NIT 2012: Scores, Recap from Monday, March 19

The second round of the NIT concluded on Monday with a gaggle of upsets. It was an exciting and unpredictable day of action. 

There are now just eight teams left, and they will start the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Here is a recap of the action. 

No. 4 Middle Tennessee 71, No. 1 Tennessee 64

This was a back-and-forth game. The Blue Raiders took a two-point lead into halftime, but Tennessee opened the second half strong and began to pull away late.

MTSU would not give up, though, finishing the game on a remarkable 15-0 run. The Blue Raiders took the lead when Bruce Massey hit a go-ahead layup with 1:30 left and didn't look back.

It was not surprising that Massey hit the go-ahead bucket. He was spectacular all night and finished with a game-high 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting. He was also 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. 

Jeronne Maymon came off the bench to lead the Volunteers with 17 points. 

MTSU will battle Minnesota in the quarterfinals. 

No. 6 Minnesota 78, No. 2 Miami 60

Minnesota started this game off on a 12-0 run and never looked back. The Golden Gophers led this game from start to finish and won by dominating the battle on the boards, grabbing 37 rebounds to Miami's 19. 

Rodney Williams led the Gophers' charge. He was 9-of-10 from the field and had 21 points and five rebounds—16 of those points came in the first half. Andre Hollins and Joe Coleman each pitched in 14 points and six boards for Minnesota. 

Rion Brown led the Hurricanes with 16 points. 

There was a scary moment in this game when Oto Osenieks collided with Miami’s Reggie Johnson early in the second half. He appeared OK at first but collapsed moments later near the sideline.

Luckily, he is apparently fine now. The Associated Press offered up this quote from Gophers coach Tubby Smith after the game: "He’s fine now, he had a dizzy spell."

Next up for the Gophers is Middle Tennessee in the quarterfinals. 

No. 3 Stanford 92, No. 7 Illinois State 88

The one game of the day that was not an upset was the most exciting of all. Stanford and Illinois were close all game. 

Stanford ultimately pulled this one out because it was shooting the lights out. The Cardinal hit 52.3 percent from the field, and no player was hotter than sophomore guard Aaron Bright. He was amazing coming off the bench for Stanford as he led all scorers with 29 points. He was simply on fire. Bright went 11-of-13 from the field and a spectacular 6-of-7 from beyond the arc. 

Meanwhile, Illinois was led by its powerful trio of Nic Moore, Tyler Brown and Jackie Carmichael. They scored 25, 23 and 21 points respectively.