UC Davis, Sac State Move On With Conference Tourney Wins
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Josh Ritchart scored 21 points and Big West Player of the Year Corey Hawkins had 13 of his 15 in the second half to rally UC-Davis to a 71-67 win over CS Northridge on Thursday in the opening game of the conference tournament.
Ritchart hit 6 of 8 shots, including 5 of 6 behind the arc to offset an off night for Hawkins, the nation's leading 3-pointer shooter (49.7 percent) who hit just 1 of 5 treys.
The top-seeded Aggies (25-5), who trailed the Matadors (9-24) 36-28 at the half, shot 66.7 percent in the second half and used an 8-0 run to take their first at 54-52 with 7:07 to play. They face the Hawaii in the semifinals on Friday.
After Stephan Hicks made two free throws to tie the game, Tyler Les hit a 3-pointer at 5:51 to put Davis up for good. Ritchart sandwiched a pair of 3s around a Hawkins free throw to make it 64-56 with 3:22 left.
Aaron Parks had 21 points and Stephen Maxwell added 19 for Northridge.
Meanwhile, in Montana:
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Mikh McKinney scored 24 points, Dylan Garrity added 22 and third-seeded Sacramento State beat sixth-seeded Portland State 70-60 in the Big Sky Conference quarterfinals on Thursday.
Cody Demps added 13 points for the Hornets (20-10), who advanced to a semifinal game with No. 2 seed Eastern Washington on Friday.
McKinney, the Big Sky MVP, hit a 3-pointer that gave Sacramento State a 60-54 lead with 2:27 left. Garrity followed with a steal and jumper 24 seconds later to make the lead eight and Demps sank all six free throws in the final 1:06.
The trio of McKinney, Garrity and Demps accounted for all but 11 of Sacramento State's points.
Gary Winston did his best to keep the Vikings (15-14) close at the end, scoring 10 of his 26 points in the final 4:34.
Portland State led 31-27 at halftime, but the Hornets took the lead for good at 49-47.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.