DAYTON, Ohio — DJ Horne led a torrid first-half offensive display and finished with 20 points as Arizona State routed Nevada 98-73 in the final NCAA Tournament First Four game on Wednesday.

Desmond Cambridge Jr. had 17 and Jamiya Neal added 16 for the Sun Devils (23-12), who advance as a No. 11 seed to play No. 6 TCU in a West Region first-round game in Denver on Friday.

Arizona State’s Devan Cambridge contributed 15 points, and Luther Muhammad put up 12 points.

Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley said, “It was a complete performance for us and you want to be playing this way at this time of year. That’s what it’s all about. I truly believe that our schedule and the games we’ve been in, especially late in the season, prepares you for these type of games. Across the board, just everyone contributed. Our defense was outstanding in the first half. Our bench was really good.”

The Sun Devils used a 22-2 run in the first half to build an insurmountable 53-26 halftime lead. Arizona State finished 11-for-21 (52.4 percent) from 3-point range to record their first NCAA Tournament win since 2019, which also was in the First Four.

Will Baker scored 17, Tre Coleman added 14 and Darrion Williams had 12 to lead Nevada (22-11), which allowed Arizona State to shoot 63.6 percent from the field for the game.

The game was a matchup of two high-profile coaches as Hurley got the better of Nevada’s Steve Alford.

Alford said, “We just didn’t have enough experience and you’ve got to give Arizona State credit. I’ve watched a bucketload of games on them and I thought that’s as well as they played all year. And it’s a great credit to them because if you can play some of your best basketball in March that’s really, really good. And I thought they were tremendous tonight.”

After Baker, the Wolf Pack center, connected on a 3-pointer in the opening seconds, Arizona State responded with the next 13 points and took command of the game.

Neal had two spectacular plays on consecutive trips down the court that put the Sun Devils ahead 25-12 midway through the first half.

His straightaway 3-pointer with a hand in his face was followed by a spinning layup under the basket, with the ball falling through the net as he fell hard to the court beyond the end line.

Desmond Cambridge Jr. connected on a pair of treys on back-to-back trips late in the first half.

Alonzo Gaffney then drained a long 3-pointer from the left side in front of Nevada’s bench and shrugged his shoulders in a motion reminiscent of Michael Jordan in the 1992 NBA Finals against Portland.

Arizona State’s eighth triple in 12 attempts put the Sun Devils up 51-22 with 2:29 left in the first half. The Sun Devils shot 8-for-14 from behind the arc before halftime.

Just 20 seconds into the second half, the Sun Devils continued their 3-point assault as Horne’s triple expanded the lead to 56-26. Nevada could get no closer than 19 in the second half.

–Mike Petraglia, Field Level Media

David DeJulius had 21 points and seven assists to propel host Cincinnati to an 81-72 victory over Virginia Tech in the opening round of the NIT on Wednesday.

Former Virginia Tech player Landers Nolley II added 15 points and 12 rebounds as fourth-seeded Cincinnati (22-12) advanced to a second-round game against Hofstra (25-9), which toppled top-seeded Rutgers in overtime on Tuesday night.

Jeremiah Davenport scored all but one of his 12 points in the second half. Mika Adams-Woods and Ody Oguama contributed 10 points each for the balanced Bearcats.

Viktor Lakhin added nine points and eight rebounds to help Cincinnati win the battle of the boards 42-29.

Justyn Mutts had 19 points and six rebounds to lead Virginia Tech (19-15). Grant Basile added 17 points and seven rebounds, while Hunter Cattoor tallied 11 of his 13 points in the second half.

In a game that was tight all the way, neither team led by more than six points until the final minute. There were 13 ties and 11 lead changes.

Virginia Tech matched its biggest lead of the game, 40-34, early in the second half when MJ Collins made a 3-pointer.

But Cincinnati answered with 3-pointers from Adams-Woods, Nolley and Davenport to set the scene for a tight second half.

When Davenport drained his third 3-pointer of the half with 5:43 left, it gave the Bearcats the lead for good. Lakhin helped stretch the edge to 72-66, scoring four points on consecutive possessions.

Cincinnati had the best of it at the end as DeJulius hit a floater in the lane with 1:15 left and then made 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute.

The Hokies missed all seven of their 3-point attempts in the final 2:18.

In the final 3:25 of the first half, Mutts scored three baskets to crack the 1,000-point mark in his three seasons at Virginia Tech and help the Hokies to a 33-29 lead at intermission.

–Field Level Media

C.J. Kelly led three scorers in double figures with 21 points, lifting UCF to a 67-49 win over Florida in a first-round NIT game Wednesday night in Gainesville, Fla.

Taylor Hendricks added 17 points, eight rebounds and two blocks for the Golden Knights (19-14) who will move on to face the winner of Oregon versus UC Irvine in the second round of the tournament. Ithiel Horton scored 12 points.

Riley Kugel scored 13 points for the Gators (16-17), who finished the year with their first losing record since 2014-15 in Billy Donovan’s final season as coach.

The Gators struggled offensively throughout the game, shooting 32.2 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from 3-point range (4-for-24) while turning the ball over 18 times.

UCF extended a nine-point halftime lead to as many as 24 points in the second half. The Golden Knights shot 40 percent (6-for-15) from 3-point range and dominated inside, outscoring Florida 40-28 in points in the paint.

Hendricks had 13 points in the first half, helping the Golden Knights jump to a 35-26 halftime lead. The Golden Knights forced 13 Florida turnovers in the first half, which they converted to 15 points.

After Florida jumped to an early 9-2 lead on a four-point play from Kugel, UCF took control, erupting for a 24-5 run. Brandon Suggs made a pair of free throws to give UCF an 11-9 lead, then later scored to put the Knights up 26-14 with 6:57 left.

Florida answered with a quick 7-0 run, cutting UCF’s lead to 26-21 on a putback basket by Will Richard.

But the Knights closed the half strong. Up 30-24, UCF scored five straight points on a Hendricks putback and Horton 3-pointer, going up 35-24 with 1:30 left in the half. Florida got a putback layup from Alex Fudge with 35 seconds left in the half to cut UCF’s lead to 35-26.

UCF had its way inside in the first half, outscoring Florida 24-10 on points in the paint. UCF shot 55.6 percent from the field in the first half, compared to 32.1 percent for Florida.

–Field Level Media

Mark Freeman scored 19 points while going a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe to lift visiting Morehead State to a 68-64 win over top-seeded Clemson on Wednesday night in the first round of NIT.

Alex Gross added a near double-double for the Eagles (22-11) with 16 points and nine rebounds. Kalil Thomas and Drew Thelwell tacked on 11 points apiece.

Chase Hunter led the charge for Clemson (23-11) with 18 points. PJ Hall was also all over the floor for the Tigers, scoring 13 points, grabbing seven boards and swatting away five shots.

Clemson came out of the gates swinging, opening the game with 10-0 run, which featured five points from Hunter Tyson.

After absorbing the Tigers’ initial blow, Morehead State hung around, but did trail by as much as 15 before intermission.

With 2:41 remaining before halftime, the Eagles made their move, using two buckets apiece from Gross and Freeman to compile an 8-0 run and trim the deficit to two, 34-32, by the break.

Hall got off to a hot start in the second, scoring seven points in the first five minutes to help grow the Clemson lead to 46-39.

The Eagles would not go away, though, and a controversial flagrant foul called on Hall with just under 10 minutes to play put Freeman at the charity stripe. Freeman drained both shots to bring Morehead within one with 8:59 to go.

Thelwell knocked down a 3-pointer with 5:53 remaining to tie up the game for the first time since tip-off. He followed up with another triple just over a minute later, giving the Eagles the lead for the first time of the night at 55-54.

Freeman found Gross in the paint for an easy layup, giving Morehead a two-possession advantage with 16 seconds left at 64-60. The Eagles held on for the comeback victory.

Free throws made the difference, with Morehead going 15-for-16 (93.8 percent) and Clemson shooting a poor 8-for-14 (57.1 percent).

Morehead will move on to face the UAB Blazers this weekend in the second round of the tourney.

–Field Level Media