Cougars claim title in Shootout

ANCHORAGE - A.J. Harris' only basket - a tiebreaking shot with 11 seconds remaining - gave the College of Charleston the Great Alaska Shootout title with a 71-69 victory over Villanova on Saturday night.

• Photos

Harris, a point guard, allowed the shot clock to wind down, then drove the lane and scooped in the winning shot. After a timeout, Villanova's Derrick Snowden and Gary Buchanan were short on 3-point attempts, and time expired.

Troy Wheless, the tournament's outstanding player, led the Cougars (5-0) with 22 points. Thomas Mobley scored 17.

Buchanan scored 12 points for Villanova (3-2) and Randy Foye and Jason Fraser added 10 each.

The Cougars entered having forced opponents into an average of 22.5 turnovers with a stifling full-court press. The pattern continued against the Wildcats.

Villanova made just one field goal, a 3-pointer by Buchanan, in the first 10:44 and turned the ball over 12 times in the half. The Wildcats shot 33 percent but stayed in the game as Charleston shot just 29 percent.

Joe Weurding's baseline jumper with 7:20 remaining gave Charleston its biggest first-half lead, 22-7. But Villanova went on an 11-3 run to cut it to 25-19 and trailed 29-22 at halftime.

A 15-6 run to open the second half gave Villanova its only lead of the game, 37-35, with 13:46 remaining.

Villanova outrebounded the Cougars 46-25 but lost the turnover battle 20-8. The Wildcats were also hurt at the foul line as they made only 11 of 20 shots.

Oklahoma State 64, No. 9 Michigan State 61

ANCHORAGE - Victor Williams hit six free throws in the final two minutes and Oklahoma State upset No. 9 Michigan State for third place in the Great Alaska Shootout.

The Cowboys' Tony Allen blocked a shot by Alan Anderson with ten seconds remaining and Oklahoma State leading 62-61. After two free throws by Williams, Rashi Johnson missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have tied the game for Michigan State. The loss was the second in consecutive nights for the Spartans.

Melvin Sanders led Oklahoma State with 18 points. Ivan McFarlin scored 15 points and pulled down seven rebounds before fouling out with 6:21 remaining and Williams added 14 points

Aloysius Anagonye scored 21 points and pulled down eight rebounds for Michigan State. Chris Hill had 16 points and freshman Paul Davis came off the bench to score 12 for Michigan State.

Loyola Marymount 72, Wyoming 65

ANCHORAGE - Uche Nsonwu-Amadi scored 23 points and pulled down 18 rebounds as Wyoming defeated Loyola Marymount for fourth place in the Great Alaska Shootout.

Marcus Bailey added 11 points for the Cowboys. Keith Kincade led Loyola Marymount (3-2) with 14 points. Charles Brown and Sherman Gay had 12 apiece, with Gay's all in the second half.

Wyoming (3-1) led most of the first half. A basket by Nsonwu-Amadi gave the Cowboys a 26-18 lead with 5:25 remaining but eight straight points by Loyola Marymount tied the game 26-26 with just over two minutes left. Wyoming hit two free throws for a 28-26 halftime lead.

Alaska Anchorage 69, Montana 52

ANCHORAGE - Peter Bullock scored 26 points and grabbed 18 rebounds and NCAA Division II Alaska Anchorage defeated Montana Saturday for seventh place in the Great Alaska Shootout.

Adam Fitt-Chappell added 16 for Alaska Anchorage, all in the second half. David Bell led Montana (1-4) with 15 points, Kevin Criswell scored 14 and Marcus Rosser pulled down 17 rebounds.

Both teams shot poorly from the field in the first half. Alaska Anchorage (2-3) shot 25 percent but hit 12 of 14 free throw attempts. Montana shot just 19 percent, 6-for-31, from the field, and missed all nine of its 3-point attempts.

The Seawolves took their biggest lead of the half, 28-21, when Mark Drake hit a 3-pointer with three seconds remaining.

Adam Fitt-Chappell's two 3-pointers keyed a 10-2 run opening the second half and the Seawolves led 38-25. Montana closed to 38-31 on a 3-pointer with 14:25 remaining but could get no closer.