Conference USA Tournament Recaps

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Birmingham, AL (SportsNetwork.com) – Dennis Mavin’s half-court heave as time expired lifted the FIU Panthers over the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners in first-round action of the Conference-USA Tournament at Legacy Arena on Wednesday afternoon.

Mavin ended with 15 points and nine rebounds and Ray Rodriguez had 14 points, as the 10th-seeded Panthers get second-seeded UTEP in the quarterfinal round on Thursday.

Ryan Bowie led all scorers with 25 points and added seven rebounds for the seventh-seeded Roadrunners, whose season comes to an end.

Bowie led all first half scorers with 16 points, as the Roadrunners held a slim 26-25 edge after 20 minutes.

The game remained close throughout the second half with Keon Lewis hitting a three-pointer to tie the game for the Roadrunners at 54 with four seconds left. However, Mavin’s last-second heroics were enough to escape a potential overtime and lift the Panthers to the win.

Lewis ended with 13 points.

Final Score: Middle Tennessee 63, Charlotte 60

Birmingham, AL (SportsNetwork.com) – Perrin Buford had 14 points and five rebounds as Middle Tennessee defeated Charlotte 63-60 in the opening round of the Conference USA Tournament.

D.J. Jones was the only other double-digit scorer for the sixth-seeded Blue Raiders (17-15), finishing with 10 points.

MTSU will play Old Dominion Thursday in the quarterfinals.

Mike Thorne Jr. posted 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Torin Dorn added 17 points to lead the 11th-seeded 49ers (14-18).

Thorne sunk a pair of free throws to stake Charlotte, which led 30-29 at halftime, to a 60-58 edge with 1:23 left, but MTSU scored the final five points of the game. Buford made a jumper to tie it and after Pierria Henry missed a layup, Reggie Upshaw’s dunk with 30 seconds to play put the Blue Raiders in front.

Thorne was off the mark on a 3-pointer, but Terrence Williams came down with an offensive rebound, Henry then turned the ball over and Giddy Potts split a pair of foul shots to make it 63-60 with nine ticks on the clock.

Williams’ 3 was off the mark with a second left to seal the outcome.

Categorized in: NCAA Basketball

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