March 20, 2008

AP -- Reggie Huffman had 21 points, including a game-saving layup with 5.6 seconds left, as UAB took a commanding second-half lead and held off Virginia Commonwealth 80-77 in the first round of the MasterCard NIT on Wednesday night.

The Blazers (23-10) led 62-47 with 6:38 remaining after a layup by Lawrence Kinnard, but the Rams cut it to 66-59 with 3:23 to go. The Blazers rebuilt their lead to 11, but Joey Rodriguez's 3-pointer pulled the Rams to 75-73 with 38.7 seconds left.

UAB converted just 8 of 14 free throws in the last 66 seconds, and Jamal Shuler's 3-pointer--a desperate, twisting leaner from the left corner--pulled the CAA regular season champions (24-8) to within 78-77 with 9 seconds left.

On the inbounds play, however, the Rams pressed and Huffman slipped downcourt, where Aaron Johnson hit him with a baseball pass and he went in for an easy layup.

Eric Maynor missed a 3-pointer for the Rams just before the buzzer.

The Blazers, playing for the first time since they lost 78-68 to Tulsa in overtime at the Conference USA quarterfinals, used a 20-2 run ending the first half to lead 38-27. Johnson finished the contest with 12 points and six assists without a turnover, while Kinnard came off the bench to collect 13 points and eight boards on the night. UAB's leading scorer Robert Vaden, who entered the contest with an average of 21.6 ppg, collected 16 points and five assists in the victory.

UAB also got 16 points from Vaden, who became the school's all-time single-season scoring leader with 686, and 13 from Kinnard.

UAB will advance to play Virginia Tech in the second round of the 2008 NIT. The game will take place on Monday night in Blacksburg, Va. Tip-off is 8 p.m. CDT and will be shown on ESPN.

Houston and Tulsa both advanced to the quarterfinals of the inaugural College Basketball Invitational with wins against Nevada and Miami (Ohio), respectively. UTEP also earned a bid to the CBI, but was eliminated by Utah.

Houston senior Robert McKiver scored 22 points and Marcus Cousin made the winning free throw with 26.5 seconds left to lead the Cougars past Nevada, 80-79, Tuesday night. Dion Dowell added 19 points and 14 rebounds for the Cougars, whose 23-9 record is their best since the 1991-92 season.

Armon Johnson missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer for Nevada, which had trailed by as much as 10 points the second half and closed its sixth consecutive year of postseason play at 21-12. Marcelus Kemp led Nevada with 24 points.

Tied at 71, Dowell followed a pair of free throws with a tip-in to put Houston ahead 75-71 with 3:10 left. The Cougars went up 79-75 on Kelvin Lewis' floater in the lane at 1:50.

JaVale McGee, who scored Nevada's first 6 points of the game on three slam dunks but fouled out with 12 points total, scored inside but missed the free throw when he was fouled at 1:33. After McKiver missed a 3-pointer, Kemp scored inside to make it 79-79 with 58 seconds left.

Houston led 43-36 at the half on Tafari Toney's 35-footer at the halftime buzzer.

Tulsa senior Brett McDade scored 18 of his 22 points in the first half to lead the Golden Hurricane to a 61-45 win against Miami on Wednesday night in its CBI first-round game.

Ben Uzoh had the first seven points in Tulsa's 9-0 run to start the second half, including a three-point play and a 3-pointer from the left wing that beat the shot clock buzzer. Calvin Walls followed with a layup to make it 42-27, restoring a 15-point lead for the Golden Hurricane (21-13) that had completely evaporated late in the first half.

The RedHawks (17-16), playing without leading scorer Michael Bramos (hand), couldn't overcome another big deficit. Miami never got within single digits, and Tulsa's advantage eventually swelled to 59-40 on Walls' jumper with 4:20 remaining

Uzoh ended up with 16 points, Walls scored 10 and Jerome Jordan added six points and 12 rebounds for the Golden Hurricane.

Rodney Haddix scored 12 points and Eric Pollitz had 10 to lead Miami, which was without head coach Charlie Coles for the seventh straight game. Coles had a heart procedure done last week but is expected to return to his job.

Tulsa reported attendance of 5,365, the highest for any of the CBI's games so far.

After McDade hit four 3-pointers to push Tulsa to a 23-8 lead, Haddix came off the bench to lead Miami's comeback. Haddix had a 3-pointer and a three-point play as the RedHawks reeled off 12 straight points to cut the deficit to three.

Kenny Hayes tied the game at 27 with his 3-pointer from the right wing with 2:30 to go before halftime, but McDade then scored the final six points of the half on a three-point play and a 3-pointer.

The Golden Hurricane have won 11 of 14, including a run to the championship game of last weeks' Conference USA tournament.

Both Houston and Tulsa will host a CBI quarterfinal game on Monday night. The Cougars will welcome Valparaiso to Hofheinz Pavilion, while Utah will visit Tulsa Both games tip at 8 p.m. CDT.