Central Florida (11-18) in NCAA Field

Central Florida picked a good time to go on its only three-game winning streak of the season.

The Golden Knights (11-18) became the first team to qualify for the 1996 NCAA basketball tournament with an 86-77 victory over Mercer Saturday in the championship game of the Trans America Athletic Conference at Deland, Fla.

Central Florida is the 10th team to make the NCAA tournament with a losing record and the second 11-18 team in a row that the TAAC has sent to the round of 64. Florida International beat Mercer in the conference final last year and was beaten in the first round by UCLA.

Central Florida, the TAAC tournament’s No. 6 seed, beat Campbell (16-11) and Southeastern Louisiana (15-12) to reach the final, where it made a school-record 12 three-point baskets against Mercer (15-14). College of Charleston (23-3) was not eligible to participate in the tournament.

OTHER FINALS

Big South--North Carolina Greensboro (20-9) beat Liberty, 79-53, on the home court of the Flames (17-12) at Lynchburg, Va., to earn its first NCAA berth.

Mid-Eastern Athletic--South Carolina State (22-7) earned the conference’s NCAA automatic berth with a 69-56 victory over Coppin State (19-10) at Tallahassee, Fla. Tournament MVP Derrick Patterson had 17 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Ohio Valley--Reggie Crenshaw made two free throws with less than a second remaining to give Austin Peay (18-10) a 70-68 victory over Murray State (19-8) and its first NCAA berth since 1987. Bubba Wells, the nation’s No. 2 scorer, had 35 points and scored 15 of Austin Peay’s last 19 points. Murray State, the regular-season Ohio Valley champion, is coached by former UCLA assistant Mark Gottfried.

OTHER TOURNAMENTS

American West--Jon Gaines scored 10 of his team’s last 12 points to lead Southern Utah (15-13) to a 55-53 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (16-13) in the tournament final at Cal State Northridge. This conference doesn’t get an automatic NCAA tournament bid.

Metro Atlantic Athletic--Manhattan (17-11), which stunned Oklahoma in the first-round of the NCAA tournament last season, was a 62-60 loser to Niagara (13-14) in a first-round game at Albany, N.Y.

Midwestern Collegiate--No. 22 Wisconsin Green Bay (25-2) extended the nation’s second-longest winning streak to 23 games in a 58-48 victory over Loyola of Chicago (8-18) in a first-round game at Dayton, Ohio.

Southern--Davidson (25-3) made 20 of 31 second-half shots at Greensboro, N.C. for a 92-77 victory over Marshall (17-11). Davidson has the nation’s third-longest winning streak at 19 games and goes for its first NCAA tournament berth since 1986 today when it plays Western Carolina (16-12), which got 40 points from Anquell McCollum in a 97-93 win over Virginia Military (18-10).

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They’re In

Schools that have received automatic bids to the NCAA basketball tournament. All bids are by virtue of conference tournament championships with the exception of Big Ten, Ivy League and Pacific 10 conferences, which do not conduct postseason tournaments. The American West and Conference USA do not receive automatic bids.

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Automatic Qualifier Conference Austin Peay Ohio Valley Central Florida Trans America Athletic N.C. Greensboro Big South Purdue Big Ten South Carolina State Mid-Eastern Athletic

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