Eastern Washington’s NIT Debut Ends Quickly at Wyoming

Donta Richardson scored 24 points and Uche Nsonwu-Amadi added 14 points and 12 rebounds to help Wyoming defeat Eastern Washington, 78-71, in a first-round NIT game Thursday night at Laramie, Wyo.

The Eagles, playing in their first Division I postseason tournament, rallied to tie the game at 54 on a basket by Chris Hester with 9:42 remaining, but Wyoming went on a 7-0 run, led by two baskets from Nsonwu-Amadi, to go up 61-54 with 6:30 left.

The Cowboys made 10 straight free throws in the last 1:18 to preserve the win.

The game was originally scheduled for Wednesday night but was postponed by the massive snowstorm in the region. Eastern Washington was stuck in Denver for two days, and at one point the players had to push the team’s chartered bus out of a drift.

Wyoming (21-10) advanced to play North Carolina (18-15) on Monday in Chapel Hill.

Hester scored 19 points to lead Eastern Washington (18-13).

Wyoming used two 7-0 runs in the first half to take a 41-33 halftime lead.

ANOTHER NIT GAME

Michael Kuebler scored 21 points to lead Hawaii past Nevada Las Vegas, 85-68, in a first-round game at Las Vegas, late Wednesday night. Hawaii advanced to play Minnesota in the second round either next Monday or Tuesday at a site to be determined. Kuebler, who scored 19 first-half points, was eight of nine from the field in that half for the Rainbow Warriors (19-11). UNLV ends 21-11.

WOMEN

The Master’s (25-7) defeated Pikeville, Ky. (24-10), 64-40, in the first round of the NAIA Division I tournament at Jackson, Tenn. Kelly DeVries had 16 points for The Master’s, which advanced to play Science and Arts, Okla. (20-13) in today’s second round.

In another first-round game, Point Loma Nazarene (26-8) defeated Campbellsville, Ky. (21-9), 71-49. Jessica Mercado scored 16 points for Point Loma, which shot 51% from the field. Point Loma will play third-seeded Houston Baptist (33-3) in today’s second round.