Virginia narrowly tops Mississippi State 60-57 in NIT

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Jayden Gardner had 16 points, Reece Beekman added 14 and Virginia beat Mississippi State 60-57 in the first round of the NIT on Wednesday night.

Beekman made two free throws with 35 seconds left for a seven-point lead.

Kihei Clark added eight points and nine assists for Virginia (20-13).

Tolu Smith had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs (18-16). Iverson Molinar and Garrison Brooks each had 13 points.

___

For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25

___

This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com