Musselman Regains Spotlight

South Alabama Coach Bill Musselman and his wife of four months are finally going to have a honeymoon.

The site depends on the NCAA tournament committee.

Musselman’s Jaguars played great defense down the stretch and earned an NCAA berth with a 44-43 victory over Louisiana Tech in the championship game of the Sun Belt Conference tournament Tuesday night at Little Rock, Ark.

The Jaguars (23-6) won despite going scoreless in the final 4:14.

The Jaguars thrived on defense on their way to a share of the conference title. They held opponents to an average of 15 points below their norm and three South Alabama players were named Sun Belt defensive players of the week.

“Our team played unbelievable defense,” said Musselman, the former controversial Minnesota coach who is in his second season at South Alabama.

OTHER TOURNAMENTS

Mid-American--Antonio Daniels scored 24 points as host Bowling Green defeated Toledo, 94-69, in a Mid-American Conference quarterfinal. . . . All five Eastern Michigan starters scored in double figures and Ball State went 6:16 without a field goal in the closing minutes as the Eagles (21-9) won, 85-75, in the first round at Ypsilanti, Mich. Eastern Michigan won conference title last season and upset Duke in first round of the NCAAs. . . . Ira Newble scored a career-high 25 points and Miami of Ohio (19-8) overcame a nine-point halftime deficit to beat Kent, 75-65, in a quarterfinal game at Oxford, Miss. . . . Western Michigan beat Ohio, 74-68, at Athens, Ohio.

Mid-Continent--Valparaiso clinched its second consecutive NCAA tournament berth, beating Western Illinois, 63-59, in the championship game at Moline, Ill. Valparaiso (24-6) won despite getting only 10 points from conference MVP Bryce Drew. He sustained a concussion in a semifinal win over Northeastern Illinois and was still slowed because of the injury. Janthony Joseph, slowed because of foul trouble in the second half, scored 23 points for Western Illinois (19-10) was the chosen as the tournament MVP. Valparaiso lost to Arizona in first round of NCAA tournament last season.

Midwestern Collegiate--With an NCAA tournament berth hanging on the outcome, Jon Neuhouser, the MCC player of the year, made a close-in bank shot with 35 seconds left to give Butler a 69-68 victory in the conference final at Dayton, Ohio. The Bulldogs (23-9) will be making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1962.

Western Athletic--Nevada Las Vegas, host of the WAC tournament, advanced to a Thursday game against Tulsa by defeating Rice, 71-61. The victory gave the Running’ Rebels (20-8) their first 20-win season in four years. UNLV Coach Bill Bayno said, “I think if we win Thursday we deserve to be in [the tournament].” Keon Clark had 11 points and 11 rebounds for UNLV. . . . Lamont Long scored 22 points as No. 14 New Mexico (23-6) shot 66% in the first half and routed San Jose State, 103-70. . . . In other WAC games, SMU beat Colorado State, 93-89, and TCU topped Wyoming, 72-61.

NONTOURNAMENT

In a tuneup for the NCAA tournament, Jesse Rosenfeld had a career-high 16 points and combined with fellow senior Sydney Johnson to lead a game-breaking 19-6 first-half spurt as Princeton (24-3, 14-0) posted an 86-73 victory over Penn (12-14, 8-6) at Princeton, N.J.