Three NCAA berths awarded

Florida Atlantic became the first school to make it to the NCAA Tournament this season and regulars Murray State and Winthrop joined them later Saturday.

Florida Atlantic (19-11) earned its first trip to the NCAA Tournament with a thrilling 76-75 victory over Georgia State in the title game of the Atlantic Sun Conference tourey.

Rob Williams made a free throw with six seconds left and the Owls survived a last-second shot by the Panthers to emerge victorious in Orlando. Raheim Brown scored 19 points to lead Florida Atlantic, located in Boca Raton and coached by former NBA player Sidney Green.

The loss prevented Georgia State from repeating as champions in a league formerly known as the Trans America Athletic Conference. It also denied Panthers coach Lefty Driesell his 14th trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Murray State (19-12) reached the "Big Dance" for the ninth time in 15 years with a 70-69 triumph over top-seeded Tennessee Tech in the championship of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in Louisville. Justin Burdine made a jumper with nine seconds left to give the Racers the lead and they survived a pair of misses by the Golden Eagles.

Burdine scored 24 points for Murray State, which won the OVC title for the first time since 1999. The loss spoiled a fabulous season for Tennessee Tech, which had won 19 of 20 games and was making its first appearance in the final since 1967.

Winthrop (19-11) won its fourth straight Big South Conference championship with a 70-48 rout of surprising High Point in Roanoke, Va. Big South Player of the Year Greg Lewis recorded his 18th double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Eagles.

"We had a lot of expectations on us and sometimes that's very tough to overcome," Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall said. "This team stayed together and never quit working and they reaped the benefits of their hard work today."

High Point is in just its fourth season of Division I basketball, but the seventh-seeded Panthers upset No. 2 seed North Carolina-Asheville and No. 3 Radford to make its first national television appearance.

Another NCAA bid will be determined Sunday when the Southern Conference title game is played in Charleston, S.C.