Illinois State Wins, Earns NCAA Berth

Apparently, Illinois State doesn’t trust the NCAA selection committee.

LeRoy Watkins scored 18 points as the Illinois State, which figured it was in the NCAA tournament win or lose, left nothing to chance with an 84-74 victory over Southwest Missouri State in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament final Monday night at St. Louis.

Illinois State (24-5) got the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

“It’s a tremendous feeling we don’t have to sit around and wait for somebody else to decide our fate,” point guard Jamar Smiley said. “We took care of business.”

Southwest Missouri (16-16) handed Illinois State both of its conference losses in an 18-game league schedule, including its lone home setback of the season.

METRO ATLANTIC ATHLETIC

Iona is another school that doesn’t have to be nervous about making the NCAA tournament field. The Gaels made it by beating Siena, 90-75, in the MAAC championship game at Albany, N.Y.

Senior guard John McDonald scored 24 points, including 10 in a row late in the game, as the Iona (27-5) held off Siena (17-12).

NORTHEAST

Rahshon Turner scored 37 points and Fairleigh Dickinson overcame an 11-point second-half deficit to beat Long Island University, 105-91, in the Northeast Conference championship game at New York.

While Turner was 12 for 16 from the field and grabbed 13 rebounds, the senior backcourt of Elijah Allen and Jermaine Slider handled Long Island’s pressure.

With the victory Fairleigh Dickinson made the NCAA tournament field for the first time in 10 years.

MID-CONTINENT

Willie Spellman scored 27 points to lead Youngstown State (20-8) to a 74-60 upset of second-seeded Oral Roberts (19-12) in the semifinals of the Mid-Continent tournament at Moline, Ill. Third-seeded Youngstown State advanced to tonight’s championship game against top-seeded Valparaiso (20-9), which was an 84-73 winner over Buffalo (15-13) in the other semifinal as Bruce Drew scored 26 points.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

They’re In

Schools that have received automatic bids to the NCAA tournament. All bids are by virtue of conference tournament championships with the exception of the Ivy League and Pacific 10, which do not conduct postseason tournaments:

Arizona: Pacific 10

College of Charleston: Trans America Athletic Davidson: Southern

Fairleigh Dickinson: Northeast

Illinois State: Missouri Valley

Iona: Metro Atlantic Athletic

Murray State: Ohio Valley

Princeton: Ivy

Radford: Big South

Richmond: Colonial Athletic Assn.