MOON, Pa. — Mike McFadden hit two free throws with 8.7 seconds remaining Tuesday night as Robert Morris shocked Kentucky, the defending national champion, 59-57 in the opening round of the NIT.

The Wildcats decided not to call a timeout after the second free throw but Kyle Wiltjer’s 3-pointer before the buzzer bounced harmlessly off the rim, sending hundreds of students onto the court.

Lucky Jones led the Colonials (24-10) with 15 points but was ejected for a flagrant foul on Archie Goodwin with 3:41 to play. Kentucky (21-12), which trailed by 13 in the second half, managed to tie it twice but could never grab the lead.

Goodwin scored 18 points for the Wildcats but couldn’t stop Kentucky’s disappointing season from coming to a stunning end.

 

MARYLAND 86, NIAGARA 70: Nick Faust had 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Maryland (23-12) used a strong second half to defeat Niagara (19-14) in the opening round of the NIT at College Park, Md.

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ST. JOHN’S 63, SAINT JOSEPH’S 61: Sir’Dominic Pointer raced down the court and hit a jumper from the corner at the buzzer to lead St. John’s (17-15) to a come-from-behind victory against Saint Joseph’s (18-14) in the NIT at Philadelphia.

 

LOUISIANA TECH 71, FLORIDA STATE 66: Raheem Appleby scored 27 points and Alex Hamilton added 16 to help Louisiana Tech (27-6) rally from a nine-point second-half deficit to beat Florida State (18-16) in the NIT at Tallahassee, Fla.

NCAA

NORTH CAROLINA A&T 73, LIBERTY 72: Reserve Jeremy Underwood scored 19 points, leading North Carolina A&T (20-16) past Liberty (15-21) at the First Four in Dayton, Ohio, ending an NCAA winless streak at nine games.

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The victory advanced the Aggies to a showdown Thursday with top-seeded Louisville (29-5) in Lexington, Ky.

NOTES

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE: Bobby Braswell was fired as men’s basketball coach after 17 years that included three 20-win seasons and two NCAA tournament appearances, along with off-court problems that included failure to make grade and graduation requirements.

 

BIG EAST: Butler, Creighton and Xavier will join the so-called Catholic 7 schools in the new basketball conference keeping the Big East name, a person familiar with the situation said. The announcement will take place Wednesday.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

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OHIO STATE: Jim Foster, 64, who won 783 games at Saint Joseph’s, Vanderbilt and the last 11 years at Ohio State, will not return as head coach. The end came after he didn’t win 20 games with the Buckeyes for the first time since taking over in 2002. Foster refused to say whether he was fired or retiring.

SOFTBALL

WELLESLEY 4, BOWDOIN 1: The Blue (3-3) scored the go-ahead run on an error in the sixth inning and went on to defeat the Polar Bears (7-4) at Clermont, Fla.

Adriane Krul scored on a wild pitch in the third for Bowdoin. Wellesley tied it on a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

MEN’S LACROSSE

UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND 11, MORRISVILLE 7: Tyler Thomas and Pat Wolfe each finished with three goals as the Nor’easters (4-2) defeated the Mustangs (0-4) at snowy Morrisville, N.Y.

Thomas has 120 career goals, four behind a 2012 graduate, Sean Melnick, who holds the school record of 124.

Dan O’Gorman added a goal and four assists, and Jay Letendre made 16 saves for the Nor’easters.

 


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