It’s a New Season for Old Dominion

Alex Loughton already has the Colonial Athletic Assn.’s player-of-the-year award, and with one more chance to show why, he carried Old Dominion to the NCAA tournament.

The 6-foot-9 forward from Australia scored six of his 28 points in overtime Monday night and the top-seeded Monarchs (28-5) followed his lead, beating Virginia Commonwealth, 73-66, in Richmond, Va., for the conference tournament championship.

“I thought tonight was my night and I was going to sort of outsmart and out-tough the opposition,” Loughton said after making 12 of 19 shots and grabbing 11 rebounds. “I really thought I found my niche tonight.”

Second-seeded Virginia Commonwealth (19-12) cut a 69-63 deficit in half on B.A. Walker’s three-pointer with 13.9 seconds left, but Drew Williamson made two free throws with 12 seconds to play.

Niagara 81, Rider 59 -- Juan Mendez scored 27 points to help the Purple Eagles clinch their first NCAA tournament berth in 35 years in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship game in Buffalo, N.Y.

Starting the game with a dunk, the senior forward made 10 of his first 12 shots, had 13 rebounds and was a physical force at both ends of the floor for Niagara (20-9).

Paul Johnson scored 12 points and had eight assists for Rider (19-11), which shared the regular-season title with Niagara but ended up the second-seeded team as a result of a tiebreaker.

Creighton 75, Southwest Missouri State 57 -- With reserve Jimmy Motz leading the way, Creighton made 12 three-point shots to give the Bluejays (23-10) their fifth Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship in seven years.

Reserve Dane Watts and Johnny Mathies had 14 points apiece for Creighton, which overcame 43% shooting to win its ninth conference tournament title and a trip to the NCAA tournament.

Deke Thompson had 14 points and Anthony Shavies 10 for Southwest Missouri State (18-12), which also lost the tournament championship game last season.

IN OTHER GAMES

Erik Benzel scored 19 points and Denver (20-9) earned a spot in its first Sun Belt Conference tournament championship game by beating Western Kentucky (21-8), 77-68, in Denton, Texas.... Caleb Green had 22 points and seven rebounds to lead Oral Roberts (25-6) to an 80-69 victory over Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis (16-13) in the Mid-Continent Conference tournament semifinals in Tulsa, Okla.... John Reimold scored 38 points to lead Bowling Green (18-10) to a 75-73 home win over Ball State (15-13) in the first round of the Mid-American Conference tournament.