Curry leads Davidson to NIT win

COLUMBIA, S.C. " Stephen Curry scored 32 points as Davidson started its latest postseason run with a 70-63 victory over South Carolina on Tuesday night in the NIT.

The stage may not have been as large as the Wildcats' NCAA tournament upsets a year ago, but Curry was just as spectacular.

The game was tied 51-all after Devan Downey's driving basket with 9:15 to go. Then Curry scored 13 of his team's last 17 points over the next 8 minutes as Davidson (27-7) took control.

Andrew Lovedale had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats will play either St. Mary's or Washington State in the second round.

Downey had 18 points to lead South Carolina (21-10).

Curry, the country's leading scorer, pretty much picked up where he left off in the NCAA's a year ago when he averaged 34 points over four games in leading Davidson into the round of eight before falling to champion Kansas.

Curry opened the game with 25-foot 3-pointer. He scored 12 of team's first 23 points as the Wildcats opened an 11-point lead.

Rhode Island 68, Niagara 62

LEWISTON, N.Y. (AP) " Kahiem Seawright scored 20 points in the second half " including all 10 for Rhode Island during its critical run.

Jimmy Baron scored 20, including hitting six free throws in the final 40 seconds, for the sixth-seeded Rams (23-10), who snapped a two-game losing streak. Seawright finished with 23 points for the Rams, who are making their 13th NIT appearance and improved to 7-6 in tournament-opening games.

Rhode Island, from the Atlantic 10, plays Penn State in the second round.

Anthony Nelson scored 14 for the poor-shooting Purple Eagles, who finished 21-of-59 from the field, and 7-of-27 in 3-point attempts. Third-seeded Niagara (26-9), from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, had a seven-game home win streak snapped.

Penn State 77, George Mason 73

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) " Talor Battle scored eight of his game-high 24 points in overtime and tied the game with a 3-pointer at the end of regulation as Penn State advanced.

Dre Smith hit two foul shots with five seconds left in regulation to give George Mason a 65-62 lead before Battle hurried down the court for his buzzer-beating 3 for Penn State (23-11) of the Big Ten.

Battle hit two more 3s in overtime, scoring all but four of Penn State's 12 points in the extra frame.

John Vaughn's deep 3 with 7.7 seconds in OT drew George Mason within 75-73, but Stanley Pringle hit two foul shots with 7.0 seconds left to finally seal the win.

Cameron Long had 16 points to lead the Patriots (22-11) out of the Colonial Athletic Conference.