow held a 26-20 halftime lead despite shooting 27.0 percent from the field (10 of 37) and committing 10 turnovers.
Louisville (4-0) will face No. 13 Missouri in tonight’s semifinals. The Tigers beat Stanford 78-70.
• Bowers leads Missouri over Stanford: Laurence Bowers scored 19 points, as usual most were in the second half, and grabbed 10 rebounds as No. 13 Missouri beat Stanford 78-70 in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Bowers, who had 13 points in the second half Thursday, has scored more points after halftime in every game this season for the Tigers (4-0). He came in averaging 15.5 points per game, 14.0 in the second half. Stanford stayed within reach in the second half and was down just 72-68 with 1:15 left on a jumper by John Gage.
Chasson Randle had 22 points for the Cardinal (3-2), who have lost two straight after an eight-game winning streak.
Connecticut routs Wake at tournament
Women’s basketball: Breanna Stewart scored 20 points while Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Morgan Tuck each had 16 to help No. 2 Connecticut rout Wake Forest 95-34 in the opening game of the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
UConn (3-0) dominated from the start, scoring the game’s first 12 points and carrying a 45-12 lead into halftime. It took 7 minutes for Wake Forest to hit its first basket and the Demon Deacons (2-2) missed their last 15 shots from the field in the first half.
The Huskies finished the game shooting 69 percent from the field.
NBA says officials missed late foul
NBA: The NBA said officials Ed Malloy, John Goble and Violet Palmer missed a foul by Charlotte’s Michael Kidd-Gilchrist against Toronto’s Andrea Bargnani on a jump shot in the final seconds of the Bobcats’ 98-97 victory Wednesday night in Charlotte, N.C.
The NBA said Bargnani should have been given two free throws and the clock stopped with approximately 2.4 seconds remaining. Replays showed Kidd-Gilchrist’s right hand made contact with Bargnani’s left wrist as the Toronto player shot, with the ball coming up well short.
Donald leads after first round in Dubai
Golf: Luke Donald shot a 7-under 65 on to lead Rory McIlroy and two others by one stroke after the opening round of the season-ending Dubai (United Arab Emirates) World Championship.
Donald saved par on Nos. 1 and 4 with clutch putting, and some accurate up-and-down play helped him make four birdies in a stretch of six holes.
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano of Spain and Marc Warren of Scotland are also at 6 under. Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington, Martin Kaymer and two others were at 5 under.
Albrecht injured in downhill crash
Skiing: Swiss skier Daniel Albrecht seriously injured his left knee in a crash in training for a World Cup downhill race in Lake Louise, Alberta.
Albrecht has rarely raced in speed events in nearly four years since spending 16 days in an induced coma to recover from brain and lung injuries after he crashed heavily in downhill training in Kitzbuehel, Austria.
The Swiss ski federation says Albrecht sustained a “complex injury” to the knee, and the 29-year-old skier was airlifted by helicopter from the slope and treated at a hospital in Calgary.