NIT 2012: Scores and Recap from Wednesday March 14th

It was a busy day of college basketball in the 2012 NIT Championship. Seven games in total—three in the city of Philadelphia—yielded five upsets by seed, including an eight-seed over a one-seed and an overtime thriller in the Deep South.

None of the 14 teams that played on Wednesday will be back on the floor before Sunday, though the NIT itself will resume play on Friday when Northwestern heads to the Pacific Northwest to take on Washington.

No. 2 Miami 66, No. 7 Valparaiso 50

Miami was in control for just about the entire game against Valparaiso. The Crusaders made it close in the second half, but couldn't overcome a 12-0 run by the Hurricanes over the final four minutes.

Jim Larranaga got 40 points from the guard trio of Rion Brown, Shane Larkin and Trey McKinney Jones, while Ryan Broekhoff (18 points) and Richie Edwards (16 points) did most of the heavy lifting for Valpo.

With that, The U moves on to the second round of the NIT to face...

No. 6 Minnesota 70, No. 3 La Salle 61

...Minnesota, which pulled out a big win on the road against La Salle, 70-61. Rodney Williams scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half before handing off the bulk of the Golden Gophers' scoring duties to Austin (16 points) and Andre Hollins (13 points).

The Explorers, on the other hand, ultimately wasted fine efforts from Earl Pettis (19 points), Ramon Galloway (13 points) and Jerrell Wright (12 points).

No. 7 Northern Iowa 67, No. 2 Saint Joseph's 65

Elsewhere in the City of Brotherly Love, seventh-seed Northern Iowa pulled off a stunner over second-seed Saint Joseph's, 67-65, behind a 23-point, 11-rebound outburst by Seth Tuttle and 25 points combined from Marc Sonnen and Deon Mitchell.

The Hawks, meanwhile, failed to capitalize on strong performances by Carl Jones (24 points) and CJ Aiken (16 points).

As a result, it'll be the Panthers, not the Hawks, who get to travel crosstown for the second round to take on... 

No. 3 Drexel 81, No. 6 Central Florida 56

...Drexel, after the Dragons dismantled Central Florida, 81-56. Bruiser Flint's boys registered four players in double-figures, including Chris Fouch (19 points) and Goran Pantovic (10 points) off the bench. 

The real star, though, was Frantz Massenat, who registered a career-high 14 assists to go along with 18 points.

The Knights, on the other hand, got only minimal production from Marcus Jordan—son of Michael Jordan—who registered just seven points on the night.

No. 8 Bucknell 65, No. 1 Arizona 54

The upset of the tournament so far came from Bucknell, which upended top-seed Arizona's hopes of joining Pac-12 'mates Washington, Stanford and Oregon in the second round by way of a 65-54 decision.

The Bison rode strong contributions from Mike Muscala (20 points, nine rebounds, three assists, four blocks), Cameron Ayers (12 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals), Joe Willman (10 points, five rebounds, two steals, an assist) and Bryson Johnson off the bench (14 points) to score the Cinderella-style upset in Tucson.

The Wildcats ultimately wasted a 17-point, 10-rebound, four-assist, two-steal effort by Solomon Hill, and a 14-point bonanza by Jesse Perry, while allowing the Bison to stampede their way into a second-round showdown with...

No. 5 Nevada 68, No. 4 Oral Roberts 59

...fellow Cinderella Nevada, which went into the Mabee Center in Tulsa and pulled out a definitive 68-59 win over Oral Roberts. The Wolf Pack were led by the frontcourt duo of Dario Hunt (18 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks, four assists and a steal) and Duke transfer Olek Czyz (13 points, 10 rebounds), along with a stellar performance from Deonte Burton (17 points, eight rebounds, five assists).

That, and a 41-27 rebounding advantage, proved to be enough to help Nevada overcome five Golden Eagles in double figures.

No. 7 Illinois State 96, No. 2 Ole Miss 93 (OT)

Illinois State allowed an 11-point lead to evaporate over the final 2:54 before closing out Ole Miss in overtime, 96-93. The Redbirds rode double-doubles by Nic Moore (24 points, 10 assists) and Jackie Carmichael (13 points, 10 rebounds), and a game-high 26 points from Tyler Brown to victory, all of whom contributed positively to the team hitting 62.7 percent of its shots from the floor.

The Rebels were not without their fair share of standouts, though, with Ladarius White contributing 25 points, Terrance Henry chipping in 21 with four rebounds and four assists, Jarvis Summers dropping in a double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds), and Murphy Holloway stuffing the stat sheet (16 points, six rebounds, three assists, five steals and a block).

Still, that wasn't enough for Ole Miss to hold serve at home in Oxford, thereby allowing Illinois State to move on to a date with Stanford in Round 2.

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