Covenant College is playing today at 2 p.m. for the USA South men's basketball tournament championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament.
The second-seeded Scots beat Greensboro 91-83 in the semifinals Friday as all-conference guard TJ Cox scored 21 points and Connor Sears contributed 10 rebounds with 11 points. Will Portlock and Patjo Twagirayezu had 14 and 12 points for Covenant (17-9), which shot 49 percent from the field and took control with a 20-2 run in the first half. Simeon Howard had 33 points for Greensboro (16-11).
The Scots today will face fourth-seeded LaGrange, which upset top seed North Carolina Wesleyan 99-87.
AAC tournament
One night after needing overtime to get past the season's last-place team, No. 3 seed Tennessee Wesleyan routed co-champion Bryan 71-44 in a women's semifinal of the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament Friday at Kingsport, Tenn.
The Lady Bulldogs (16-9), a perennial league power that stayed under the radar this season, will play ninth seed Montreat today at 4 p.m. for the championship and a berth in the NAIA Division II national tournament. Montreat (14-17) followed its quarterfinal upset of top-seeded Milligan with an 86-72 whipping of No. 5 seed Bluefield (19-11).
The top-seeded Wesleyan men lost 72-66 earlier in the day to fifth seed Bluefield, which got 13 points and 12 rebounds from Cordaris Towns and another 13 points from Stanthony Nelms. Devante' Jenkins had 15 points and 13 rebounds, AAC player of the year Leland Robinson also scored 15 points and Chattanoogans Trey Suttles and Tre Tiller added 12 and 10 points for TWC (28-3), which already has a spot in the national tournament.
Bluefield (19-11) will play No. 2 seed and co-champion Union College for the league's other berth. Union (27-6) won 98-90 Friday against third seed Reinhardt (17-14).
Madison Walkup had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Hunter Simpson had 18 and seven for the TWC women, who got 12 points from Jara Gasper. Megan Billingsby had 18 for Bryan (26-5). The Lady Bulldogs had to fight from behind and win 61-58 in overtime Thursday night against St. Andrews, which ended its season 3-25. Simpson and Gasper had 24 and 19 points and nine rebounds apiece for the Lady Bulldogs, Simpson with five assists and Gasper with five steals, and Melanie Barker grabbed 11 rebounds.
SAA tournament
Despite 20 points from Jamie Chauvin, the Sewanee women couldn't quite pull off the upset in the Southern Athletic Association tournament in Birmingham to keep their season going. Kala-Jewel Freman scored 21 in 59-53 quarterfinal win Friday for Millsaps (17-8).
Savannah Rose scored 11 points and Bella Taylor had six assists for Sewanee (12-13), who took a 50-48 lead on a Chauvin layup with 3:41 to go.
The Sewanee men did advance to a semifinal tonight with a 62-57 win over Rhodes.
Cody Jones, the SAA men's newcomer of the year, scored 16 points and Keshonn Carter and Seth Brown added 14 and 13 for the second-seeded Tigers, while Brown had eight rebounds and Jacob McCullough collected seven. Daniel Galvin led Rhodes with 16 points.
Jones and senior Carter were All-SAA first-team selections, the Tigers' Brody Stone made the second team and Brown received honorable mention.
For the female Tigers, Taylor was a second-team All-SAA selection and Chauvin and Corey Caulder earned honorable mention. Taylor averaged 14.6 points a game and led the league with 75 steals.