Mount St. Mary’s clinches a berth in NCAA tournament

Rashad Whack scored 20 points and four of his teammates finished in double figures and Mount St. Mary’s clinched an NCAA tournament berth with an 88-71 victory against Robert Morris in the Northeast Conference tournament title game Tuesday night in Moon Township, Pa.

The fourth-seeded Mountaineers (16-16) built a 20-point first-half lead and never looked back, shooting 60.4% to win their fourth conference title in school history and first since 2008.

Julian Norfleet scored 17, Taylor Danaher and Sam Prescott scored 15, and Will Miller added 11 for the Mountaineers, whose four NEC championship game victories all came on the road.

Robert Morris (21-13) never led and never pulled closer than 10 points in the second half. Robert Morris won both games between the teams during the regular season.

Horizon League final

Senior forward Kyle Kelm had 20 points and nine rebounds, Milwaukee’s front line dominated, and the Panthers led the whole way during a 69-63 victory over Wright State for the Horizon League tournament title at Dayton, Ohio.

Milwaukee (21-13) is back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006, when the Panthers knocked off Oklahoma in the first round before losing to Florida.

Jordan Aaron scored 18 points as Milwaukee went nine for 18 from beyond the three-point line against the league’s top defense and had a 35-28 edge in rebounds. Wright State (20-14) has a season-high six-game winning streak snapped. The Raiders were trying to get back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007.

Summit League final

Taylor Braun made a layup while being fouled with 12 seconds left and added the free throw to lead North Dakota State to a 60-57 win over Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne for the Summit League title in Sioux Falls, S.D., earning the Bison a second trip to the NCAA tournament.

North Dakota State (25-6) last earned a berth to the NCAA tournament in 2009 during its first year of Division I postseason eligibility. TrayVonn Wright led the Bison with 19 points on a mixture of dunks, layups and jumpers, and Braun added 15 points.

Pierre Bland, Luis Jacobo and Michael Kibiloski each scored nine points for IPFW (24-10) in its first Summit League title game.