There likely were two winners in Monday’s Missouri Valley Conference tournament final in Kiel Arena.
With its 57-45 win over Southwest Missouri State, Creighton (23-9) became only the third team in the 23 years to repeat as tournament champion and moves into its second straight automatic NCAA berth.
Southwest Missouri State (22-10) must wait for next weekend’s NCAA selection committee decision. But ranking 31st in the latest RPI rankings and reaching the final 16 in last year’s NCAA tournament, the Bears are expected to be the third MVC entrant, along with regular-season champion Indiana State.
The pressure Monday was decidedly on Creighton and its No. 64 RPI ranking. The Bluejays responded by taking control of the game in the first half and never allowing SMS to mount any sort of consistent run at them.
“I’m proud of them,” SMS coach Barry Hinson said of the Bluejays. “I can be proud of other teams. I’m proud of what coach [Dana] Altman and those kids have done.”
Creighton finished with a five-game season win streak and six straight tournament wins. In the process the Bluejays stopped a 10-game run of victories for SMS.
“We slipped sometimes early in the season but our defense was really effective tonight,” Altman said. “We limited the looks [all-tournament picks Kevin Ault and Allen Phillips] got at the basket and that was the difference.”
Creighton, second in the nation shooting 41.8 percent from beyond the arc, had set a conference record with 268 three-point baskets this season.
The Bluejays took the lead with 11 minutes remaining in the first half with 11 straight points on three successive deep hits. Creighton’s 7-of-13 threes accounted for 60 percent of its points in the first half, a 20-minute stretch that saw a total of two free throws, both by the Bluejays.
Colonial Athletic: Danny Dahl’s tantalizing three-pointer finally dropped in with 1:52 remaining, ending a Richmond (18-12) flurry and lifting visiting North Carolina-Wilmington (18-12) into the NCAA tournament for the first time with a 57-47 victory in the CAA title game at Richmond, Va.
The victory was the first in five trips to the CAA championship game for the Seahawks and put them into the field of 64 for the first time in 37 years.
Metro Atlantic: Dyree Wilson scored 27 points and Iona (20-10) held off a late Siena rally to upset the top-seeded Saints (23-8) and win the MAAC championship 84-80 at Albany, N.Y., and the automatic NCAA tournament berth.
Wilson stepped up after MAAC Player of the Year Tariq Kirksay went down hard in the first half and had to be carried off the court on a back stabilizer. Kirksay returned in the second half but finished with only four points.
Northeast: Central Connecticut State (25-5) earned its first NCAA tournament berth since joining Division I in 1986, beating Robert Morris 63-46 for the conference championship at Trenton, N.J.
NEC player of the year Rick Mickens had 17 points and center Corsley Edwards had five of his 11 in a late 11-2 run that sent the top-seeded Blue Devils to the show just a year after they lost the title game to Mt. St. Mary’s.
Mid-American: Jason Stewart’s conference-record 10 three-pointers sent Miami (15-14) to another upset and into the conference tournament championship with a 69-63 semifinal win over Marshall (21-9) at Cleveland.
The RedHawks will meet Ball State, a 70-67 winner over Ohio, in Wednesday night’s title game. Patrick Jackson hit a late three-pointer as the shot clock expired and Duane Clemens scored a career-high 35 points as the Cardinals (21-8) moved past the Bobcats (20-13) in the other semifinal.
West Coast Athletic: Matt Santangelo lead Gonzaga (24-8) to a 69-65 overtime victory over Pepperdine (24-8) as the Bulldogs clinched their second straight conference title and third NCAA Tournament appearance.
