Mid-American Conference

HOUSTON, Texas – Seventh-seeded Akron men's basketball claimed a 78-75 upset over No. 2 seed Houston on Wednesday evening in the opening round of the 2017 National Invitation Tournament.

The Zips now await the winner of the BYU/UT-Arlington match-up.  Game date and place will be announced tomorrow.

More coming soon...

Fort Wayne 88, Ball State 80
CollegeInsider.com Tournament
Boxscore

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- The Ball State men's basketball team saw its season come to an end Wednesday with an 88-80 loss at Fort Wayne in the Lou Henson Classic in the opening round of the CIT.
 
The Cardinals (21-13) held a 41-34 lead at halftime but were outscored by 15 after the break. Fort Wayne big man Brent Calhoun led the charge with 27 points, including 20 in the second half.
 
Tayler Persons led four double-figure scorers for Ball State with 18 points, followed by Franko House with 15. Ryan Weber and Jeremie Tyler had 14 each.
 
"I want to give Fort Wayne a lot of credit," Ball State coach James Whitford said. "When they made their run in the second half, I really thought their execution on the offensive end was great. They got the ball inside, they put us in pick-and-roils, they got their drivers driving. They stayed very much within themselves. And I thought on the other end, we stopped sharing the ball.
 
Ball State continued to hold a 59-52 lead with 11:46 to play, but Fort Wayne (20-12) went on an 18-4 run over the next five minutes to seize control.
 
The Cardinals were able to cut the deficit to two points on two occasions behind some clutch outside shooting from Tyler down the stretch. The junior guard scored all 14 of his points in the second half, including 11 in the final six minutes.
 
Tyler's 3-pointer with 2:32 to play cut the lead to 81-79, but Mo Evans answered with a trey for Fort Wayne on the other end. The Mastodons went on to score seven of the game's final eight points.
 
Evans scored 15 points and handed out 12 assists, including eight assists after halftime.
 
Ball State matched its season high for 3-pointers against a Division I team with 14. The Cardinals' 319 3-pointers this season are a new school record, surpassing the 310 hit by the 2001-02 team.
 
But Fort Wayne outscored Ball State 52-22 in the paint. The Cardinals played without starting center Trey Moses, who missed his first start of the year after sustaining an injury in the MAC Tournament semifinals.
 
House and Weber -- a pair of 1,000-point scorers -- played the final games of their careers. House finished his four years 11th in school history with 1,371 points and seventh with 741 rebounds.
 
This marked the second straight postseason appearance for Ball State, which finished with 21 wins for the second year in a row. It is the first time the Cardinals have posted back-to-back 20-win seasons since 1991-92 and 1992-93.

George Washington 73, Toledo 69
College Basketball Invitational
Boxscore

WASHINGTON, DC – Toledo nearly rallied from a seven-point deficit with 2:33 remaining but came up just short in a 73-69 defeat at George Washington in the first round of the 2017 College Basketball Invitational at the Charles E. Smith Center.

Sophomore guard Jaelan Sanford topped the Rockets' attack with 25 points to go along with a team-high three assists and zero turnovers in 40 minutes. Senior forward Steve Taylor also scored in double figures for Toledo with 18 points.

Senior forward Tyler Cavanaugh led George Washington with a game-high 29 points and tied for the team lead with seven boards. Freshman forward Patrick Steeves was the only other Colonial to score in double digits with 17 points.

Toledo (17-17) shot 50.9 percent from the field, including an efficient 61.5 mark in the second half, and 30.0 percent (6-of-20) from three-point range. The Colonials (20-14) registered a 49.1 shooting mark and was 9-of-24 (37.5 percent) from three-point range.

UT trailed the entire contest but kept chipping away after falling behind by a 24-13 margin with 8:44 remaining in the first half. The Rockets trailed by a 35-29 margin at halftime and saw the Colonials extend their lead to 50-40 just under six minutes into the second half.

Taylor's layup with 7:08 remaining cut UT's deficit to 61-58, but George Washington didn't allow the Rockets to get any closer until the final minute. Sophomore forward Nate Navigato's three free throws cut GWU's lead to 71-69 with 15.1 seconds left after he was fouled on a three-point shot. Toledo then forced a turnover when the Colonials were whistled for a five-second call trying to inbounds the ball.

On the ensuing possession, Navigato drove into traffic but couldn't a layup to fall. Cavanaugh then grabbed the rebound and hit two free throws to secure the win for the Colonials.