Arkansas beats Texas 77-74 in Lone Star Shootout

HOUSTON — Daryl Macon scored a career-high 23 points, and Arkansas fought off Texas for its sixth straight win, 77-74, Saturday.

Macon, whose previous career high was 17 against Houston on Dec. 6, was 14 of 14 from the free-throw line to lead the Razorbacks, who made 29 of 31 free throws.

“It was a game of runs, and I thought we did a good job of getting to the free-throw line and making those free throws,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said.

Dusty Hannahs added 15 points and Jaylen Barford had 11 points for Arkansas (9-1), which won nine of its first ten games for the second time in the last seven years.

No. 19 Arizona holds off Texas A&M rally in Lone Star Shootout

HOUSTON — Playing with a seven-man rotation, Arizona coach Sean Miller admitted his team wore down late against Texas A&M.

The Wildcats had just enough left to fight off the Aggies on Saturday.

Dusan Ristic tied a season-high with 18 points as No. 19 Arizona had to hold off a furious rally by Texas A&M for its fourth straight victory, 67-63.

“We have seven scholarship players, and we hit around that 10-minute, 8-minute mark and guys start missing shots and defense is not that easy as it once was,” Miller said. “That is why depth is so critical. . When they sensed we were running out of gas, they put it into overdrive.”

Duke routs UNLV in first college game at T-Mobile Arena

LAS VEGAS — Not one player in Duke’s basketball program was born when the 1991 Blue Devils pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Final Four history.

So, Thursday, on a five-hour flight to Las Vegas, coach Mike Krzyzewski made his players watch footage from 25 years ago, when Duke beat UNLV 79-77 an epic upset in the national semifinals. It was revenge for the year prior, when UNLV throttled Duke 103-73 in the national championship.

T-Mobile Arena sold-out for UNLV-Duke game on Dec. 10

LAS VEGAS – Playing each other for the first time in 25 years, Duke and UNLV will renew its rivalry before a capacity crowd at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, Dec. 10. bd Global, the event promoter, announced today that reserved seating tickets are sold out and a limited number of standing-room-only tickets are now on sale. The available tickets, priced at $20 each, are along the rail behind the 100-level sections.

The event, presented by Nevada State Bank and benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer, pits the two iconic programs in the first college basketball game in the new arena and against each other for the first time in 25 years since battling in consecutive Final Fours in the early ‘90s. ESPN will televise the event which is scheduled to start at 2:15 p.m. PT.

“The excitement surrounding this game has been exceptional as evidenced by the ticket demand,” said Brooks Downing, President & CEO of bd Global. “It’s a game Runnin’ Rebels fans have been waiting to see for 25 years and the first game ever played in the world’s finest arena. I can think of no better way to christen T-Mobile Arena to college basketball and establish the brand of ‘Neon Hoops’ than with Duke vs. UNLV on ESPN with Hall of Famer Dick Vitale behind the microphone.”

Capacity for this game at T-Mobile Arena is 17,621, not including suite holders, and organizers are utilizing every space in the facility to maximize the “must-see” game. The teams first met in the 1990 Final Four where UNLV captured the school’s lone national championship by beating the Blue Devils by a national title game-record 30 points. The following season, the Runnin’ Rebels started the season 34-0 before facing Duke in the national semifinals in Indianapolis. In one of the most monumental upsets in NCAA Tournament history, Duke knocked off the Rebels 79-77 and then won the first national championship for Coach Mike Krzyzewski two days later.

The event, now in its fourth year after previously being played at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, benefits Coaches vs. Cancer, an initiative spearheaded by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (www.nabc.com) and the American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org).

The standing-room-only tickets can be purchased at the T-Mobile Arena box office, t-mobilearena.com, AXS.com, UNLVDuke.com or by calling 888-AXS-TIX.

For complete information, visit www.unlvduke.com or follow on Twitter at @NeonHoops.

No. 5 Baylor beats No. 8 Ohio State for Gulf Coast Showcase women’s title

ESTERO, Fla. (AP) – Baylor headed to the beach shortly after arriving in balmy Florida for a long holiday weekend, getting a little time to bask in sun and ride down waterslides.

The rest of the trip for the Lady Bears? All business.

Alexis Jones scored 20 points and No. 5 Baylor beat eighth-ranked Ohio State 85-68 on Sunday in the championship game of the Gulf Coast Showcase. Tournament MVP Kristy Wallace scored 15 points and Beatrice Mompremier added 13 for the Lady Bears (7-1), who never trailed.

”We definitely focused when it came to the games,” Wallace said.

And it showed.

Kelsey Mitchell scored 17 points for Ohio State (5-2), and shot 5 for 20 before fouling out. The Buckeyes shot only 34 percent for the game, and were outrebounded 52-29.

Valparaiso outguns BYU 92-89 for Main Event Heavyweight title

LAS VEGAS — Alec Peters had 26 points and 12 rebounds, Shane Hammink scored 23 points and Valparaiso beat BYU 92-89 on Wednesday night in the championship game of the MGM Grand Main Event’s heavyweight bracket.

Hammink was fouled away from the basket with 52 seconds left and he hit two free throws for a 90-87 lead. But Eric Mika answered with an open shot under the basket to pull to 90-89.

Little Rock wins Lone Star Showcase title

CEDAR PARK , Texas – Little Rock (4-2) won the Lone Star Showcase Championship with a 91-79 win over Central Michigan (4-2) on Wednesday at H-E-B Arena.

The Trojans were crowned champs after they and St. Bonaventure both finished the showcase with 2-1 records. Little Rock’s win over the Bonnies on Monday served as the tiebreaker.

Little Rock finished the game shooting 66 percent from the floor, including 69.2 percent after halftime.

Houston wins Gulf Coast Showcase men’s title with last-second shot

ESTERO, Fla. – Junior forward Devin Davis banked in a layup as time expired to lift the University of Houston Men’s Basketball program to a 72-71 win over Vermont in the Gulf Coast Showcase championship game on Wednesday evening inside Germain Arena.

Trailing 71-67 with 1:24 remaining, the Cougars moved to within a point when junior guard Wes VanBeck drained a 3-pointer from the baseline with 55 seconds left in the game.

After a missed Vermont shot and Houston defensive rebound on the ensuing possession, the Cougars called timeout, but junior guard Rob Gray’s baseline jumper was off the mark, and the Cougars were forced to foul when Vermont forward Kurt Steidl grabbed the defensive rebound with only seven seconds left.

bd Global expands into professional golf with two Web.com Tour events

LEXINGTON, Ky. – bd Global, one of the nation’s largest providers of college basketball content, will launch two new Web.com Tour events in The Bahamas to start the 2017 Web.com Tour season, the company announced today. In addition to its growth in professional golf, the four-year-old firm also has unveiled a new company logo that further substantiates its brand in the universal event space.

“This is a very exciting time for our business, and a natural evolution for us into the international sports and media marketplace,” said founder and president Brooks Downing. “Coming on the heels of our announcement last December of the 2017 Vancouver men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, we are finding unique opportunities throughout North America and the Caribbean to create first-class platforms that will elevate brands and meet the goals and objectives for cities and communities to generate economic activity through sports.”

bdG’s primary focus has been largely in NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball. This year alone, its tournaments range from the first college basketball game at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Duke vs. UNLV), to neutral-site tournaments, to round-robin events held at home sites. In the next six weeks, bdG has contracted 12 basketball events that feature 68 NCAA Division I teams playing a total of 127 games. bdG has established an impressive list of clients, including Nike, Gatorade, Bayer, Novartis, Papa John’s, and MGM Resorts International, among others. With an intense focus on charity through all of its event relationships, bdG continues to work closely with Coaches vs. Cancer, Play4Kay and the Lee Memorial Children’s Hospital in Southwest Florida.

bdG’s move into golf will permit the Web.com Tour to open its season in January for the first time in many years. The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay will be played Jan. 8-11 followed by The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club on Winding Bay on Jan. 22-25. The Sunday-through-Wednesday tournament schedule will be a first in golf, and bdG hopes the format will allow its events and its partners to be showcased in live, unopposed programming. bd Global will serve as the host organization for both events, working closely with the PGA TOUR, Bahamas Tourism and Golf Channel, which will televise all four rounds of both events.

“Our move into the golf space is a culmination of several years of planning,” said Downing, who left his role as head of the collegiate division of Lagardere Unlimited in 2012 to create bdG. “The Minister of Tourism, Obie Wilchcombe, asked us to seek out and find a professional sporting event that could showcase the “family islands of The Bahamas” to the world. Golf was a natural fit, given The Bahamas’ unbelievable resorts and courses, and our sincere thanks to the PGA TOUR for believing in our vision and giving us this opportunity to step into this space in a big way.”

bd Global had previously negotiated the LPGA Tour’s entry into The Bahamas back in 2013 with the Pure Silk Bahamas Classic, played at the Ocean Club Course in Nassau. bdG also owns and operates multiple basketball events, including the Gulf Coast Showcase in Ft. Myers, Fla., the Lone Star Showcase in Austin, the Lone Star Shootout in Houston, the MGM Grand Showcase in Las Vegas and the new postseason Vegas 16 at Mandalay Bay. The firm also represents college basketball coaches and broadcasters.

“We will continue to be opportunistic in the areas where we have an expertise,” Downing said. “Collegiate sports will continue to be a primary focus for us, but golf fits extremely well into our growth structure as a complementary platform.”

Full event information on bd Global’s events can be found at www.bdglobalsports.com. The firm can be found on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @bdGlobalSports.

BD GLOBAL’S 2016-17 COLLEGE BASKETBALL EVENTS: 

MEN WHO SPEAK UP MAIN EVENT (ESPN2)
Nov. 11-19 at home sites & Nov. 21-23 in Las Vegas
Field: Alabama, BYU, Saint Louis, Valparaiso, Ball State, Coastal Carolina, Coppin State and Southern Utah

ORANGE EXPRESS SHOWCASE
Nov. 11-25 at home sites
Field: Oregon State, Fresno State, Lamar, Prairie View A&M and UTSA

SCARLET KNIGHTS SHOWCASE
Nov. 13-27 at home sites
Field: Rutgers, North Texas, Drexel, Hartford and Niagara

BLUEGRASS SHOWCASE
Nov. 13-27 at home sites
Field: Kentucky, Duquesne, Canisius, Cleveland State and UT Martin

HARDWOOD SHOWCASE
Nov. 13-27 at home sites
Field: James Madison, Montana State, Rice, Delaware State, Texas Southern and Louisiana-Lafayette

GOLDEN GOPHER SHOWCASE
Nov. 14-26 at home sites
Field: Minnesota, Arkansas, Mount St. Mary’s, Southern Illinois and UT Arlington

GULF COAST SHOWCASE (MEN)
Nov. 21-23 in Southwest Florida
Field: Bradley, George Mason, Hofstra, Houston, Kent State, South Dakota, Vermont and Wofford

LONE STAR SHOWCASE
Nov. 21-23 in Austin/Cedar Park
Field: Central Michigan, Little Rock, Pepperdine and St. Bonaventure

GULF COAST SHOWCASE (WOMEN)
Nov. 25-27 in Southwest Florida
Field: Baylor, DePaul, FGCU, George Washington, Kent State, Ohio State, Syracuse and Western Kentucky

UNLV VS. DUKE BENEFITING COACHES VS. CANCER
Dec. 10 in Las Vegas
UNLV vs. Duke (ESPN)

LONE STAR SHOOTOUT
Dec. 17 in Houston
Texas A&M vs. Arizona & Texas vs. Arkansas (ESPN2 / ESPNU)

 PLAY4KAY TOURNAMENT (WOMEN)
Dec. 19-21 in Las Vegas
Field: Long Beach State, New Mexico State, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Quinnipiac, Santa Clara, South Florida and UNLV

BD GLOBAL’S 2017 GOLF EVENTS:

THE BAHAMAS GREAT EXUMA CLASSIC AT SANDALS EMERALD BAY
Jan. 5-8 at Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma, Bahamas  (Golf Channel)

THE BAHAMAS GREAT ABACO CLASSIC AT THE ABACO CLUB
Jan. 22-25 at The Abaco Club in Abaco, Bahamas (Golf Channel)

Web.com Tour to launch 2017 season with two events in The Bahamas

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The Web.com Tour, in conjunction with The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and bd Global, LLC, today announced two new events in The Bahamas that will open the Tour’s 2017 season. The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic will be contested at Sandals Emerald Bay Golf Course the week of January 5-11, while The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic will be held at The Abaco Club the week of January 19-25. Both tournaments will feature 132-player fields and $600,000 purses, with the winner of each receiving a $108,000 first-place prize.

The two events, which will open the Web.com Tour’s 2017 season over a three-week stretch, will feature tournament rounds contested Sunday through Wednesday, with all rounds broadcast live on Golf Channel. The unprecedented television format will allow for the conclusion of each event prior to the start of that week’s PGA TOUR stop.

The announcement comes on the heels of golf’s successful return to the Olympic Games for the first time since 1904, as the PGA TOUR and the game’s governing bodies continue to globalize the sport in the 21st century.

Including the TOUR-sanctioned Hero World Challenge and the LPGA’s Pure Silk Bahamas Classic (contested the week after The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic), The Bahamas is now host to four professional golf tournaments on the game’s upper tier, which is more than all but three states in the U.S. – California, Texas and Florida.

“We are excited to announce these two season-opening events in The Bahamas,” said Web.com Tour President Bill Calfee. “Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe was instrumental in allowing us to bring the tournaments to life, and I’m confident that the groundbreaking nature of the tournament structure, coupled with the scenic beauty of The Out Islands, will make for a fantastic television product for our fans.”

“We are very pleased to host these two PGA TOUR-sanctioned events while showcasing the beauty and diversity of The Islands of The Bahamas,” said Minister of Tourism, Obie Wilchcombe. “Golf in The Bahamas is unlike anywhere else because of our top-notch hospitality and striking blue waters. Our islands have always been a favorite playground for many of the world’s top golfers and we are now looking forward to becoming a destination of choice among professionals on the Web.com Tour.”

Sandals Emerald Bay, which was given the prestigious Six Star Diamond Award, is one of 23 properties in seven countries under the Sandals Resorts International umbrella, which includes resorts in Antigua, The Bahamas, Grenada, Barbados, Jamaica, Saint Lucia and Turks and Caicos. The resort is one of the top properties in the Sandals brands, boasting 249 rooms and suites among 500 tropical acres with a mile-long white sand beach. Voted the Caribbean’s Best Golf Hotel, Sandals Emerald Bay located in Great Exuma, Bahamas, features a Greg Norman-designed 18-hole golf course, in addition to a world-class 150-slip marina, three freshwater pools, seven diverse 5-Star Global Gourmet dining options, unlimited land and water sports, and a lavish 29,000 sq. ft. Red Lane® Spa.

The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic will be the first PGA TOUR-sanctioned event to be contested at a Sandals property, with the Greg Norman signature course onsite serving as host of the season-opening event.

“We are thrilled to welcome the Web.com Tour to our award-winning, Greg Norman-designed course at Sandals Emerald Bay, recognized as one of the most scenic ocean-side golf courses in the Caribbean,” said Sandals Resorts Chairman Gordon “Butch” Stewart. “It’s a gorgeous but challenging course and it will be fun to watch the pros give it their best.”

The Abaco Club, which is owned and managed by U.S.-based Southworth Development, will serve as host venue for The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic. Southworth, a leader in the creation of residential resort and hospitality-branded real estate communities and clubs, manages properties in the United States, the United Kingdom and The Bahamas.

The Club, with 2.5 miles of pristine private beach, luxurious island homes and myriad amenities, attracts homeowners, members and guests from around the world. The golf course, which is the island club and residency of European Ryder Cup team captain Darren Clarke, is annually ranked as the top course in The Bahamas and will be one of the premier venues on the Web.com Tour schedule, with a links course that plays along both scenic Winding Bay and The Atlantic Ocean.

“All of us at Southworth Development, along with the residents, members and staff of The Abaco Club, are thrilled to be hosting this exciting new event – The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic,” said David Southworth, Founder and CEO of Southworth Development. “We’re certain that the Web.com Tour players are going to enjoy the many challenges presented by this unique, Scottish-style tropical links course – just as spectators and viewers on Golf Channel are going to love watching these great players compete on it. There’s really nothing else like this course in the world of golf, just as there’s no place in the world quite like The Abaco Club. The first annual Bahamas Great Abaco Classic is going to be a special event in every way, and we can’t wait for the first tee shot to be struck.”

bd Global, LLC, a representation, event management and public relations firm, will serve as the host organization for both events. The company, founded by owner Brooks Downing in 2012, is an international leader in event management, with over two decades of experience in the celebrity golf, college basketball tournament and major football bowl game arenas. bd Global has served as the catalyst for both new events, working closely with Bahamas Tourism to bring the Web.com Tour to The Bahamas.

“Minister Wilchcombe challenged us with his vision to showcase their Out Islands through sports,” Downing said. “We are very excited to bring PGA TOUR golf to The Bahamas which will serve to drive economic activity to both islands, provide a strong television platform for future travel and help the Minister continue to brand the entire Bahamas as a global golf destination.”

The events will kick off the Web.com Tour’s 28th season, where 25 PGA TOUR cards will be awarded at the conclusion of the Regular Season, with an additional 25 awarded at the season-ending, four-event Web.com Tour Finals.

The Web.com Tour is the path to the PGA TOUR, with 451 victories coming from former Tour players – including 22 major championships.

For more information on the Web.com Tour, The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic or The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic, please visit PGATOUR.com.