Caleb Grill scored a game-high 31 points and Iowa State knocked off No. 1 North Carolina 70-65 at the Phil Knight Invitational on Friday in Portland, Ore.

Jaren Holmes added 22 for the Cyclones (5-0), who will play either No. 20 UConn or No. 18 Alabama in the tournament championship on Sunday night.

R.J. Davis led North Carolina (5-1) with 15 points, Armando Bacot had 13 points with nine rebounds and Caleb Love scored 12.

Grill made the difference late for Iowa State with vital back-to-back jumpers.

First he hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 61 with 2:25 remaining. Gabe Kalscheur then had a steal for Iowa State and set up a jumper for Grill to give the Cyclones the lead, 63-61.

Strong defense and solid work from the free-throw line then helped Iowa State ice the victory. Iowa State led 70-63 before a layup at the buzzer by North Carolina cut the final score to five points.

North Carolina’s 3-point shooting made a difference in the loss. The Tarheels went 3 for 18 from beyond the arc, while Iowa State hit 9 of 20 and used long-range shooting to fuel the upset.

The Tar Heels looked like they were in a position to cruise multiple times, but they kept getting tracked down the Cyclones.

It was 47-47 with 7:58 remaining before North Carolina went on an 11-4 run to take a seven-point lead, but Iowa State battled back.

North Carolina led 30-21 during the first half after a layup by Davis. Iowa State then closed the half on a 11-4 run to make it a two-point game, 34-32, in North Carolina’s favor at halftime.

Iowa State had reached the semifinal of the invitational with an 81-79 overtime victory against Villanova. North Carolina had dispatched Portland 89-81 in that same round.

–Field Level Media

With its Pac-12 schedule quickly approaching, the University of Utah men’s basketball team will host St. Thomas (Minn.) on Saturday night at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City for a nonconference tune-up.

The Utes (4-2) enter the game against the Tommies (5-2) after going 1-2 in the Ft. Myers Tip-Off, with a win over Georgia Tech sandwiched by losses to Sam Houston State and Mississippi State.

Despite the losses, Utah coach Craig Smith says he is pleased with the trajectory of his team as it nears Thursday’s Pac-12 season-opener against Arizona. He hopes to keep that trend going against the Tommies.

“We will keep climbing,” Smith said. “I am really excited about the future of this team.”

Branden Carlson leads the Utes in scoring with 13.0 points per game and 2.3 blocks. Carlson, however, is coming off a scoreless campaign in which he missed all six of his shots.

Ben Carlson (not related) led Utah against Mississippi State with 10 points and four rebounds in 24 minutes, a performance that caught his coach’s attention. It was his second double-digit-scoring outing this season.

“Ben Carlson has made monster steps from where he was three weeks ago to where he was today,” Smith said. “I thought he was really good tonight.”

The Tommies of St. Paul, Minn., are making their longest road trip of the season to take on Utah for the first-ever meeting of the programs.

St. Thomas, fresh off of a 76-72 win over Milwaukee in Wisconsin, has three consecutive wins for the first time since joining NCAA Division I last season, when they made the jump from Div. III.

Their game against Utah presents an interesting matchup. Utah is allowing opponents to shoot only 32.6 percent from the field, fourth lowest in the country. The Tommies are shooting 50 percent for the season.

St. Thomas averages nearly 10 3-point baskets per game, which is four more than Utah.

Riley Miller leads the Tommies with 15.6 points per game, with three other players averaging in double figures.

–Field Level Media

Kyrell Luc scored 16 points and hit a pair of key 3-pointers late in the second half for St. Bonaventure, which never trailed in beating Notre Dame 63-51 in the Gotham Classic showcase game Friday afternoon in Elmont, N.Y.

Chad Venning (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Yann Farell (11 points, 14 rebounds) each posted a double-double for St. Bonaventure (4-2), which has won three straight. It was the first career double-double for Venning, a junior, and the second of Farell’s freshman season.

Ven-Allen Lubin had 10 points and 13 rebounds for Notre Dame (5-1), which was trying to start 6-0 for the first time since 2017-18. Nate Laszewski had 11 points and eight rebounds while Dane Goodwin and Cormac Ryan finished with nine points apiece.

Notre Dame shot just 34.5 percent and opened especially cold from the field, shooting 2 for 13 with a pair of turnovers as St. Bonaventure raced out to a 14-4 lead following Luc’s 3-pointer with 11:42 left. Dane Goodwin responded with a 3-pointer for the Fighting Irish, but they got no closer the remainder of the half.

St. Bonaventure led 31-20 at intermission before Lubin scored six points in a half-opening 14-10 stretch for Notre Dame, which pulled within 41-34 with 12:14 remaining. Venning scored on the next three trips for the Bonnies before Daryl Banks III drained a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 49-36 with 9:02 left.

Laszewski and Trey Wertz combined to hit four straight free throws as Notre Dame cut the deficit to 51-44 with 5:08 remaining, but Luc hit a 3-pointer on the next possession. The Fighting Irish trailed 54-46 with four minutes left, but Wertz missed a layup and Luc sank another 3-pointer.

The Fighting Irish got within seven points once more in unusual fashion with 2:02 left. Lubin’s deflection of Farell’s in-bounds pass underneath the St. Bonaventure basket went into the hoop. Daryl Banks hit a 3-pointer following a timeout to extend the lead to 60-50 and the Bonnies led by at least nine the rest of the way.

The win was St. Bonaventure’s first against Notre Dame since Jan. 19, 1994 and cut the Fighting Irish’s lead in the all-time series to 5-3.

–Field Level Media

Freshman Gregory Jackson II scored 22 points to lead three Gamecocks in double figures as South Carolina pulled away in the second half for a 68-53 victory over visiting South Carolina Upstate on Friday in Columbia, S.C.

Jackson shot 8 of 14 from the field, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range, to go along with six rebounds, while Hayden Brown added 15 points and nine rebounds before fouling out. Jacobi Wright chipped in 10 points.

The Gamecocks (3-3), who ended a three-game losing streak, shot 28 of 59 (47.5 percent) from the field, including 4 of 18 (22.2 percent) from 3-point range, in addition to scoring 13 points off the Eagles’ 13 turnovers.

South Carolina outscored the Eagles 40-22 in the second half after trailing by three at halftime.

South Carolina Upstate (2-4) was led by Ahmir Langlais, who had 14 points and seven rebounds, while Jordan Gainey added 13 points. Trae Broadnax finished with seven points and a team-high nine rebounds.

The Eagles shot 24 of 52 (46.2 percent) from the field, including 2 of 12 (16.7 percent) from beyond the arc, and were outrebounded 34-28.

Trailing 31-28, the Gamecocks took control of the game for good by opening the second half on a 14-4 run to take a 42-35 lead following Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk’s layup with 15:29 left.

Neither team led by more than six points during a tightly contested first half.

Gainey scored seven points and Langlais added six for the Eagles in the first 20 minutes for South Carolina Upstate, which shot 13 of 25 (52 percent) from the field, including 2 of 6 (33.3 percent) from beyond the arc.

South Carolina was led by Jackson’s 10 points, while Brown added eight.

The Gamecocks struggled offensively in the first half, going 10 of 28 (35.7 percent) from the field, including an abysmal 2 of 10 (20 percent) from distance.

–Field Level Media

Jabe Mullins scored a game-high 22 points as Washington State broke a school record with 19 3-point field goals Friday afternoon in a 96-54 nonconference victory against visiting Detroit Mercy in Pullman, Wash.

The Cougars (3-2 overall) also clamped down defensively on Antoine Davis, one of the top scorers in NCAA history.

Davis extended his NCAA-record streak of scoring in double-digits to 118 games, with 15 points on 6-for-19 shooting. Earlier in the week, Davis broke the mark of 116 set by La Salle’s Lionel Simmons (1987-90) and matched by Campbell’s Chris Clemons (2015-2019).

Davis also moved into 14th place in NCAA Division I in career scoring, surpassing Houston legend Elvin Hayes (1966-68). Davis has 2,897 points and – if he maintains his current pace (23.3 points a game) – would rise to No. 2 on the career list by the end of the season, trailing only LSU’s Pete Maravich.

Mullins, a transfer from Saint Mary’s, made 6 of 8 from 3-point range to lead four Cougars in double-figure scoring. On Monday, he scored a career-high 24 points in an 82-56 victory over Eastern Washington when he made 8 of 11 from beyond the arc.

TJ Bamba and Justin Powell, a transfer from Tennessee, added 18 and 17 points. Bamba was 4-for-5 on 3s and Powell was 4-for-6. Powell added a game-high seven assists and grabbed six rebounds.

Mouhamed Gueye had 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds for WSU. Teammates DJ Rodman, Kymany Houinsou and Mael Hamon-Crespin scored nine points apiece.

Jayden Stone led the Titans (3-4) with 20 points.

WSU opened the game with a 13-2 run, capped by a pair of Mullins 3-pointers.

Davis missed his first four shots before sinking a trey with 11:15 left in half to pull the Titans within 24-10.

But the Cougars steadily pulled away, with Powell making a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give WSU a 56-23 lead at the half.

Washington State extended the lead to 49 points, 96-47, with a little more than two minutes remaining before Detroit Mercy closed with a 7-0 run.

The Cougars shot 60.7% from the field (34 of 56), including 65.5% (19 of 29) from beyond the arc, while limiting the Titans to 38.3% shooting (18 of 47).

–Field Level Media

Julian Reese scored a career-high 24 points and added 10 rebounds to lead three Terrapins who finished in double figures in No. 23 Maryland’s 95-79 victory over visiting Coppin State on Friday in College Park, Md.

Reese scored all but two of his points in the first half and finished the game 10 of 12 from the floor, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range. Hakim Hart added 22 points and eight rebounds. Jahmir Young finished with 21 points, five assists and five rebounds, and Donta Scott chipped in nine points and six rebounds.

The Terrapins (6-0), which led by as many as 19 in the second half, shot 33 of 68 (48.5 percent) from the field, including 4 of 21 (19 percent) from beyond the arc.

Maryland outrebounded Coppin State 40-26.

Coppin State (3-5) was led by Sam Sessoms, who had 28 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Justin Winston added 14 points and seven rebounds. Nendah Tarke finished with 14 points and four assists.

The Eagles shot 28 of 51 (54.9 percent) from the field, including 9 of 19 (47.4 percent) from beyond the arc, in addition to giving up 54 points in the paint.

After leading 47-36 at halftime, the Terrapins never led by fewer than six points the rest of the way and pushed their advantage to 72-56 following Ian Martinez’s dunk with 11:11 left.

After Coppin State took a 24-21 lead with 8:47 left in the first half, the Terrapins took control of the game by closing on a 26-12 run to lead by 11 at intermission.

Reese carried the Terrapins, scoring 22 points in the first half alone — setting his single-game career high. He shot a perfect 9 of 9 from the field and finished two rebounds shy of a first-half double-double.

Hart added 14 points for Maryland, which shot 18 of 35 (51.4 percent) from the field but just 3 of 10 from beyond the arc.

Coppin State was led by Sessoms’ 11 first-half points, while Tarke added nine. The Eagles shot 12 of 24 (50 percent) from the field, including 5 of 11 (45.5 percent) from distance.

–Field Level Media

Jeremy Roach scored 21 points and hit key shots in the second half as No. 8 Duke fended off Xavier for a 71-64 victory in a semifinal game of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament Saturday afternoon at Portland, Ore.

Mark Mitchell added 16 points and Kyle Filipowski had 12 while the freshman pair combined on nine rebounds to send the Blue Devils to the tournament final Sunday.

Roach, who supplied a team-high five assists, shot 9 for 15 from the field for Duke, which shot 50 percent from the field after failing to hit at a 30 percent clip a day earlier.

Souley Boum’s 23 points paced Xavier, while Adam Kunkel had 12 points and Colby Jones supplied 10 first-half points.

Duke (6-1) will take on the winner of a later semifinal between No. 6 Gonzaga or No. 24 Purdue in Sunday’s championship game. Xavier (4-2) meets the loser.

Despite Xavier hanging around, Duke never relinquished the lead coming down the stretch.

With the Blue Devils clinging to leads of five, four and three points in the last 10 1/2 minutes, it was Roach who delivered a basket to help steady the team.

Xavier was within 65-62 before it endured a scoring drought of almost five minutes. Its only points in the last 5:09 came on Jack Nunge’s two free throws at the 13-second mark.

Duke began the second half on a 9-2 run, resulting in a Xavier timeout. Mitchell scored seven of those points, capped by a 3-pointer.

Kunkel sparked Xavier’s comeback. He scored eight points in a four-minute stretch as the Musketeers closed to within 53-50.

Duke shot 56 percent from the field in the opening half, yet its lead was only 40-34. Still, it was a huge offensive upgrade for the Blue Devils after struggling with shooting in Thursday’s 54-51 victory against Oregon State.

Duke had 13 first-half points from its bench.

The Blue Devils have won each of the five all-time meetings with Xavier, though this was the first clash between the programs in nearly 14 years.

–Field Level Media

Portland made 56.3 percent of its shots and stunned Villanova 83-71 Friday for a signature win for the program on Day 2 of the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Ore.

Moses Wood’s 16 points led Portland, along with 15 points, eight assists and seven rebounds from Tyler Robertson. The Pilots led the entire second half and moved on to the tournament’s fifth-place game on Sunday.

Portland (5-3) of the West Coast Conference took advantage of playing the tournament in its own backyard. Friday’s game was at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, just a few miles away from the Portland campus.

The win came on the heels of an 89-81 loss to No. 1 North Carolina on Thanksgiving, Portland making a game of it against the Tar Heels. Then came Friday’s win over a traditional top program.

The Wildcats (2-4) trailed by as many as 18 points early in the second half but cut the lead to 75-68 with 1:18 to play on Chris Arcidiacono’s 3-pointer. The Pilots answered with free throws before Villanova made it 77-71 on Brandon Slater’s 3 at the 1:09 mark.

But the Wildcats ran out of time, having lost leading scorer Caleb Daniels after he fouled out late in the game. Portland closed out the game with six unanswered free throws.

Daniels finished with 18 points and Jordan Longino added 14 for the Wildcats. Villanova was just 23 for 69 (33.3 percent) as a team.

Robertson’s offensive rebound and putback with 4:09 to play put the Pilots ahead 69-60. He and Wood combined for 23 of Portland’s 48 second-half points.

Villanova finished the game missing its last eight shots, while Portland was 14 for 23 in shooting in the second half (60.9 percent). The Wildcats led by four in the first half, their largest lead of the game, but Portland ended the half on a 16-4 run for a 35-27 halftime lead.

Vasilije Vucinic had eight of the 16 points, including a dunk with 2:48 to go. Vucinic finished with 10 points off the bench.

Villanova’s last losing season was 2011-12 when it finished 13-19 and fell under .500 for good after its 21st game.

–Field Level Media

Marquette will host two massive home games next week when No. 7 Baylor comes to the Fiserv Forum on Tuesday and in-state rival Wisconsin visits on Dec. 3.

But before the Golden Eagles (4-2) can focus on the Bears and Badgers, they have to bring the effort against Chicago State (2-5) on Saturday night in Milwaukee.

Considering the Cougars rank 356th out of the 363 Division I teams in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings as of Friday — and they’ve lost all five of their road games by double figures — Marquette coach Shaka Smart will have a task to keep his players’ minds on the present.

The task could be even tougher because Marquette spanked Georgia Tech by 24 Wednesday in the Fort Myers Tip-Off third-place game.

“I think there’s a lot of areas where we can continue to get better,” Smart said Wednesday on his postgame radio show. “As a group, we have to take a growth mindset.”

Where can the Golden Eagles stand to grow? They’re shooting just 32 percent from 3-point range, which ranked next to last among the Big East’s 11 teams entering Friday’s games. They’re also just barely breaking even on the backboards (a 0.2 average rebounding margin).

On the plus side, Marquette has been forcing a plethora of turnovers (15.8 per game) and taking advantage of them in transition. Point guard Tyler Kolek shares second nationally with 7.8 assists per game as he has four teammates averaging double figures — led by Kam Jones’ 13.0 points per game.

Chicago State, one of two independent Division I teams, has yet to play a game that finished closer than 10 points. The Cougars won both of their home games, but have lost all of their road games — including three in the last week at Kent State, Marshall and Cleveland State.

Sophomore guard Wesley Cardet Jr. paces the Cougars with 15.0 points and 3.3 assists per game. Elijah Weaver, a transfer guard from Dayton, is averaging 13.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. Six-foot-6 guard Jahsean Corbett adds 12.9 points and a team-high 8.6 rebounds per night.

Weaver’s strong showing in the early going has made second-year coach Gerald Gillion seem clairvoyant.

“I think Elijah is due for a breakout year,” Chicago State coach Gerald Gillion told the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook in the preseason. “I’m not talking about breaking in terms of a college player. I’m talking about a breakout in terms of people will be calling him at the next level.”

–Field Level Media

Mike Anderson would probably prefer if St. John’s won games in less chaotic fashion.

But three straight comebacks from double-digit deficits have Anderson confident this could be the St. John’s team he’s been trying to build for more than three years.

St. John’s will look to remain perfect Saturday afternoon, when the Red Storm host Niagara in a nonconference game at Carnesecca Arena in Queens, N.Y.

St. John’s last played Tuesday, when the Red Storm outlasted former conference foe Syracuse 76-69 in overtime of the championship game of the Empire Classic at Barclays Center. Niagara rolled to a home win Wednesday night, when the Purple Eagles beat Division II D’Youville 91-53.

The win over Syracuse improved St. John’s to 6-0, its best start since Chris Mullin’s last team opened 12-0 on the way to Red Storm’s most recent NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018-19.

The Red Storm also continued displaying the type of resilience that will be necessary to win the school’s first NCAA Tournament game since the spring of 2000. St. John’s, which overcame a 10-point first half deficit in a 70-50 win over Nebraska on Nov. 17 and trailed by 13 in the first half of a 78-72 win over Temple on Monday night, fell behind by 11 in the first half Tuesday and was down 10 with 15 minutes to play.

“They’re gritty — I love grittiness,” Anderson said. “We’ve got more guys making plays — winning plays — when it’s crunch time.”

Niagara (3-2), which was picked to finish tied for eighth in the 11-team Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, has won three straight, tied for its longest winning streak under fourth-year head coach Greg Paulus.

The Purple Eagles lost their top three scorers from last season — including Marcus Hammond, who averaged a team-high 18.1 points per game before heading to Notre Dame as a graduate student — but hope they began building some chemistry during the MAAC/Atlantic Sun Dublin Basketball Challenge in Ireland late last week. Niagara beat Central Arkansas 73-64 on Nov. 18 before edging Stetson 66-62 the next day.

“I thought it was a really good experience for this group — with 10 new guys, having a chance to spend that type of time on the court, off the court,” Paulus said following the win over Division II D’Youville. “Obviously we got to play some games and practice a little bit more.”

The game Saturday will be the first between the schools in almost seven years but the 101st all-time in a rivalry that dates to 1909. St. John’s leads the series 73-27 and won the most recent meeting on Dec. 9, 2015, when the Red Storm edged Niagara, 48-44. The Purple Eagles’ most recent win was a 77-73 victory on Dec 15, 2007.

–Field Level Media