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#4 Tennessee Tech 64, #1 Murray State 59
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#2 Morehead State 68, #3 Austin Peay 49
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#4 TENNESSEE TECH 65, #1 MURRAY STATE 59
NASHVILLE (AP) - Zac Swansey hit a 3-pointer with 24 seconds left to give Tennessee Tech a five-point lead in a 64-59 upset of Ohio Valley Conference tournament top seed Murray State in Friday night's semifinals.
Murray State (23-8), which upset Vanderbilt in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season, had earned a double-bye in the new OVC format and was only two wins away from its 15th NCAA bid.
Kevin Murphy led the fourth-seeded Golden Eagles (20-11) with 19 points, including two free throws on a foul ruled intentional with 1.3 seconds remaining.
Isacc Miles hit four straight free throws as the Racers battled back from 10 points down to lead 53-51 with 3:03 to play. But Dillard's dunk from Swansey's pass put Tech back on top, Dillard hit two free throws, and Swansey nailed the 3 after two missed free throws by Murray's Ivan Aska.
Tech's Dillard had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Aska's 14 points led Murray, with Miles adding 11.
Tech went up by 10 points on Murphy's basket with 10:43 to play before Murray went on a 10-2 run, including 3-pointers by Isaiah Canaan -- his first bucket of the game -- and Donte Poole.
#2 MOREHEAD STATE, #3 AUSTIN PEAY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Demonte Harper scored 25 points and Kenneth Faried had his nation's-best, 26th double-double this season to lead Morehead State past Austin Peay 68-49 in Friday night's Ohio Valley Conference tournament semifinals.
Faried grabbed 21 rebounds and scored 12 points to move into third place all-time in NCAA Division I double-doubles with 83 along with Syracuse's Derrick Coleman and Drexel's Lionel Simmons. The OVC's two-time Player of the Year and three-time top defensive player also blocked eight shots to tie a tourney record and added three steals.
The second-seeded Eagles (23-9) will play in their third straight championship game Saturday against Tennessee Tech, which upset regular-season champ Murray State earlier Friday. Morehead last won the tourney and NCAA automatic bid two years ago.
Morehead State went on a 23-5 run to widen the lead to 68-43 after the third-seeded Governors' coach, Dave Loos, was hit with a technical with 8:02 remaining. Austin Peay (20-13) had pulled within seven on a 3-pointer and baseline jumper by Justin Blake, who finished with 13 points.
Faried, playing before a large number of NBA scouts, has six of the nation's 20-plus rebounding performances this season.
The Eagles opened the game 10-0 in the first four minutes, with Faried notching four points, three rebounds, a steal and a block. But Austin Peay fought back with four 3-pointers in the half, cutting it to 28-22 on Caleb Brown's second 3.
Fast-break layups by Terrance Hill and Harper put Morehead State up by 10 again at the half.