COLLEGE BASKETBALL REGIONAL ROUNDUP : Two Earn NCAA Tournament Bids

Two more teams earned automatic bids to the NCAA tournament Saturday, joining Arizona, Indiana and Pennsylvania.

At Lexington, Ky., Tennessee State defeated Murray State, 82-68, in the final game of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, earning its first bid to the NCAA Division I tournament and capping an improbable turnaround.

And at North Charleston, S.C., Coastal Carolina earned its second NCAA tournament bid in three years by defeating Winthrop, 78-65, in the final game of the Big South Conference tournament.

Tennessee State (19-9), which finished last in the Ohio Valley Conference last season, denied Murray State (18-12) a fourth consecutive title.

Coastal Carolina (22-9), which lost a first-round NCAA tournament game against Indiana two years ago, turned back eighth-seeded Winthrop (14-16), which hoped to become the lowest-seeded team ever to win the Big South Conference tournament.

WEST

Seth Marshall scored 20 points to lead Fresno State (13-14, 8-10) to an 83-78 Western Athletic Conference victory over Colorado State (17-11, 9-9) at Fort Collins, Colo. . . . Rick Henry scored a career-high 18 points for Wyoming (13-14, 7-11) during a 64-58 WAC victory over Air Force (9-18, 3-15) at Laramie, Wyo. . . . John Daggs scored a career-high 25 points to lead Nevada (9-17, 4-14) to a 97-87 Big West Conference victory over Utah State (10-16, 7-11) at Logan, Utah.

MIDWEST

Sophomore Cedric Neloms scored a career-high 36 points, leading Northwestern (8-17, 3-13) to a Big Ten victory over Wisconsin (14-11, 7-9) at Evanston, Ill. . . . Iowa State (19-9, 8-6) capped an unbeaten home season with a 79-61 Big Eight victory over Kansas State (17-9, 7-7) . . . . Drake (14-13) rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit during a 63-59 victory over Northern Iowa (12-15) in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament at St. Louis. . . . Mark Atkins made six three-point shots for all 18 of his points as Missouri (16-13, 5-9) ended a seven-game losing streak with a 70-53 Big Eight victory over Colorado (10-16, 2-12) at Columbia, Mo. . . . An 86-75 Great Midwest Conference victory over DePaul (15-14, 3-7) gave Marquette (20-6, 6-4) its first 20-win season since 1984-85.

SOUTH

Cory Alexander had 20 points and seven assists for Virginia (18-8, 9-7) during an 88-74 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over Maryland (11-15, 2-14) at Charlottesville, Va. . . . Freshman guard Andre Davis scored 22 of his 32 points during the second half, leading North Carolina Charlotte (14-12, 6-6) to an 89-80 Metro Conference victory over Virginia Tech (9-17, 1-11) at Davidson, N.C. . . . Geert Hammink had 22 points and 18 rebounds for Louisiana State (20-9, 9-7) during a 71-56 Southeastern Conference victory over Mississippi (9-17, 4-12) at Baton Rouge, La. . . . John Blake scored 18 points for South Alabama (15-12) during an 87-78 victory over Southwestern Louisiana (17-13) in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament at Biloxi, Miss.

Bernard Haslett scored 17 points in helping Southern Mississippi (10-16, 6-6) to a 71-65 Metro Conference victory over Virginia Commonwealth (18-8, 7-5) at Hattiesburgh, Miss. . . . James Robinson scored 30 points to lead Alabama (15-11, 7-9) to a 92-80 SEC victory over Mississippi State (13-15, 5-11) at Tuscaloosa, Ala. . . . A 14-2 run late in the game helped Georgia (14-12, 8-8) to a 96-83 SEC victory over Tennessee (12-16, 4-12) at Knoxville, Tenn.

Ryan Stuart scored 25 points for top-seeded Northeast Louisiana (25-4) during a 106-82 victory over Texas Arlington (15-13) in the semifinals of the Southland Conference tournament at Monroe, La. . . . Top-seeded James Madison (20-7) rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit for a 60-49 victory over George Mason (7-21) in the quarterfinals of the Colonial Athletic Assn. tournament at Richmond, Va.

SOUTHWEST

Southern Methodist (20-6, 12-2) won the Southwest Conference championship, getting 30 points from Mike Wilson during a 96-80 victory over Texas (10-16, 4-10) at Dallas. . . . An 82-76 victory by Texas A&M; (10-16, 4-10) over Rice (17-8, 11-3) denied the Owls a share of the SWC title. . . . Charles Outlaw scored 23 points and had 18 rebounds for Houston (19-7, 9-5) during an 86-66 SWC victory over Texas Christian (5-21, 2-12) at Houston. . . . Joe Blasingim scored 10 of his 14 points during the second overtime, leading Baylor (16-10, 7-7) to a 91-90 SWC victory over Texas Tech (15-11, 6-8) at Waco, Tex.

EAST

Bobby Hopson scored 23 points to lead Wagner (18-11) to a 65-48 victory over Mt. St. Mary’s (13-15) in the semifinals of the Northeast Conference tournament at New York. . . . Spencer Dunkley scored 17 points for Delaware (20-7) during a 70-65 victory over New Hampshire (6-21) in the quarterfinals of the North Atlantic Conference tournament at Newark, Del. . . . Rob Feaster scored 28 points to lead Holy Cross (22-6) to an 86-78 victory over Fordham (15-16) in the semifinals of the Patriot League tournament at Worcester, Mass. A 75-73 victory by Bucknell (23-5) over Colgate (18-10) in the other semifinal was the 11th in a row for the Bison. . . . Niagara (22-4) made 72% of its shots during an 84-60 rout of St. Peter’s in the quarterfinals of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament at Albany, N.Y. . . . Jack Ayer scored 18 points to help Hartford (14-13) to a 59-49 victory over Maine (10-17) in the quarterfinals of the North Atlantic Conference tournament at West Hartford, Conn.