Temple captured the Gildan Charleston Classic title, holding off Clemson down the stretch in opening the season 3-0. At the Paradise Jam, Houston knocked off Wake Forest to go 2-1 at the event, while UConn and Tulane each picked up victories to remain unbeaten on the young season.
Temple 67, Clemson 60
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- Shizz Alston Jr. scored 14 points including four clinching foul shots as Temple defeated Clemson 67-60 to win the Charleston Classic on Sunday night.
It was the second straight season the Owls (3-0) won an early season event, beating a pair of ranked teams in Florida State and West Virginia to take the NIT Season Tip-off a year ago. This time, they beat Auburn of the Southeastern Conference on Friday to make the finals, then put away Clemson of the Atlantic Coast Conference to finish on top in the eight-team event.
Temple used an 18-7 run that spanned both halves to gain control. Josh Brown scopred 13 points and had two of his three 3-pointers in that stretch. And when he knocked his final long-range basket with 13:02 remaining the Owls were up 50-36 and on their way to the victory.
The Tigers (4-1) cut things to 60-56 on Shelton Mitchell's driving layup with 51 seconds to go. Clemson had the chance to make it even tighter when Marcquise Reed stole the ball with 50 seconds left, but Donte Grantham's quick 3 was off the mark.
Quinton Rose hit two foul shots for Temple and Clemson could not catch up.
The Owls got a measure of Charleston-flavored revenge on Clemson, which topped Temple 76-72 to win this title in 2008. The Tigers were playing in their third Charleston final. They lost to UMass in 2013.
Obi Enechionyia and Alani Moore II scored 12 points each for Temple.
Mitchell led Clemson with 16 points. Reed had 14 points for the Tigers, 11 of them in the second half. Grantham had 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Houston 78, Wake Forest 73
LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) -- Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said his team had not played with Rob Gray before Friday and the start of the Paradise Jam.
It took Gray just three games to make his presence known as a clutch player the Cougars can count on.
Gray scored six of his 23 points during a late 8-0 run for Houston that broke a tie and the Cougars beat Wake Forest 78-73 in the fifth-place game of the Paradise Jam on Sunday.
"Friday, believe it or not, that was our team's first game with Rob," Sampson said. "They hadn't seen Rob. We just have to keep adjusting. The more games we play, the better we're going to get."
Gray was intent on making a good impression, and did, especially in a tight game near the end.
"I'm trying to show people that I'm more than just a scorer," the redshirt senior and junior college transfer said. "I'm an efficient basketball player that knows how to make the right plays defensively and offensively. I just try to be as aggressive as possible, while remaining as smart a player as possible."
Wes VanBeck added 19 points and Devin Davis 15 for Houston (3-1). Gray's layup broke the 68-all tie, Davis followed a miss by Wake Forest with two free throws and Gray added a 3-pointer and a free throw, giving the Cougars a 76-68 lead with 1:51 to play.
The Demon Deacons (1-4) got a 3-pointer from Mitchell Wilbekin and a dunk from Doral More to get within three, but Gray scored after an offensive rebound with 15 seconds left to rebuild the lead to five and the Demon Deacons missed a pair of 3-point tries at the finish.
For the second time in three games, Wake Forest coach Danny Manning lamented his team's attention to details in a losing effort.
"It was not the three days that I envisioned coming down here," he said. "I'm pretty sure it's not what everyone else envisioned either. We just have to get better. We have to come in with our hard hat and our lunch pail and continue to work on ourselves to get better each time we step on the court -- practice or game."
Bryant Crawford led Wake Forest with 17 points and Wilbekin and Keyshawn Woods each had 15.
Tulane 63, Fordham 55
MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica (AP) -- Melvin Frazier totaled 23 points, 14 rebounds and three assists to spark Tulane to a 63-55 victory over Fordham in the Jamaica Classic on Sunday night.
Frazier sank 8 of 10 shots from the floor, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range, and 5 of 7 from the free-throw line for the Green Wave (4-0). Jordan Cornish finished with 14 points, seven assists and six rebounds, while Samir Sehic scored 13.
Fordham led 29-27 at halftime, but the Rams went scoreless over the first 3:28 of the second half. Prokop Slanina's 3-pointer ended the drought and pulled Fordham within 33-32. But Frazier had a dunk and a layup, Sehic added a three-point play and Tulane used a 9-1 run for a 42-33 lead.
Fordham suffered through another scoring drought that nearly reached four minutes and the deficit grew to double digits. The Rams got no closer than six points the rest of the way.
Will Tavares topped the Rams (1-3) with 19 points. Perris Hicks had 11 points and four of Fordham's 15 steals on the night.
The two teams were playing each other for just the second time. Tulane beat Fordham 80-69 in 1999.
UConn 85, Boston University 66
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Christian Vital scored a career high 30 points to lead Connecticut to an 85-66 win over Boston University on Sunday.
The sophomore guard hit nine of his 15 shots and was 4 of 10 from 3-point range.
Jalen Adams had 12 points and Terry Larrier and Antwoine Anderson each scored 11 for UConn (3-0).
Cedric Hankerson scored 20 points to lead Boston University (0-3). Nick Havener had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Terriers, who opened the game with an 8-1 run.
UConn missed its first nine shots from the floor before a 3-pointer by Vital cut the BU lead to 8-4, more than five minutes into the game.
The Huskies took their first lead at 16-13 on a 3-pointer by Larrier.
But it was Vital who sparked the Huskies, hitting six of his first nine shots. A 3-pointer by Anderson at the halftime buzzer gave UConn a 39-31 lead.
A pair of Vital free throws gave UConn a 21-point lead at 65-44 and his 3-pointer with just over six minutes left gave the Huskies a 70-48 advantage.
Indiana 70, USF 53
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) -- Robert Johnson scored 21 points and Juwan Morgan added 15 to help the Indiana Hoosiers overcome a rough start and pull away from USF 70-53 on Sunday.
Morgan also had 10 rebounds as the Hoosiers (2-2) won for the second time in three games, getting good free-throw shooting and a strong second-half defensive performance to secure this one.
Payton Banks scored 18 points to lead South Florida (2-2). Malik Martin finished with 11.
But the Bulls got into early foul trouble early in the second half, put the Hoosiers in the bonus with 11:32 to play and couldn't fight their back against Indiana's tougher veterans.
It was a rugged game from the start.
There were more combined turnovers than baskets for most of the first half. And Indiana, which trailed 34-33 at halftime, couldn't retake the lead until Morgan's driving layup made it 45-43 with 12:16 to go.
The Hoosiers then took advantage of six straight missed shots by USF, scoring nine of the next 10 points to take a 54-44 lead with 8:27 left. Indiana closed it out with an 8-2 spurt that extended the lead to 62-49.
USF spent the rest of the game futilely trying to catch up and couldn't get closer than 11 the rest of the way. The Bulls scored just 19 points in the second half on 6 of 25 shooting.
Illinois State 84, Tulsa 68
CONWAY, S.C. (AP) -- Keyshawn Evans scored 29 points and Illinois State jumped out to a huge first-half lead to beat Tulsa 84-68 in Sunday's third-place game at the relocated Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
Evans had 20 points by halftime on 8-for-9 shooting, helping the Redbirds (2-2) run off 20 straight points to take control in the opening 6 1/2 minutes. Illinois State shot 62 percent and hit eight 3-pointers to build a 46-27 halftime lead, then led by as many as 22 points.
The Golden Hurricane (2-3) never got the deficit below double figures in the second half.
Evans made 10 of 13 shots for the game, including all six of his 3-point tries. Illinois State finished shooting 57 percent and made 12 of 23 3-pointers.
Junior Etou scored 16 points before fouling out late for Tulsa, which shot 37 percent.
The Tip-Off was moved to South Carolina due to hurricane damage in Puerto Rico.