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Midwest Sports Headlines: 3/9/20

Sports

March 9th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Ayo Dosunmu scored 17 points and No. 23 Illinois held off No. 18 Iowa 78-76 to secure the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten Conference tournament. Andres Feliz scored 14 points, Kofi Cockburn had 12 and Kipper Nichols added 10 for Illinois. Luka Garza scored a game-high 28 points for Iowa, which finished in a four-way tie for fifth in the Big Ten and will be the No. 5 seed in the tournament. Joe Toussaint scored 14 and Connor McCaffery added 10. Illinois built a 17-point lead late in the game that evaporated to two points in the final seconds.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Ashley Joens scored 15 points, including the decisive free throw with 0.9 second left, to help Iowa State stun No. 2 Baylor 57-56, ending the Lady Bears’ 58-game regular-season Big 12 winning streak on Sunday. The Lady Bears (28-2, 17-1 Big !2) last lost a conference regular season game to Texas on Feb. 6, 2017. Their only other loss this season came to South Carolina in November in a Thanksgiving tournament. Iowa State (18-11, 10-8) took a 56-53 lead on Joens’ layup with 37 seconds left. Juicy Landrum tied the game 14 seconds later with a 3-pointer.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Erik Stevenson scored 18 points with nine rebounds and Wichita State beat Tulsa 79-57 to end American Athletic Conference play. The Shockers are the fourth seed to the conference’s post-season tournament, which starts Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas. Wichita State gets a first-round bye and will play in the quarterfinals Friday against the winner of No. 5 UConn and 12th-seed Tulane. Martins Igbanu had 20 points for the Golden Hurricane. Tulsa – which also gets an opening-round bye – heads to the tournament as the No. 3 seed. The Golden Hurricane face the winner between sixth-seeded Memphis and No. 11 seed East Carolina.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Gabe Kalscheur scored 26 points and Alihan Demir added 19 points and 10 rebounds as Minnesota set a season-high in scoring with a 107-75 victory over Nebraska. Marcus Carr had 18 points and 11 assists, while Daniel Oturu added 10 points and six rebounds for the Gophers, who made a school-record 18 3-pointers. Haanif Cheatham led the Huskers with 17 points. Jervay Green added 16, Thorir Thorbjarnarson had 14, and Kevin Cross scored 10.

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Kansas center Udoka Azubuike has been selected as the Big 12 player of the year by the league’s coaches. Baylor’s Scott Drew was named coach of the year in the voting by his conference peers. The Big 12 awards were announced Sunday, the day after the end of the regular season. Azubuike is averaging 13.7 points and 10.5 rebounds a game. The 7-footer is also shooting an NCAA-best 74.8% from the field for the regular-season champion Jayhawks. Big 12 runner-up Baylor is 26-4 and spent five weeks as the nation’s No. 1 team. The Bears also set a Big 12 record with 23 wins in a row.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Bradley guard Darrell Brown, motivated by a perceived first-team all-conference snub, scored 21 points to lead the Braves to an 80-66 win over Valparaiso in the championship game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. The Braves have won eight of their last 10 and captured back-to-back MVC tournament crowns for the first time in school history. Javon Freeman-Liberty paced Valparaiso with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Bradley is making its 10th trip to the NCAA Tournament.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Max Abmas scored 20 points as Oral Roberts romped past cold-shooting Omaha 79-52 in the quarterfinals of the Summit League tournament. Deondre Burns had 17 points and six assists for No 4. seed Oral Roberts. Kevin Obanor added 13 points and 11 rebounds. Emmanuel Nzekwesi had 13 points and nine rebounds. Omaha was 27% shooting from the field (16 of 59), the lowest percentage against Oral Roberts this season. KJ Robinson had 15 points to lead the fifth-seeded Mavericks.