Donte Poole scored 25 points, and 12th-ranked Murray State routed Tennessee Tech 78-58 Friday night in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament semifinals. Now the Racers (29-1) will play Tennessee State in the championship game, trying to add a 15th overall tournament title to their regular-season title. The Racers beat Tennessee Tech, 69-64, to wrap up the regular season on Feb. 25. They showed fresh legs and no rust while beating the Golden Eagles for the third time this season. Isaiah Canaan added 18 points, and Ed Daniel had 11. Kevin Murphy led Tennessee Tech (19-13) with 31 points. The Racers outshot Tennessee Tech all over the floor, hitting 54.9 percent (28 of 51) overall compared to 39.3 percent (22 of 56). They also were just faster all night too. They outscored Tennessee Tech 19-4 off the fastbreak and had a 42-20 edge in the paint. Murphy, the 12th-best scorer in Division I with 20.7 points per game, finally got going after missing his first two shots for Tennessee Tech. He hit a jumper with 10:25 left, and he scored 17 points to help the Golden Eagles pare the lead down to 37-30 by halftime. No. 15 Wichita State 72, Indiana State 48: Toure Murry and Joe Ragland scored 14 points each and Garrett Stutz had 12 rebounds to lead the Shockers to the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. Wichita State (27-4) won its season-high ninth straight and will play Illinois State for a spot in the championship. The Shockers, who the regular-season title with a 16-2 mark, is looking for their first MVC tournament title since 1987. Eighth-seeded Indiana State (18-14) missed 20 of its first 22 shots. Dwayne Lathan and R.J. Mahurin led the Sycamores with nine points each. The Shockers hit on nine of their first 12 shots on the way to a 20-3 lead after 8:13. No. 20 Notre Dame 75, Providence 69: Jack Cooley scored a career-high 27 points and had 17 rebounds as the Irish wrapped up a double bye in next week's Big East tournament. Notre Dame (21-10, 13-5) locked up the No. 3 seed in the tournament and ended a two-game losing skid that followed a nine-game winning streak. Cooley, who had just two points and no rebounds in the Irish's loss at Georgetown on Monday, scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the first half, hitting 7 of 10 shots. He finished 10 for 15 from the field. LaDontate Henton had 18 points and 12 rebounds, Vincent Council added 17 points and Gerald Coleman 15 for Providence (15-16, 4-14). No. 25 Creighton 68, Drake 61: Greg McDermott scored 26 points and Antoine Young added 16 points to help the Bluejays reach the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Creighton (26-5) advances to play Evansville. Rayvonte Rice led Drake (17-15) with 15 points. Kurt Alexander added 14 and Jordan Clarke and Ben Simons each added 11 points.
