Grizzlies earn return to NCAAs
Jordan Hasquet had 20 points and 13 rebounds as Montana beat Northern Arizona 73-60 on the latter’s home floor to win the Big Sky Conference championship and an NCAA tournament bid Wednesday at Flagstaff, Ariz.
The second-seeded Grizzlies (23-6) are heading to the NCAAs for the second consecutive season and the seventh time overall. Virgil Matthews led Montana with 21 points.
Tyrone Bazy had 16 points and Steven Sir added 13 for top-seededNAU (21-10).
Northern Arizona had won 11 straight games in Walkup Skydome. But the Grizzlies weren’t intimidated by a vocal crowd or affected by Flagstaff’s 7,000-foot altitude.
Late in the first half, Montana broke the game open with a 12-0 run to take a 32-21 lead.
The pivotal play came when Northern Arizona’s Ruben Boykin Jr. blew a fast-break dunk that would have given the Lumberjacks the lead. After that blunder, the Grizzlies ran off 10 points in 2:16, with seven coming from Matthews.
Big East tournament: At New York, Gerry McNamara drove the length of the court and hit a 3-pointer with a half-second left, leading ninth-seeded Syracuse (20-11) to a 74-73 victory over eighth-seeded Cincinnati (19-12) in the first round. With the Orange trailing 73-71 and just more than 6 seconds to go, McNamara dribbled through the Cincinnati defense and pulled up in between the NBA and college 3-point lines. He hoisted a one-handed shot while both feet were behind the college line. … Carl Krauser scored 19 points as sixth-seeded and 15th-ranked Pittsburgh, (22-6) despite not making a field goal over the final 13 1/2 minutes, held on for a 61-56 win over 11th-seeded Louisville (18-12). … Quincy Douby scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half to help 10th-seeded Rutgers (18-12) to a 61-48 win over seventh-seeded Seton Hall (18-11). … Brandon Bowman scored a season-high 25 points and fifth-seeded and 23rd-ranked Georgetown (20-8) overcame a terrible start to post a 67-63 win over 12th-seeded Notre Dame (15-13).
Northeast Conference final: At Hackensack, N.J., Chris Kenny drove the length of the court after a missed free throw to score with 2 seconds to play, lifting Monmouth (18-14) to a 49-48 win over top-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson (20-11).
Women
Stefanie Stone made a free throw with 8 seconds remaining to give Army (20-10) a 69-68 win over Holy Cross (16-14) in the championship of the Patriot League tournament at West Point, N.Y.