The Associated Press

Corey Santee sank a high-arcing floater with 8.1 seconds left to lift Texas Christian to a 64-62 victory over Marquette in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament at U.S. Bank Arena on Wednesday.

Santee scored on a similar shot to give the Horned Frogs a 62-60 lead with 50.5 seconds left. After Marquette's Dameon Mason made two free throws to tie the score, Santee dribbled almost 16 seconds off the clock before driving to the right baseline and hitting the go-ahead shot.

Mason then missed a driving layup with two seconds left for the Golden Eagles (17-11).

The Horned Frogs (12-16) will play top-seeded DePaul in today's quarterfinals. Chudi Chinweze led TCU with 13 points, and Nucleus Smith added 12.

COMPLETE COVERAGE

• College Basketball scores • Special Championship Week section

Travis Diener tied career highs with 31 points and seven 3-pointers for the Golden Eagles.

Saint Louis 52, Southern Mississippi 46

Reggie Bryant's 3-pointer with 1:57 left put the Billikens ahead to stay, and Josh Fisher had a steal, a pair of rebounds and two free throws in the closing minutes to help Saint Louis (17-11) hold on.

Phillip Hunt had a career-high 14 points for Saint Louis, which blew a 10-point lead but rallied to advance to face Memphis today.

Southern Mississippi (13-15) ended having lost five of its last six games.

Charlotte 78, Tulane 48

Demon Brown had 15 points to lead five Charlotte players in double figures, and the 49ers took advantage of poor Tulane shooting.

Eddie Basden added 14 points and Butter Johnson had 12 for the 49ers (21-7), who will meet Alabama-Birmingham today.

Curtis Withers had 10 points and 12 rebounds for Charlotte, which has won six of its past seven games and 10 of its last 12.

Tulane (11-17) shot a season-worst .271 percent (16-for-59) from the field in losing for the sixth time in its last seven games.

Vincent Camper and Marcus Kinzer each scored nine points for the Green Wave in its worst loss of the season.