Alas, all good things eventually come to an end. In their one and only appearance in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, Cal Baptist came up short in the day’s highest scoring game and lost to Queens (NC) 100-94. The Lancers will move up to Division I (along with North Alabama) next season and join the WAC. Ferris State also survived a game effort from Barry, but Ferris won their 24th straight game to advance to the semifinal round on Thursday against West Texas A&M. Queens will face Northern State in the other semifinal game.
In the NIT, both road teams came up victorious last night. Lamar Stephens led Penn State with 30 points in an 85-80 victory over Marquette and will make a short drive to Madison Square Garden next week. They will face Mississippi State in the first semifinal matchup – the Bulldogs coasted to an easy 79-56 victory at Louisville last night. While the Bulldogs will prepare for a trip to New York next week, Louisville can now focus on whether or not they hire a new permanent head coach or whether they stick with David Padgett and make him their permanent head coach beginning next season.
Elsewhere, another prominent freshman that will declare for the NBA Draft will be Texas center Mo Bamba. Bamba averaged 12.9 points and 10.5 rebounds in his lone season with the Longhorns.
(4) WESTERN KENTUCKY AT (2) OKLAHOMA STATE (8:00 PM, ESPN2). Western Kentucky is coming off of a road win at USC where they upended the top-seeded Trojans in this quadrant of the bracket; they will now travel to Oklahoma State where the Sooners are coming off of a come-from-behind win against Stanford on Monday night.
(2) UTAH AT (1) SAINT MARY’S (10:00 PM, ESPN2). Neither team has had to seriously sweat out any of their games so far – while Utah coasted to an easy win at home against LSU on Monday, Saint Mary’s beat up on Washington later that night. Tonight’s winner claims the final semifinal spot for the NIT and will play either Western Kentucky or Oklahoma State in the second semifinal matchup.
JACKSONVILLE STATE AT NORTH TEXAS (8:00 PM). While Jacksonville State was winning decisively at Central Arkansas on Monday, a tornado was causing extensive damage throughout Jacksonville State’s campus that caused roof damage and flooding of the basketball court and other offices. Thankfully nobody was killed or seriously hurt because of the damage, but nonetheless is going to force the Gamecocks to play on the road for the remainder of the CBI Tournament. As for North Texas, the Mean Green beat Mercer in their own quarterfinal game on Monday night.
ILLINOIS-CHICAGO AT AUSTIN PEAY (8:00 PM, CBS Digital Network). Both teams won their home openers to advance to the quarterfinal round; UIC beat St. Francis (PA) at home and Austin Peay beat Louisiana-Monroe in their opener dubbed the John McLendon Classic. Austin Peay is 4-0 at home in the brief history of the CBI and CIT Tournaments.
NORTHERN COLORADO AT SAN DIEGO (10:00 PM, CBS Digital Network). With Sam Scholl filling in as interim head coach for San Diego, the Toreros have not missed a beat with home wins against Hartford and Portland State in the first two rounds of the CIT. They will play against a Northern Colorado team that beat Drake at home thanks to a triple-double from Jordan Davis (12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists).