Championship – UC San Diego 87, Towson 73
Tritons Leap Quickly:UCSD guard Aidan Burkes made a pair of threes from the left baseline, and Bol Dengdit nailed his own three from the right wing to lead the Tritons to a quick 9-0 lead over the Towson Tigers en route to an 87-73 victory in the ESPN Events Adventure Bracket championship. UCSD attacked with the three from the left baseline as Burke had three in spotting the Tritons a 32-12 lead with 6:33 remaining in the first half. Defensively, UCSD held Towson to 4-of-18 from the field to take the 32-12 margin. A Tom Beattie triple gave UCSD its biggest lead at 40-14 with 5:02 remaining before halftime. 
Greek Mythology: UC San Diego won the Big West Conference last season and came within three points of knocking off Michigan in the NCAA Tournament. The Tritons only returned one player, but new coach Clint Allard has built a deep team that consistently shoots from the three-point line. UCSD made 16-of-25 from distance, behind four from Burkes as the Tritons began the day shooting 38.9 percent from three while finding 26.7 attempts per outing. Leo Beath led UCSD with 16 points while Aidan Burke scored 14.
Tigers Trapped: Towson is known for its defense and came into the game allowing only 61.3 points per game, 10th in college basketball. UCSD begged to differ as the Tritons shot 60.4 percent from the floor, as the Tigers’ opponents had only shot 38.9 percent from the field this season.
Key Stats: Tyler Tejada and Dylan Williamson kept Towson within striking distance as Tejada finished with 27 points while Williamson scored 20. Williamson hit a three-pointer off the left wing to cut the Tritons’ margin to 63-55 with 10:19 remaining. UCSD then answered with a 14-4 run over the next 4:03 that saw Beath score on a tap-in to give the Tritons a 77-59 advantage with 5:43 remaining.
3rd Place – Bradley 74, Liberty 64
It was over when … Bradley took control quickly via the three-ball as Alex Huibregtse made back-to-back threes and Jaquan Johnson netted a triple from the top to give the Braves a 16-5 lead with 14:00 left in the first half. After Liberty’s Kaden Matheny made a pair of free throws with 8:14 to play, the Braves struck with a 16-5 run as Bradley guard Demarion Burch scored six points in the run to push Bradly to a 41-20 lead before a pair of JJ Harper layups allowed the Flame sto turn a 12-2 run back to a 43-33 Bradley lead at the half. Liberty closed it to five early in the second half, but the Flames could get no closer.
Bravo, Bradley: The Braves took advantage of their size and physicality as they outrebounded the Flames, 36-20, and outscored Liberty on the offensive boards 36-26. In fact, the Braves scored on all 18 of their offensive rebounds. Demarion Burch scored 21 points and had eight rebounds as he made 8-of-10 field goals.
Lighting the Flame: Liberty is picked to win Conference USA, and Coach Ritchie McKay has built a rotation that will be built around shooter Brett Decker, who scored 21 points on Wednesday. Decker is joined in the backcourt by 5-11 point guard Kaden Metheny, who works well off the dribble with his shooting. Decker (19.3 ppg/55.3 percent – 3) and Metheny (15.0 ppg) are the Flames’ two scorers and will be atop the game plans of their CUSA foes.
Stat Pack: After Matheney scored on a layup to cut the Braves’ lead to 43-38 with 18:19 remaining, Bradley went on a 16-7 run over the next 11 minutes as they played through only shooting 5-of-14 from the field with four turnovers to take their decisive 59-45 advantage with 7:13 remaining. Bradley’s defense allowed the Braves to flip that script as they held LU to just 3-of-12 from the field while missing two free throws.
5th Place – Rhode Island 90, Temple 75
It was over when … Temple’s Jordan Mason hit a three to tie the game 46-46 with 16:22 remaining. From there, Jonah Hinton led the Rams with eight points in an 18-5 Rams run as Rhody took a. 67-51 lead with just over 10 minutes to play. The Owls were never able to cut the URI lead under double digits again as Tripp scored six points in a two-minute string.
RAM-blings: Guard Jonah Hinton scored 25 points and made 8-of-10 threes, which was crucial in allowing the Rams to separate from the Owls. Tyler Cochran recorded 20 points and nine rebounds, leading Rhode Island to shade Temple, 32-31 on the glass.
On the Perch: Temple has had a tough defensive start to the season in allowing 77 points per game, and Rhode Island added to that, shooting 55 percent, the Owls’ defensive average this season, while netting 12-of-28 triples. Guard AJ Smith scored 18 points, and Temple outscored URI, 38-28, from the bench.