COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP Wednesday’s games

CBI CHAMPIONSHIP

North Texas 69, San Francisco 55

DENTON, TEXAS

Jorden Duffy scored 15 points to help North Texas beat San Francisco, forcing a deciding Game 3 in the College Basketball Invitational final. Roosevelt Smart added 13 points and Zachary Simmons had 12. Duffy also grabbed nine rebounds. The Mean Green missed 12 straight shots from the field over a span of nearly 7 minutes before Tope Arikawe’s tiebreaking layup with 29 seconds left made it 33-31 at halftime. Arikawe finished with 10 points. North Texas (19-18) scored the first 10 points after halftime, part of a 16-3 run that was capped by Ryan Woolridge’s steal and breakaway layup that made it 49-35 with just over 12 minutes left. That was the second steal he turned into a quick score in that spurt. Souley Boum had 16 points for San Francisco (21-16), while Frankie Ferrari had 10. Game 3 is Friday night, back in the Super Pit on the North Texas campus. San Francisco won 72-62 in the opener of the best-of-three series Monday night.

CIT SEMIFINALS

Illinois-Chicago 67, Liberty 51

LYNCHBURG, VA.

Tarkus Ferguson scored 16 points and Illinois-Chicago beat Liberty in the semifinals of the CIT. UIC closed the first half on an 8-3 run for 28-24 lead and held the first double-digit lead of the game at 40-29 on Godwin Boahen’s 3-pointer. Michael Diggins started a 14-0 run with a 3-pointer, Boahen’s 3 capped it for a 56-37 advantage and UIC led by at least 14 the rest of the way. Boahen finished with 13 points, Marcus Ottey had 12 and Tai Odiase 11 for UIC (20-15), which has won nine consecutive road games for the first time in program history. UIC will play for the title on Friday night against the winner of Northern Colorado and Sam Houston State. Lovell Cabbil scored 13 points for Liberty (22-15) and Myo Baxter-Bell added 10. Liberty was held to 33 percent shooting, including 5 of 20 from distance.

Northern Colorado 99, Sam Houston State 80

GREELEY, COLO.

Andre Spight scored 40 points with seven of Northern Colorado’s 17 3-pointers and the Beats beat Sam Houston State in the CIT semifinals. Northern Colorado made its first 10 shots from the field with four 3-pointers and Spight scored 16 points in the first half to help the Bears build a 42-39 lead after shooting 68 percent overall, including 8 of 14 from distance. Spight was 15 of 24 from the floor to reach 1,000 career points and UNC shot 59 percent. Jordan Davis added 18 points and Jonah Radebaugh 14 for Northern Colorado (25-12), which tied a program record for wins in a single season. The Bears will face Illinois-Chicago in the championship game on Friday night. Christopher Galbreath Jr. led Sam Houston State (21-15) with 24 points and eight rebounds before fouling out with 5:19 remaining. The Bearkats took their first lead of the game at 46-45 on Galbreath’s 17-footer but UNC answered with three straight 3-pointers for a 54-46 lead. The Bears’ run reached 20-6 to make it 65-52.

Associated Press