Rewinding the first round of the Conference USA basketball tournaments in Huntsville

Three of the top seeds took victories and a No. 10 seed knocked off a defending champion in the first round of the Conference USA basketball tournaments.

Action tipped off at the Von Braun Center’s Propst Arena on Tuesday as the CUSA men’s and women’s basketball tourneys got its first-round matchups underway.

Sam Houston and Kennesaw State picked up wins in the women’s tournament, while UTEP and Florida International advanced in the men’s tournament.

The quarterfinals will begin on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s matchups in the tournament quarterfinals include:

—No. 1 Liberty women vs. No. 8 Sam Houston, 11:30 a.m.

—No. 2 Middle Tennessee State women vs. No. 7 Kennesaw State, 2 p.m.

—No. 1 Liberty men vs. No. 8 UTEP, 5:30 p.m.

—No. 2 Jacksonville State men vs. No. 10 FIU, 8 p.m.

Here’s a full roundup and quotes from all of Tuesday’s games:

Jacksonville State’s Elsie Harris looks to get the ball against Sam Houston’s Fanta Kone in the first round of the Conference USA tournament in Huntsville.Conference USA photo

WOMEN

No. 8 Sam Houston 55, No. 9 Jacksonville State 53

Sam Houston knocked off Jax State in the closing minutes to advance to the CUSA quarterfinals with a close win.

Nyla Inmon led Sam Houston with 17 points and 6 rebounds, while Fanta Kone had 15 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists; both shot 6-for-14 from the field.

Jax State’s Elsie Harris led the Gamecocks with 13 points.

Read the full game report about the in-state Gamecocks here.

Prencis Harden

Kennesaw State forward Prencis Harden looks down the court in a matchup against UTEP in the Conference USA women’s basketball tournament in Huntsville.Conference USA photo

No. 7 Kennesaw State 71, No. 10 UTEP 63

UTEP’s plan to limit first-team all-conference player Prencis Harden was successful, as the dominant Kennesaw State player only got four shots off on Tuesday.

But, that left the door open for another player to have a big game.

Senior guard Keyarah Berry tied her career high with 24 points for Kennesaw State as the Owls held off UTEP in the first round of the CUSA women’s basketball tournament on Monday.

Berry shot 8-for-13 and knocked down three of her six 3-point attempts, also going 9-for-12 from the free throw line in the win.

“She’s certainly capable of scoring in bunches, and that’s what she does,” Kennesaw State coach Octavia Blue said. “She is a high-octane Energizer Bunny. She was getting out in transition for us, and when we kicked it out vs. the doubles on the paint, she was able to attack their defense and close out. I was really proud of her effort, and that’s what it’s going to take.”

Birmingham native and Ramsay High alum Keiara Griffin, who transferred from Jacksonville State this offseason, also scored in double figures with 15 points while grabbing 4 rebounds and dishing out 3 assists.

Despite the stout defense, Harden had 13 points, 9 coming from free throws; she also logged 12 rebounds for a double-double.

“We’re really excited to be here,” Blue said. “First year in Conference USA and competing as the seven seed here in Huntsville. I thought the ladies got off to a little slow start. We are very familiar with UTEP as we’ve already played them twice this season, and were victorious in both, but we understood how we had to fight really hard to get those wins.”

UTEP junior Portia Adams tied Berry’s point total for the Miners, totaling 24 points while going 9-for-14 from the field in the loss; she also grabbed 7 rebounds. Sophomore Dunja Zacevic had 10 points and 5 rebounds, while Ndack Mbengue led the Miners with 8 rebounds.

Kennesaw State (13-17, 8-11 CUSA) will face defending champion and No. 2-seeded Middle Tennessee State in the tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Joe Golding

UTEP men’s basketball coach Joe Golding talks with his team as UTEP faces Sam Houston in the first round of the Conference USA tournament in Huntsville, Ala.Conference USA photo

MEN

No. 8 UTEP 79, No. 9 Sam Houston 65

No better time to snap a seven-game losing streak than the conference tournament.

Four athletes scored in double figures for UTEP as the Miners rolled into the next round of the Conference USA tournament with a dominant win over Sam Houston.

UTEP had not won a game since Feb. 13, when the Miners beat last-place FIU 77-63.

“It’s been a tough month for these guys, but they’ve stuck together,” UTEP coach Joe Golding said. “They’ve had great practices, great energy, they’re a fun group to be around and man, I’m just happy. I’m really happy for them to play the way they did tonight. We played this thing exactly how we wanted to play it. We had a low turnover game, we turned them over a little bit, got some offense on the three point line and it was huge.”

Down by as many as 10 points with 14:11 left in the first half, UTEP went on to rally and outscore the Bearkats 36-30 in the first half after a 9-0 run with 5:13 left in the first half.

Kevin Kalu dominated for UTEP with a double-double, piling up 15 points and 15 rebounds, with 8 coming on offense. He also logged 3 blocks and a steal while going 5-for-6 from the free throw line.

Corey Camper Jr., a CUSA all-defensive team selection, led the Miners with 18 points in the win and knocked down four of his six 3-point attempts; he also grabbed 3 rebounds in the win.

Devon Barnes and Otis Frazier III both scored 12 points each, with Frazier dishing out 5 assists.

“We’ve made some shots in this losing streak too, but we haven’t defended,” Golding said. “I thought we did tonight. We took good shots and we valued the basketball, and we had great possessions. We didn’t have a lot of quick bad shots tonight, and when you do that, you get screwed in defensive transition, and that’s what’s been happening in our losing streak.

“We’ve been giving up 70 points a game, and that’s not our basketball tonight, against a really, really good offensive team, we hold them to 65 points, and I thought our offense was a big reason for that.”

Sam Houston was led by a 22-point performance from Lamar Wilkerson, with Kalifa Sakho totaling 18 points and 8 rebounds while Marcus Boykin added 15 points for the Bearkats.

After going 1-10 to start out Conference USA play, Sam Houston went on to win five of its last seven games of the regular season, with one of those losses being a close 4-point road loss to third-place MTSU.

“Not many teams in the country that have gone through as much as we have this year, and they stuck together,” Sam Houston coach Chris Mudge said. “I’d like to think that I had a little bit of it due to me, but if it’s not for the leadership that, especially these two guys that Marcus Boykin returns, that have been here for a While, shown every day through some really hard things, shows what kind of men they are.

“It doesn’t feel good right now, because we’re all competitors, and we’ve got two great players that are up here with me, but one day, they’re going to look back and realize that they showed who they are through a really tough time. They’re going to be able to do great things in life, because they can do hard things, and they can stick together, they can lead others, and they can keep a narrative, and they can believe. That’s one of the great things about coaching, is that we’re in a place where we can help guys learn things that are going to help them 40 years from now, and I couldn’t be more proud of this group.”

UTEP will face regular-season champion Liberty in the second round of the tournament on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

FIU

FIU’s Ashton Williamson makes a play against Western Kentucky in the first round of the Conference USA men’s basketball tournament in Huntsville.Conference USA photo

No. 10 Florida International 64, No. 7 Western Kentucky 61

Leave it to the No. 10-seeded team in the conference to knock off a defending champion.

Florida International took down Western Kentucky with a 64-61 win in the first round of the Conference USA men’s basketball tournament on Tuesday, ending the Hilltoppers’ hopes of a repeat in the tourney.

“My guys fought tooth and nail all year long,” Panthers coach Jeremy Ballard said. “They practiced hard all year long to very disappointing results, not disappointing effort, not really ever. We were afforded this opportunity to have a third season, and these guys have really embraced this opportunity. These two young men up here, Asim and Jay Brew, they fought through a lot of adversity. They made huge, huge plays for us on both ends, and I’m really proud, really proud of them.”

Down by as many as 13 with 1:19 left to go in the first half, the Panthers’ key plays of the first half came in the final minute as a 27-14 hole turned into a 5-point deficit after a 3-pointer and a shot in the paint from Asim Jones preceded a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Jayden Brewer.

The FIU duo scored 17 points each for the Panthers in the victory, while Ashton Williamson also scored in double figures with 11.

Ballard credited the coaching staff and players’ mentalities for being able to pull through for a hard-fought win, especially at the highest stakes so far.

“I know they get tired of the staff talking to them and being in their ear, but it’s for moments like this, and for them understanding that we don’t have to play perfect to win: we just have to be the best version of ourselves,” he said. “We were the best version of ourselves in terms of character, we were the best version of ourselves and in terms of response, and that’s not easy to do.

“There’s so much adrenaline, so much nerve, so much anxiety when it comes here to March.”

Braxton Bayless scored 12 points for the Hilltoppers and Enoch Kalambay scored 11 for a Western Kentucky team that has 13 players who are seniors or graduate students.

First-year head coach Hank Plona, who was an assistant on last year’s NCAA Tournament team, said he had hoped for a better ending to an up-and-down season that saw WKU finish 17-15 overall and 8-11 in league play.

“That’s the biggest offensive struggle we’ve had in a long time,” he said. “We saw them five days ago, and they made some adjustments that were very effective in the game. We have a senior-laden group, and it’s obviously heartbreaking. We’ve had a year full of full of ups and downs, and there’s been a lot of obstacles in the way and a lot of challenges and these young men have worked very hard all year to continue to persevere and continue to play with maximum effort and togetherness.

“For that, I could not be more proud. Obviously, a tough day here, and the cold, hard reality is that most seasons do end with a with a tough defeat. We were hoping that was not going to be today, but unfortunately, it was. I’m very proud of the fight that we showed and the togetherness that we played with. Obviously, wish we could have had a different result.”

FIU will face No. 2-seeded Jacksonville State in the quarterfinals on Wednesday at 8 p.m., looking to extend its season yet again.

Ballard said having an elite coach and a Conference USA Player of the Year in Jaron Pierre Jr. for Jax State brings plenty of challenges in the third matchup between the two squads.

“We’ve got to be able to respond and prepare for an awesome opponent tomorrow,” he said. “A Jacksonville State team, we faced last year in the conference tournament who had an amazing season. Coach Harper is a legendary coach. I don’t know what the voting was, but I’m sure he was a unanimous coach of the year. It was for great reason. We know we had two battles with them this year, and we had a battle tonight. We’ve got to prepare again for for battle tomorrow.”