DAYTON, Ohio — T.J. Warren put on a show in the NCAA tournament. The hard-to-guard sophomore forward scored 16 of his 25 points in the second half Tuesday night, showing why he was the ACC’s player of the year, and North Carolina State led most of the way in a 74-59 victory over Xavier in the NCAA tournament’s First Four.
“He’s just a great player,” Coach Mark Gottfried said. “It’s hard to keep him down for a whole 40 minutes.”
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N.C. State (22-12) didn’t have much time to celebrate. The 12th-seeded Wolfpack headed to Orlando, Fla., for a game Thursday against Saint Louis in the Midwest Regional.
ALBANY 71, MOUNT ST. MARY’S 64: D.J. Evans scored 22 points at Dayton, Ohio, including two clinching free throws with 12.6 seconds left, to lead the Great Danes (19-14) to their first NCAA tournament victory.
Albany advances to meet overall No. 1 seed and top-ranked Florida on Thursday in Orlando.
Peter Hooley had 20 points and Gary Johnson 13 for Albany, winless in its three previous NCAA trips.
FLORIDA: Coach Billy Donovan has triggered two more bonuses in his contract.
Donovan gets $50,000 for the top-ranked Gators finishing in the top 10 in the final Associated Press poll.
He also earns $25,000 for being named the AP’s Southeastern Conference coach of the year.
Those bring his total to $187,500, and he could garner more.
The NCAA bonus would increase to $75,000 for advancing to the Sweet 16, $100,000 for making the Final Four and $150,000 for winning the national championship.
Donovan also would land another $50,000 if he’s named AP national coach of the year.
BOSTON COLLEGE: Steve Donahue was fired as basketball coach after four seasons without an NCAA tournament berth and two with the most losses in school history.
Donahue was let go with one year left on the five-year contract he signed to succeed Al Skinner, who led the Eagles to the NCAA tournament seven times in his 13 seasons.
AUBURN: Former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl was hired to revive a struggling basketball program that hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament in more than a decade.
The school is turning to a charismatic coach who remains under a show-cause penalty from the NCAA into August.
Pearl had plenty of success on the court, taking Tennessee to the NCAA tournament in each of his six seasons before getting fired in March 2011 in the wake of an NCAA investigation.
SOFTBALL
BOWDOIN 4, KEENE STATE 2: Dimitria Spathakis hit a two-run double during a four-run fifth inning as the Polar Bears (6-4) rallied for a win over the Owls (1-2) at Clermont, Fla.
Tracy Shirey and Emily Griffin each added RBI singles during the fifth-inning rally, which started with two outs.
Griffin was also the winning pitcher, striking out six while tossing a six-hitter.
MEN’S LACROSSE
BOWDOIN 18, NORWICH 4: Franklin Reis scored four goals and assisted on two others to pace the Polar Bears (5-1) over the Cadets (0-5) at Brunswick.
Will Wise and Brett Kujala added three goals apiece for Bowdoin, which led 8-2 at halftime.
Bowdoin also got two goals each from Conor O’Toole and Brandon Rothman. O’Toole also collected two assists.
COLBY 23, SOUTHERN MAINE 2: Mark Phillips rang up five goals and two assists to lead the Mules (4-1) as they raced out to a 9-0 first-quarter lead and then cruised to an easy win over the Huskies (0-4) at Waterville.
Austin Sayre and Garen Fabian added two goals and two assists apiece for the Mules, who outshot the Huskies, 54-21.
Colby also got two goals each from Phil Champoux, Kevin Seiler and Austin Frank.
Austin Watts and Seth Wing each scored a goal for the Huskies.
FOOTBALL
INDIANA: Wide receiver Isaac Griffith is hospitalized in Florida following a swimming accident.
The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Department said Griffith, two fellow Indiana football players and a friend went swimming Monday. Police said the current carried them out from shore and Griffith went under.
The friend rescued him but he remained unconscious and was taken to the hospital.
Officials said Griffith was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where he remained in a medically induced coma Tuesday night.
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