Mount St. Mary’s wins

Jim Phelan must be smiling.

Mount St. Mary’s is back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since the coaching great handed the program over to his assistant, Milan Brown, five years ago.

Jean Cajou and Kelly Beidler each scored 15 points and the Mountaineers (18-14) beat Sacred Heart 68-55 Wednesday in the Northeast Conference championship game in Fairfield, Conn.

“In the back of my mind, I knew that bringing a championship home would definitely be great for me,” said Brown, who was an assistant to Phelan the last time the Mount went to the NCAA tournament in 1999. “But it’s going to put a smirk on his face too, even though I know he was so nervous that he didn’t watch the game.”

Phelan won 830 games in 49 years at Mount St. Mary’s.

Jeremy Goode added 13 and Shawn Atupem had 12 for the fourth-seeded Mountaineers, who have won eight of nine, including a victory over top-seeded Robert Morris in the semifinals.

Mount St. Mary’s students held up signs urging their team to “Win for Dustin,” and began chanting “Dustin Bauer” as the game wound down. Bauer, a senior at the school, was placed on life support after injuring his head in a fall from the first-floor landing of a residence hall early Sunday morning.

“If he was healthy, he would have been here,” said senior guard Chris Vann, a close friend of Bauer’s. “He was one of the ‘Mount Maniacs’ at the school. We did it for him, but we did it for us as well. It felt like he was the sixth man on the court.”

Brice Brooks had 18 points and Drew Shubik had 13 to lead Sacred Heart (18-14), which cut a nine-point deficit to 57-55 with just more than 3 minutes left.

But Beidler hit a basket that stretched the lead back to four, and Shubik threw the ball into the hands of Markus Mitchell on the other end. Mount St. Mary’s scored 11 straight to end the game, most of those from the foul line.

The Mountaineers held the Pioneers to 29 percent shooting, including 2 for 19 from 3-point range.

“We consider ourselves the No. 1 defensive team in the conference and I believe this, right here, proved it,” Beidler said. “We played at their gym, everyone was thinking that they’re going to win and we came in and shocked everybody.”

It was a physical game. The two teams combined for 52 fouls, and the Mountaineers were 30 of 35 from the free-throw line.

Brown said he expects his team will be headed to Dayton next week for the “play-in” opening-round game.

“At this point I don’t care where we play,” Brown said. “We just want to keep playing.”

(25) Marquette 67, Seton Hall 54: Jerel McNeal scored 21 points and the Golden Eagles (23-8) held the Pirates (17-15) scoreless over the final 5 minutes of a victory in the opening round of the Big East tournament in New York.

The sixth-seeded Golden Eagles will play third-seeded and 14th-ranked Notre Dame in the quarterfinals tonight.

Both teams struggled on offense with Marquette shooting 34.4 percent (22 for 64), while Seton Hall shot 33.9 percent (20 for 59). The Pirates’ plan worked well for 35 minutes as they were within 57-54 before ending the game by coming up empty on their last 10 possessions. Marquette closed with a 10-0 run.

Jamar Nutter and Eugene Harvey both had 15 points for Seton Hall, which lost to Marquette for the third time this season.

Lazar Hayward had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Marquette, while Dominic James added 11 points. The Golden Eagles finished with a 56-37 rebound advantage, including 25-13 on the offensive end. All three of Seton Hall’s big men fouled out.

Women

Carla Cortijo scored a career-high 24 points and Texas overcame a 16-point halftime deficit to defeat No. 8 Baylor 76-61 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, Mo.

The loss by second-seeded Baylor (24-6) continued one of the most unpredictable tournaments in the history of the Big 12, with top-seeded Kansas State losing to eighth-seeded Iowa State earlier in the day and No. 13 Oklahoma losing to the worst team in the Big 12, Missouri, in the opening round on Tuesday.

Texas (21-11) will play Oklahoma State (24-6) today. Oklahoma State beat Kansas 82-62.