Iowa Loses Huge Lead, But Wins

NIT

Chris Kingsbury scored 19 points and Jess Settles had 18 as Iowa held off DePaul 96-87 at Moline, Ill., in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament.

Jim Bartels and Andre Woolridge each scored 17 points and Kenyon Murray 12 for Iowa (20-11).

The Hawkeyes blew a 21-point lead in the first half as Brandon Cole, Tom Kleinschmidt and Bryant Bowden led a furious second-half DePaul comeback. Kleinschmidt scored 19 points, Bowden 18 and Cole 17 for the Blue Demons (17-11).

DePaul erased a 46-34 halftime deficit with a 15-1 spurt midway in the second half and took its first lead 63-62 on Cole’s layup with 11:01 remaining.

The lead seesawed during the next seven minutes until Bartels made a 3-pointer to give the Hawkeyes an 88-83 cushion with 1:04 to play. Cole missed a 3-pointer and Murray sank two free throws after being fouled on the rebound to put Iowa up 90-83 with 39.7 seconds left.

Marquette 68, Auburn 61

Freshman Aaron Hutchins scored a career-high 20 points and the Golden Eagles (18-11) held the Tigers (16-13) without a field goal for almost 9 minutes in the second half at Auburn, Ala.

Hutchins, a reserve averaging only 3.4 points a game, scored eight during a 13-3 run which erased Auburn’s 52-49 lead and gave Marquette a 61-55 advantage. His final basket was a back-breaker for the Tigers - a 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down to put the Golden Eagles up by six with 2:52 remaining.

For the game, the stocky, 5-foot-9 guard connected on 5 of 7 from beyond the 3-point arc to bury Auburn, which was making only its second postseason appearance in seven years.

Penn St. 62, Miami, Fla. 56

John Amaechi scored 21 points and the Nittany Lions (18-10) came back from a 20-point deficit in the second half to beat the Hurricanes (15-13) at State College, Pa.

Penn State trailed 48-28 with 14 minutes remaining before going on a 20-3 run.

Amaechi scored eight straight points for the Nittany Lions during the stretch, including a three-point play with 4 minutes remaining that made it 51-46. More importantly, Miami’s 7-3 center Constantin Popa, who had 13 points, fouled out on the play.

On the next Penn State possession, Amaechi dove on the floor to grab a loose ball and Pete Lisicky made a jump shot to make it 51-48.

After a free throw by Miami’s Mitchell Dunn, Lisicky hit a 3-pointer to deficit the lead to one point. Amaechi then went to the line and put the Nittany Lions ahead 53-52, their first lead in nearly 30 minutes. Penn State sealed the game with free throws.

Canisius 83, Seton Hall 71

Craig Wise scored 28 points, and the Golden Griffins (19-12) held off a late comeback by the Pirates (16-14) at Buffalo, N.Y.

Wise scored 14 points in each half and hit two important free throws to give Canisius its first NIT victory since 1963. The Golden Griffins also snapped a 14-game losing streak to Big East Conference teams.

Michael Meeks had 26 points for Canisius.

Coppin St. 75, St. Joseph’s 68 (OT)

Keith Carmichael made two 3-pointers in overtime and the Eagles (21-9) defeated the Hawks (17-12) at Philadelphia in a game delayed more than hour by a broken backboard.

The start was held up for about an hour and 15 minutes after Mario McGriff of Coppin State shattered a backboard during warmups.

New Mexico St. 97, Colorado 83

Rodney Walker scored 28 points as the Aggies (24-9) beat the Buffaloes (15-13) at Las Cruces, N.M.

New Mexico State opened the game with a 15-0 run, taking advantage of three turnovers. Colorado took nearly 4 minutes before making its first basket, a 3-pointer by Leroy Carter.