Tempe, Ariz. — Jahii Carson had 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists and Carrick Felix added 21 points and seven rebounds as Arizona State beat Detroit, 83-68, Wednesday night in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.
The Sun Devils (22-12) play at Baylor on Friday night in the second round. The Bears beat Long Beach State, 112-66, in their opening-round game earlier Wednesday.
Jason Calliste led the Titans with 19 points as Arizona State held Detroit to 10 under its season average of 78 points a game, eighth-best in the nation.
After trailing by 25 in the first half, Detroit scored the first nine points of the second half, capped by Nick Minnerath's 3-pointer with 16:58 left that cut the lead to 10. Detroit later got within 51-42 but Carson, the nation's top-scoring freshman, hit back-to-back baskets and the Titans never got closer.
NCAA Tournament
La Salle 80, Boise State 71: Tyrone Garland led La Salle's guard-driven offense with 22 points, and La Salle wrapped up the NCAA Tournament's First Four by getting the better of an old-fashioned shootout between No. 13 seeds in Dayton, Ohio.
La Salle (22-9) play fourth-seeded Kansas State on Friday.
Ramon Galloway, one of the Atlantic 10's top scorers, added 21 points in a fast-paced offense that did pretty much whatever it wanted. La Salle shot 63 percent from the field — 16 of 22 in the second half.
Thirteenth-seeded Boise State (21-11) got its first at-large bid and was looking for the first NCAA tournament win in its history.
Anthony Drmic had 28 points for Boise State, which shot 49 percent while falling to 0-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
James Madison 68, LIU Brooklyn 55: A.J. Davis, who stepped in as a starter because James Madison's leading scorer was suspended for a half, led the way with 20 points in Dayton, Ohio.
James Madison (21-14) advances to meet top-seeded Indiana (27-6) on Friday night at the same University of Dayton Arena.
James Madison was without suspended starter Rayshawn Goins for the first half but built a big lead. After the Blackbirds (20-14) battled back to take a brief lead, the Dukes surged again to win going away.
Charles Cooke added 15 points and Andre Nation 14 for the Dukes, who hadn't won an NCAA tournament game since 1983 and hadn't played in the big dance in 19 years.
Jamal Olasewere had 20 points and 10 rebounds and C.J. Garner 16 points for the Blackbirds, who have lost in their first game in each of their six trips to the tournament.
College Basketball Invitational
(At) Western Michigan 72, North Dakota State 71 (OT): Connar Tava (Warren DeLaSalle) sank two free throws with 13 seconds remaining, then provided one of two blocked shots on North Dakota State's final possession to lift Western Michigan (21-12) to a first-round victory in the CBI.
Shayne Whittington led Western with 18 points and three blocked shots, while Brandon Pokley scored 15. David Brown came off the bench to score 12.
Tava finished with 10 points off the bench, and was just 2-of-6 from the free-throw line before sinking the winning pair.
TrayVonn Wright led North Dakota State (24-10) with 23 points.
Western takes on Wyoming (20-13) in the second round Monday.
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