COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Shields Leads Richmond to Colonial Title, NCAA Tournament, 81-78

Jim Shields was barely a bit player in last season’s Colonial Athletic Assn. championship game.

Monday night, Shields had 26 points and 11 rebounds to lead Richmond past George Mason, 81-78, for the Colonial title at Richmond, Va.

“On this date last year, 365 days ago, Jim Shields played in this game maybe five minutes,” Spider Coach Dick Tarrant said. “He had gone from being a starter to someone who lost confidence in his abilities.”

Shields was voted the tournament’s most valuable player as defending champion Richmond (21-9) earned its second consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament and fifth in eight years.

Fourth-seeded George Mason (14-16) lost to Richmond for the 11th time in their last 12 meetings.

After Byron Tucker’s basket gave George Mason a 54-52 lead, the Patriots missed their next six shots and turned the ball over four times in a six-minute span.

Kenny Wood got the Spiders even, 54-54, on a tip-in with 12:35 left and Shields’ basket put them ahead to stay 37 seconds later.

Richmond made eight of nine free throws in the final 2:02 to seal the victory.

Tucker scored 26 points and Hargett had 23 for George Mason.

St. Peter’s 64, Iona 58--Tony Walker scored 18 points and tournament MVP Marvin Andrews kept Sean Green in check as the Peacocks earned their first NCAA tournament berth by beating the Gaels in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship game at Albany, N.Y.

Andrews scored 13 points and held Green, averaging 23.7 points, to 10 after Green scored 43 in a semifinal victory over Siena.

Third-seeded St. Peter’s (24-6) held all three of its tournament opponents under 60 points.

South Alabama 86, Old Dominion 81--Derek Turner’s three-pointer with 2:43 remaining put the Jaguars ahead to stay and they beat the Monarchs in the Sun Belt Conference tournament championship game at Mobile, Ala.

South Alabama (22-8), the regular-season champion, won the title for the second time in three years and the NCAA tournament berth that goes with it.

Old Dominion finished at 14-18.

Penn State 52, Temple 50--Freddy Barnes made three free throws in the final 19 seconds and the Nittany Lions, aided by a critical technical foul, beat the Owls in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament at Philadelphia.

Penn State (19-10), moving to the Big Ten Conference next season, will play George Washington in tonight’s championship game.

Dirk Surles scored 24 points and freshman guard Alvin Pearsall sank two free throws with nine seconds left to give George Washington (19-10) an 84-82 victory over St. Joseph’s (13-17).

Temple (21-9), which won the conference title three of the last four years, took a 47-42 lead on a layup by Mark Macon with 4:35 left. But Monroe Brown made a three-pointer, and Barnes’ two free throws with 2:47 left tied the score.

C.J. Johnson made two free throws with 2:22 left to give the Nittany Lions a 49-47 lead.

Temple called its final timeout with 36 seconds left and missed a shot on the ensuing possession, but retained the ball when it went out of bounds. Attempting to inbound the ball, Temple’s Mik Kilgore called a timeout to avoid a five-second violation, but the Owls had no timeouts left and a technical foul was called.

Barnes made both free throws to give the Lions a 51-47 lead, but Macon sank a three-pointer with 11 seconds left. Barnes made a free throw with five seconds left and Macon’s desperation shot as the game ended fell short.

Northern Illinois 76, Northern Iowa 63--Donald Whiteside made a three-point shot as regulation play ended to tie the score, and the Huskies scored the final 13 points of overtime to defeat the Panthers in the semifinals of the Mid-Continent Conference tournament at Green Bay, Wis.

The Huskies (25-4), the conference’s regular-season champions, will play Wisconsin Green Bay in tonight’s final. Tony Bennett scored 22 points and Wisconsin Green Bay (23-6) beat Eastern Illinois, 63-54. Gerald Jones had 23 points for Eastern Illinois (17-12).

AUTOMATIC BIDS

Schools (9) that have received automatic bids to the NCAA tournament. Big Ten, Ivy League and Pacific 10 bids are by regular-season title; the others are by conference tournament championship:

TEAM CONFERENCE Arizona Pacific 10 East Tennessee State Southern Louisiana Tech American South Ohio State Big Ten Pepperdine West Coast Princeton Ivy League Richmond Colonial Athletic St. Peter’s Metro Atlantic Athletic South Alabama Sun Belt