NIT Capsules
West Virginia 79, Rhode Island 72
D’or Fischer blocked a school record nine shots to help lead West Virginia to a first round win in the NIT. They advance to play at Rutgers on Monday night. The Mountaineers lost at Rutgers on Feb. 25, 74-53.
Tyrone Sally had a team-high 17 points to lead West Virginia and Fischer had 11. Brian Woodard led Rhode Island with 20 points. Down 64-43 with over eight minutes to go, Rhode Island went on a 17-2 run that brought them to within six. But a breakaway dunk by Sally with 40 seconds left let West Virginia retake control of the game and took a 74-64 lead.
George Mason 66, Austin Peay 60
For th
e first time in school history, George Mason posted back-to-back postseason wins as they defeated the Governors’ in Fairfax, Va., on Friday night.
Lamar Butler scored 19 points, just two days after he shot a dismal 0-for-8 from the field, to lead the way. Butler would also drill the game-breaking three with 1:24 left in the game to give George Mason the lead for good. Jai Lewis added 18 points and nine rebounds as well in the victory.
George Mason, which has already broken a school record for wins in a season (23), will play at Oregon on Tuesday night. The 23rd victory was also head coach Jim Larranaga his best season of his coaching career. He had 22 wins as coach at Bowling Green during the 1996-’97 season.
Nebraska 78, Niagara 70
Juan Mendez scored 27 points and James Reaves had 12 points and 11 rebounds, but that was not enough for Niagara who fell to the Cornhuskers in Lincoln, Neb., on Friday night.
John Turek and Nate Johnson each had 17 points for Nebraska who advances to play on the road at Hawaii on Monday night. A win by Nebraska would put them one win away from the NIT Final Four in New York City. Mendez, Reaves and Tremmell Darden combined for 50 of Niagara’s 70 points in the contest.
