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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

NIT: Orange rally in NIT opening round

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

Eric Devendorf scored a career-high 34 points and Demetris Nichols added 15 to help Syracuse rally for a 79-73 victory over South Alabama in the NIT on Wednesday night in Syracuse, N.Y.

The Orange (23-10), trailing 59-50 with 11:23 to play, scored 18 straight points to go up 68-59 with 4:59 to play. Daon Merritt broke the run with a free throw at the 4:03 mark. The Jaguars went without a field goal for more than 9 minutes until Ernest Little’s dunk with 2:10 left to play.

Clemson 64, East Tennessee St. 57: At Clemson, S.C., K.C. Rivers and Trevor Booker had double-doubles to lift the Tigers (22-10) to a victory over the Buccaneers (24-10).

Rivers finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds, and Booker had 11 points and 11 boards.

Georgia 88, Fresno State 78: At Athens, Ga., Levi Stukes led a barrage of 3-pointers, finishing with a season-high 30 points, in Georgia’s (19-13) victory over Fresno State (22-10) in a Bulldog battle.

The schools combined to hit 31 of 62 shots beyond the arc. Mississippi 73, Appalachian St. 59: At Oxford, Miss., Todd Abernethy scored 18 points and the Rebels (21-12) held the Mountaineers (25-8) scoreless for nearly 6 minutes in the second half to pull away for a win.

Kansas St. 59, Vermont 57: At Manhattan, Kan., David Hoskins drove for the go-ahead bucket with 33 seconds left, capping a second-half comeback that carried the Wildcats (23-11) past the Catamounts (25-8).

Vermont led 51-39 with about 10:30 left after trailing by as many as eight in the first half.

DePaul 83, Hofstra 71: At Chicago, DePaul’s Wilson Chandler tied a career high with 26 points in leading the Blue Demons (19-13) to a win over the Pride (19-13).

The third-seeded Blue Demons advanced to a second-round game Monday at second-seeded Kansas State.

Bradley 90, Providence 78 (OT): At Peoria, Ill., Will Franklin scored 23 points, including six in overtime, and the Braves (22-12) beat the Friars (18-13).

The Braves advanced to a second-round game at Mississippi State on Saturday.

San Diego St. 74, Missouri St. 70: At Springfield, Mo., Brandon Heath had 26 points, including a 3-pointer with 5.3 seconds remaining to break a tie and lead the Aztecs (22-10) to a win over the Bears (22-11).

Mohamed Abukar added 15 points for San Diego State and Jerome Habel had 11.

Air Force 75, Austin Peay 51: At Air Force Academy, Colo., Tim Anderson grabbed a career-high eight rebounds and all five starters for the Falcons (24-8) scored 13 points in a win over the Governers (21-12).

Air Force, the top seed in the West region, will host fourth-seeded Georgia on Monday night in the second round.

Women

Utah 78, Montana 70: At Salt Lake City, the Utes (19-13) were down by eight with 11:46 to play but went on a 13-0 run to beat the Lady Griz (27-4) in the first round of the women’s NIT.

Montana held Utah to 35.3 percent shooting in the first half to take a 42-37 halftime lead.

“Montana head coach Robin Selvig was named the 2007 Big Sky Conference women’s basketball coach of the year for leading the Grizzlies to a conference title and a berth in the NIT.

Selvig has won the award more than a dozen times during his 29 years at Montana.