NIT 2015: Semifinals Scores, Updated Bracket and Championship Schedule

The New York Knicks may be in the midst of a disappointing season, but there will still be a championship won in Madison Square Garden this year.

The NIT shifted to the bright lights of New York City Tuesday for the semifinals.

Temple and Miami started the evening with the first semifinal, and Stanford and Old Dominion capped off the evening in the second showdown. Here is a look at the final scores and more from the NIT semifinals slate.

Tuesday’s Semifinals Scores

Matchup	Result
Miami vs. Temple	Miami, 60-57
Stanford vs. Old Dominion	Stanford, 67-60

Updated Bracket 

A full, updated bracket can be found here, courtesy of CBS Sports.

Championship Schedule

Matchup	Date	Time	TV
Miami vs. Stanford	Thursday, April 2	9 p.m. ET	ESPN

Tuesday Recap

Miami 60, Temple 57

Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

It wasn’t always pretty, but Miami used a second-half surge to get past a formidable Temple team Tuesday to the tune of 60-57.

Sheldon McClellan, who led the Hurricanes in scoring this season, spearheaded the attack with 16 points, 11 rebounds, an assist and a block, but he deserves even more credit than the impressive box score indicates given the attrition the Hurricanes faced throughout the evening.

Center Tonye Jekiri, who is the best rebounder on the team, left the game with a face injury, which inspired this note from Rocco DiSangro of Temple Update:

"

Tonye Jekiri will not return tonight for Miami. Huge loss for the Canes who are already without their second leading scorer Angel Rodriguez

— Rocco DiSangro (@rdisangro) April 1, 2015"

Even without Angel Rodriguez and Jekiri down the stretch run, McClellan and his teammates outscored Temple by eight in the second half after trailing 30-25 at intermission. A major part of why the Hurricanes were able to ultimately outlast the Owls was Miami’s strong defensive effort, which held Temple to 19-of-63 shooting from the field and 2-of-19 shooting from downtown.

What's more, the Hurricanes blocked eight shots.

Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

Temple’s Will Cummings averaged 22 points a game in the NIT coming into Tuesday’s clash, but he only shot 3-of-15 from the field and ended up with 11 points. If he shot even 30 percent from the field against Miami, the Owls likely would have won.

DiSangro also commented on the struggles from Cummings during the game:

"

Will Cummings is really struggling tonight. The second leading scorer in the NIT is shooting 1-9 from the field & only has 5 points

— Rocco DiSangro (@rdisangro) April 1, 2015"

Despite Temple’s shooting woes, it trimmed the lead to one with 44 seconds left in the game with a late run. However, Deandre Burnett made a clutch running layup for Miami to go up three, and Temple's Quenton DeCosey missed two critical free throws with 20 seconds remaining.

The Owls still had one last chance down 60-57 with two seconds left, but DeCosey's desperation three-point attempt at the buzzer was just long and clanked off the back iron. Miami survived, 60-57.

Next up for Miami is a trip to the NIT championship game Thursday.

Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

It is a testament to coach Jim Larranaga that his team that was on the bubble for the NCAA tournament showed up to play in the NIT with an eye on a title. Now the Hurricanes are a win away from accomplishing just that.

Larranaga commented on his team’s mindset, per Andre C. Fernandez of the Miami Herald: "We could have gone into the NIT saying, 'oh, we didn’t get invited to the NCAA tournament,' and cried over spilled milk. This team didn’t. We went in saying 'let’s go play our best basketball now in March, and let’s cut down the nets at Madison Square Garden.'"

Remember, the Hurricanes won at Cameron Indoor Stadium this year against Duke. There is plenty of talent on this team, and an NIT title would go a long way toward starting next season with some momentum.

That won't be easy, though, as SportsChannel noted Tuesday that Jekiri will not play in the championship game against Stanford because of a concussion.

If the Hurricanes play defense Thursday the way they did Tuesday, they will be able to overcome the loss of Jekiri. Everyone else will have to step up their games.

Stanford 67, Old Dominion 60

Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

You can have your NCAA tournament games. Tuesday’s clash between Old Dominion and Stanford featured plenty of the madness that makes March special, regardless of whether it was only an NIT matchup.

Stanford won the game 67-60, but that only tells half of the story.

The Cardinal jumped out to a commanding 15-0 lead less than five minutes into the game and appeared to be well on their way to a dominating blowout victory. When they stretched the lead to 25-4 a mere 10 minutes into the contest, the game looked all but over.

Someone forgot to give Old Dominion the memo. 

The Monarchs came roaring back and cut the deficit to 33-27 by intermission and then seized the lead in the second half. Daniel M. Makarewicz of QCOnline.com noted that the crowd in Madison Square Garden certainly had something to do with the comeback:

The impressive thing about Old Dominion’s comeback was the fact that many of the points came from the bench. Ambrose Mosley and Richard Ross spearheaded the attack and finished with a combined 31 points (16 for Mosley and 15 for Ross).

Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

Ultimately, it wasn’t enough as Stanford’s Chasson Randle put the Cardinal on his back in the closing stretch. He finished with 24 points and took seemingly every important shot in the final 10 minutes for the Cardinal.

Randle also made some history in the process and passed up Todd Lichti’s school record of 2,336 career points. Stanford basketball passed along news of the impressive achievement:

Coach Johnny Dawkins commented on Randle’s ability before Tuesday’s game, per Janie McCauley of the Associated Press:

"

They say scorers are born. I think with Chasson he just has an ability to put the ball in the basket. I wouldn't say he's hungry to score but he's a guy when he goes out there, for all scorers, it's not just your ability to shoot jump shots. That's why it's hard for him to have a lot of really off nights because he can get to the basket, he can make plays, he can finish, and of course, he can knock down 3s. ... He capitalizes on everything you give him. You take away the 3, he's getting to the basket and finishing. You foul him, he's making his free throws. So he's hard to stop.

"

It was somewhat deflating for the crowd that was clearly partial to Old Dominion to watch Stanford retake the lead with less than eight minutes left and never look back. Randle made two consecutive three-pointers, the second of which went in with 6:20 remaining, to open up a 57-52 lead. 

From there, Old Dominion cut the lead back to two, but Randle hit an absolutely beautiful floater with a minute remaining to stretch the lead to four. Makarewicz commented on the play:

It was fitting that Randle hit what ultimately proved to be the most important shot of the game given the history he made Tuesday. Stanford iced the game after the floater with some clutch free-throw shooting and a couple of timely defensive stops.