Conference USA Basketball Tournament Recap - Round 1

Recap of Wednesday, March 8th games

Updated 2006 Conference USA Basketball Tournament bracket

SMU 61, Rice 59
Devon Pearson and Donatas Rackauskas scored 15 points each to lead SMU to a 61-59 victory over Rice in the opening game of the Conference USA tournament Wednesday.

Bryan Hopkins, SMU's leading scorer, was held scoreless for the first time this season after missing all seven of his shots, but he still contributed to the win by grabbing a season-high 10 rebounds and had six assists.

Morris Almond, a C-USA first team all-conference selection, led the Owls with 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting and hit three of his four shots outside the arc. His 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left cut the SMU lead to the final two-point margin.

The two teams were tied at 46 when the Rice's Cory Pflieger connected for his only points of the game on a 3-pointer with 6:26 left in the game. Pearson helped the Mustangs pull away down the stretch with a streak of 8 points.

SMU jumped out to an early lead thanks to Rackauskas, who scored 6 of the Mustang's first 8 points. But SMU went more than five minutes without scoring, allowing the Owls to score 10 straight points. SMU shot 50 percent in the first half, but was hampered by 13 turnovers, leading to 13 Rice points. The Mustangs committed 21 turnovers in the game.

SMU advances to play UAB tomorrow at noon CST, Rice finishes their season at 12-16.

Southern Miss 66, Tulsa 61
Tulsa mens team hoped to follow in the women’s footsteps, but it was not meant to be as Southern Miss pulled off the upset over the Golden Hurricane 66-61.

Mildon Ambres scored 19 points and Craig Craft added a career-high 15 and were also the only two reserves used in the game. Ambres and Craft combined 12-of-21 from the field, with Craft hitting 3-of-7 outside the arc. Meanwhile, the Southern Mississippi starters were 10-of-32 shooting and scored 32 points. Southern Miss also hit 12 of 14 free throws in the last 3:32 of the game to keep Tulsa at bay.

Chris Wallace led Tulsa, the tournament's No. 6 seed, with 17 points, while Anthony Price scored 15, missing only two of his eight shots. Bishop Wheatley scored 10 for the Golden Hurricane.

USM will face UTEP tomorrow 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1. Tulsa finished their season at 11-17.

Tulane 64, Marshall 58
David Gomez scored 21 points, matching his career high, and grabbed 10 rebounds Wednesday night as Tulane moved to the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Tournament with a win over Marshall. Quincy Davis scored 17 points on 8-of-14 from the field, but was hampered by foul trouble. Donnie Stith added 13 points and seven rebounds.

Marshall was led by Mark Patton with 15 points, while Joe Miles scored 11. Markel Humphrey finished with 10 points. The Thundering Herd, which was successful from 3-point range in the first half, missed 11 of 12 shots outside the arc in the second half.

Tulane will play Memphis in the first evening game Thursday. Marshall finishes the year at 12-16.

Updated Conference USA basketball standings

by John Griffin, CUSA-fans.com Basketball Staff Writer