The Golden State Warriors claimed rare back-to-back wins with Wednesday's 127-125 victory at the Dallas Mavericks but the game was marred by controversy after Kevon Looney's third-quarter uncontested dunk.

Stephen Curry scored 20 points with 13 assists as the reigning NBA champions secured consecutive wins on a road trip for the first time this season at American Airlines Center.

But the Mavs were left raging after Looney's uncontested dunk with 1:54 left in the third quarter from a Warriors inbound after a timeout, which Dallas had thought was their ball, meaning they subsequently lined up on the other half of the court.

Mavs owner Mark Cuban said they would contest the result of the game due to the incident which he labelled the "worst officiating non call mistake possibly in the history of the NBA" on Twitter.

Despite that, the Mavs could have won the game on merit, with Luka Doncic missing a two-point attempt under pressure from Draymond Green with 3.2 seconds left at 125-122.

That came after Curry's bounce-pass set up Green's three-point play, before the reigning NBA Finals MVP glided in for a two-point shot to open up the three-point buffer with 8.1 seconds to play.

Doncic, in his return after missing five games with a thigh injury, scored 30 points with seven rebounds and 17 assists. Doncic shot 11-of-27 from the field and six-of-10 from the stripe.

In Kyrie Irving's absence, 20-year-old guard Jaden Hardy was outstanding with six three-pointers in his 27 points.

The win is a major boost for Golden State's playoff hopes, moving to sixth in the West with a 38-36 record, while the Mavs drop to ninth with a 36-37 record, having lost five of their past seven games.

It was Golden State's first road win when trailing after the first quarter, having entered the game with a 0-20 record.

Morant and KAT make successful returns

Ja Morant made his successful return for the Memphis Grizzlies off the bench for the first time in his career as they won their fourth straight game, beating the Houston Rockets 130-125.

Morant returned after his NBA-imposed eight-game suspension with 17 points and five assists, receiving a standing ovation from the home fans upon his injection into the game.

Jaren Jackson Jr scored a season-high 37 points with 10 rebounds and Desmond Bane added 20 points as the Grizzlies clinched the Southwest division.

It was a night of returns as Karl-Anthony Towns was back for the first time since November due to a calf strain, scoring two game-winning free-throws with 3.6 seconds left as the Minnesota Timberwolves won 125-124 over the Atlanta Hawks.

Lakers stay right in playoff hunt

The Los Angeles Lakers ensured they remained firmly in the congested race for Western Conference playoff and play-in tournament spots with a 122-111 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

Anthony Davis scored a team-high 27 points including 20 in the second half, with nine rebounds, while Austin Reaves backed up Sunday's 35-point game with 25 points and a career-high 11 assists.

Devin Booker scored 33 points on 11-of-16 field shooting with six rebounds but seven turnovers for the Suns, who remain fourth in the West but with a 38-34 record.

The Lakers move up to 10th, just behind the Mavs in ninth, with a 36-37 record and LeBron James not far from a return from injury.

The Dallas Mavericks will protest Wednesday's 127-125 loss to the Golden State Warriors after the "worst officiating non call mistake possibly in the history of the NBA" according to owner Mark Cuban.

The protest centers around a referee call which led to Warriors center Kevon Looney scoring an uncontested dunk to make it 90-87 from a Jordan Poole inbound pass with 1:54 left in the third quarter following a Mavericks timeout.

Dallas believed that they had possession of the ball, thus were not in position for the inbound, with Cuban claiming that was due to a miscommunication by the referees.

"For those wondering about the play with 1:54 to go on the 3rd, let me explain what happened," Cuban tweeted.

"The ref called Mavs ball. The announcer announced it. Then there was a timeout. During the time out the official changed the call and never told us. Then when they saw us line up as if it were our ball, he just gave the ball to the warriors. Never said a word to us.

"They got an easy basketball. Crazy that it would matter in a 2 point game. Worst officiating non call mistake possibly in the history of the NBA. All they had to do was tell us and they didn't."

Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd also argued the decision with referee Michael Smith at the time to no avail. Cuban disputed the decision courtside with officials too.

In a pool report, crew chief Sean Wright disputed Cuban's account of events, claiming that the referee's original call was a Warriors' ball, followed by another signal to indicate a Dallas timeout.

"There is a second signal, but that signal is for a mandatory timeout that was due to the Mavs," Wright said.

Following the pool report, Cuban added on Twitter with an image of the scene: "Only two refs were on that side of the court and we had 2 guys at half court going to in bound.  The other ref obviously thought it was our ball as well."

Under NBA rules, Cuban must file the protest within 48 hours of the conclusion of the game.

The game came down to the wire, with scores at 123-122 entering the final minute. Reggie Bullock scored a three-pointer on the buzzer to narrow it to a two-point final margin.

Mavs guard Luka Doncic also expressed his frustration after missing a two-point attempt with 3.2 seconds left at 125-122, appearing to rub his fingers like a money gesture aimed at the referee.

Ja Morant says he still had "mixed emotions" upon his return for the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday following an eight-game suspension.

Morant had not played since March 3, missing nine games in total, following an incident where he displayed a gun in a Colorado nightclub on an Instagram Live video, but returned off the bench in the 130-125 win over the Houston Rockets.

The Grizzlies guard received a standing ovation from the Memphis guard upon checking into the game with 3:05 left in the first quarter in a show of support. He finished the game with 17 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals from 24 minutes.

Morant spent 11 days at a Florida counselling facility after stepping away from the Grizzlies to "get help" following the incident, with the NBA later imposing the suspension.

In the lead-up to the game, the All-Star had revealed the whole incident and fallout had taken its toll on him mentally and emotionally, which he reiterated after his return despite the support of the Grizzlies fans.

"It felt good," he told ESPN after the game. "Still a little bit of mixed emotions, but I was excited to be back. I love these guys, I love our fans, I love the organisation for their continued support throughout this process I'm going through. They helped me a lot.

"I was excited to be back. Happy we were able to get a win. Just got to continue what I've been doing and be ready to go each and every night."

Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins said pre-game that the decision to play Morant off the bench was about helping him work his way back into playing shape, having not been able to work out during his stay in Florida. Morant had started the first 240 games of his NBA career.

Morant had been left out of Monday's 112-1208 win over the Dallas Mavericks, where he sat on the bench and also received warm support from the home crowd, following the conclusion of his suspension to build up his conditioning.

"This was something he brought to the table as well as had been on my mind," Jenkins said. "We collectively thought this was the best strategy, at least for the first one or two games and then we'll kind of re-evaluate after that."

"Obviously, we don't have a long runway until the end of the regular season, but we want to be smart with that layoff that we're not doing anything to jeopardise his health."

The Grizzlies' win combined with the Mavericks (36-37) losing 127-125 to the Golden State Warriors clinched the Southwest Division for Memphis (45-27).

"It's big time," Morant said. "We love that we won the division, but we're trying to win a championship, so we've got to continue to do the little things that were helping us win games and continue to do the things that we've been doing good."

The Los Angeles Clippers will likely begin the playoffs without Paul George, that is if they can make it without him.

The Clippers announced on Wednesday that George suffered a sprained right knee Tuesday and will be reevaluated in two-to-three weeks.

The regular season ends in two-and-a-half weeks and the eight-time All-Star is expected to miss Los Angeles’ final nine games.

With a 38-35 record, the Clippers enter play on Wednesday in fifth place in the Western Conference, but also just one-and-a-half games out of seventh place, which would put them in the play-in tournament.

They are 6-11 without George this season with losses in five of the last seven games he has missed, which does not include Tuesday’s 101-100 defeat to the seventh-placed Oklahoma City Thunder.

George was injured with 4:38 remaining when his knee collided with Luguentz Dort's knee in the air while attempting a rebound and he crumbled to the floor.

He stayed down on the court for a while until being helped off the court, unable to put weight on his leg.

Prior to Tuesday’s defeat, Los Angeles had won five of six with George leading the charge, averaging 28.3 points – 4.5 higher than his season average.

The 32-year-old is averaging 23.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 56 games this season and now the Clippers will have to figure out how to win without their leading scorer to get back to the playoffs after losing in the play-in tournament last season.

Zion Williamson has been cleared to return to on-court activities but will need at least two weeks to get up to speed.

The New Orleans Pelicans announced Williamson's return to fitness on Wednesday – a significant boost for a team whose season has gone off the rails.

At the time of Williamson's hamstring strain in January, the Pels were third in the Western Conference, just a game behind the first-placed Denver Nuggets.

Since then, however, New Orleans are 12-23, slipping to 12th place on the outside even of the play-in race.

Williamson has not been the only Pelican to miss time with injury, but Brandon Ingram's return has not improved the team's fortunes.

With the Pels set to re-evaluate Williamson in two weeks' time, he is on course to miss a minimum of seven more games.

New Orleans only have 10 games remaining.

A return in the final week of the regular season could be just the boost the Pels need, but they could also very realistically be out of postseason contention by then.

This has been another season wrecked by injury for Williamson, the former first overall pick.

He played only 24 games in his rookie season and 61 the following year before missing the entire 2021-22 campaign with a foot fracture.

The Pels still handed Williamson a five-year rookie extension worth up to $231million, with $193m guaranteed.

Although he continued to miss games on occasion, the initial signs were encouraging as Williamson averaged 26.0 points through 29 games.

But the hamstring injury derailed his and the Pels' season, with time running out to set it back on track.

Karl-Anthony Towns hopes to return the "very complete" player he was before his injury as he prepares to make his Minnesota Timberwolves comeback.

The forward suffered a serious calf strain on November 28 and has missed the last four months.

However, Towns was upgraded to questionable ahead of Wednesday's game against the Atlanta Hawks and is planning to play.

The 27-year-old was averaging 20.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and a career-high 5.3 assists per game before his lay-off and felt he was in peak form.

With the T-Wolves ninth in the Western Conference but only a game behind the Golden State Warriors in sixth, Minnesota will need Towns back at that level.

"I'm super excited to get back out on the court and help my team, because these next nine games are super important," he told ESPN.

"I'm just trying to pick up where I left off. I was telling my dad: right before I got hurt, I felt the most complete as a player in my career.

"From the defensive end, from the offensive end, from a mental aspect, leadership aspect, I felt very complete."

Towns is confident he can immediately make an impact, highlighting the specific areas in which he believes he can provide the T-Wolves a boost.

"I don't feel like I lost the step. I actually gained steps, because I've been able to learn from a different aspect, in a way that I've never looked from just sitting on the sideline," he added.

"I think anytime I step on the court, I can make an impact. But specifically we've been struggling a lot right now with free throws, and I've always been a really good free throw shooter.

"I think that, shooting-wise, it's going to be great to add that kind of three-point component to us."

The Los Angeles Clippers' hopes of a deep playoffs run may have suffered a major blow after Paul George exited their 101-100 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder with a leg injury.

George fell to the floor after his right knee collided with Luguentz Dort's knee in the air while attempting a rebound.

The eight-time All-Star got up with help and exited the game with 4:38 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said during his post-game press conference that George was still being evaluated and that he had not spoken to him.

ESPN reported George was spotted exiting the arena in the back of a cart with his right leg extended.

George scored 18 points with seven rebounds, five assists and three steals before exiting, with the loss seeing the Clippers fall to a 38-35 record in fifth in the West.

The 32-year-old is averaging 23.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game this season.

Team-mate Kawhi Leonard said the Clippers would take on a "next man up" mentality if George was unavailable for a significant period.

"Next man up, but we'll see," Leonard told reporters. "We've got a group of guys that still want to win and like to play basketball. We'll see happens."

Donovan Mitchell says his dunk on Brooklyn Nets wing Yuta Watanabe is up there with his best, and that it also sparked the Cleveland Cavaliers in their 115-109 win on Tuesday.

Mitchell, who finished with 31 points on 10-of-22 shooting and five rebounds, slammed over Watanabe early in the fourth quarter as the Cavs looked to repel the Nets' rally.

The Cavs were up 96-80 with 10:55 remaining when Mitchell received the ball on a fast break from Caris LeVert, taking four steps before dunking over Watanabe who contested the attempt.

"Everyone's reaction was like 'that's your best one'," Mitchell told reporters after the game.

"It's up there. I don’t know if it's my best one, but it's definitely up there."

In a moment of celebration, Mitchell was caught out of position, allowing Mikal Bridges to score down the other end, before glancing up to the Barclays Center screens for a replay.

"I was trying to see it but I forgot we're on the road," Mitchell said. "They’re definitely not going to show it.

"First time I saw it was when we went back in the locker room. It was not bad."

The poster dunk sent social media into a frenzy but it also "sparked" the Cavs according to Mitchell, pulling ahead to a 22-point lead which put the game to bed.

"It really sparked us," he said. "It gave us a little bit of a boost. Those are defining plays. Different plays for different moments to continue to push us going forward.

"It's not like I go into a game thinking 'alright, I'm going to try get a dunk on somebody', but sometimes that's what's needed.

"I felt good enough to try get up there and dunk it. I figured I'd try use my body and finish. It worked out."

The result saw the Cavs firm up their grip on the four seed in the East with a 46-28 record ahead of the 42-31 New York Knicks, while the Nets are sixth at 39-33.

In a clash between two of the seven best records in the NBA, the Boston Celtics produced an impressive 132-109 road blow-out win against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday.

It was shaping up as a shoot-out as both teams started red hot from three-point range, but the Kings could not keep up as the Celtics scored at least 30 points in all four quarters.

Jayson Tatum led the way for Boston with a game-high 36 points on 14-of-25 shooting, adding eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. His All-Star co-pilot Jaylen Brown chipped in an efficient 27 points (10-of-16 shooting) with five rebounds and four assists.

Kings All-Star Domantas Sabonis put together his 12th triple-double of the season with 16 points (seven-of-12), 13 rebounds and 12 assists, although his six turnovers were costly.

The win improved the Celtics' record to 50-23, becoming the second team in the league to reach 50 wins this season, while their 24-14 mark on the road is bettered only by the Philadelphia 76ers (22-12).

Sacramento are still sitting pretty at 43-28, holding a five-game buffer in the Western Conference's third seed.

Mitchell poster highlights Cavs victory

Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star Donovan Mitchell threw down arguably his biggest dunk of the season to put an exclamation point on a 115-109 win over the Brooklyn Nets.

Mitchell ended up with a game-high 31 points on 10-of-22 shooting, including five-of-nine from three-point range, highlighted by a monstrous fast-break poster jam over Yuta Watanabe as both leapt off two feet and met chest-to-chest.

After missing 10 days due to an eye injury, Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen looked right back to his best with 12 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks, with eight of his rebounds coming on the offensive end.

The victory improves Cleveland's record to 46-28, and while they have been a disappointing 17-20 on the road, they have now won four of their past five away from home.

Top pick Banchero flirts with first triple-double

Orlando Magic top draft pick and overwhelming Rookie of the Year favourite Paolo Banchero nearly posted the first triple-double of his career in a 122-112 home win against the Washington Wizards.

The 20-year-old finished with 18 points (six-of-nine shooting), nine rebounds and eight assists for his second close call of the month. It comes 10 days after he put up 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in an overtime win against the Miami Heat.

Kristaps Porzingis led the Wizards with 30 points (12-of-22 shooting), six rebounds, three assists and two blocks, continuing what has been arguably the best season of his eight-year NBA career.

In a clash between two of the seven best records in the NBA, the Boston Celtics produced an impressive 132-109 road blowout against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday.

It was shaping up as a shootout as both teams started red-hot from three-point range, but the Kings could not keep up as the Celtics scored at least 30 points in all four quarters.

Jayson Tatum led the way for Boston with a game-high 36 points on 14-of-25 shooting, adding eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. His All-Star co-pilot Jaylen Brown chipped in an efficient 27 points (10-of-16 shooting) with five rebounds and four assists.

Kings All-Star Domantas Sabonis put together his 12th triple-double of the season with 16 points (seven-of-12), 13 rebounds and 12 assists, although his six turnovers were costly.

The win improves the Celtics' record to 50-23, becoming the second team in the league to reach 50 wins this season, while their 24-14 mark on the road is bettered only by the Philadelphia 76ers (22-12).

Sacramento are still sitting pretty at 43-28, holding a five-game buffer in the Western Conference's third seed.

Mitchell poster highlights Cavs victory

Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star Donovan Mitchell threw down arguably his biggest dunk of the season to put an exclamation point on a 115-109 win over the Brooklyn Nets.

Mitchell ended up with a game-high 31 points on 10-of-22 shooting, including five-of-nine from three-point range, highlighted by a monstrous fast-break poster jam over Yuta Watanabe as both leapt off two feet and met chest-to-chest.

After missing 10 days due to an eye injury, Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen looked right back to his best with 12 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks, with eight of his rebounds coming on the offensive end.

The victory improves Cleveland's record to 46-28, and while they have been a disappointing 17-20 on the road, they have now won four of their past five away from home.

Top pick Banchero flirts with first triple-double

Orlando Magic top draft pick and overwhelming Rookie of the Year favourite Paolo Banchero nearly posted the first triple-double of his career in a 122-112 home win against the Washington Wizards.

The 20-year-old finished with 18 points (six-of-nine shooting), nine rebounds and eight assists for his second close call of the month. It comes 10 days after he put up 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in an overtime win against the Miami Heat.

Kristaps Porzingis led the Wizards with 30 points (12-of-22 shooting), six rebounds, three assists and two blocks, continuing what has been arguably the best season of his eight-year NBA career.

The Minnesota Timberwolves could receive a massive boost for their Wednesday clash against the Atlanta Hawks with Karl-Anthony Towns upgraded to questionable.

Towns, who earned his second All-NBA selection this past season, was averaging 20.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and a career-high 5.3 assists per game before suffering a calf strain on November 28.

Nearly four months have passed since he last suited up for the Timberwolves, and with co-star Anthony Edwards also currently out injured, Minnesota's playoff chances appeared to be hanging by a thread.

Sitting eighth in the Western Conference at 36-37, the Wolves are only one game behind the six-seeded Golden State Warriors (37-36), but are also only a half-game clear of the 11th-ranked Los Angeles Lakers in a tightly bunched play-in tournament race in the West.

But Minnesota are preparing for some reinforcements to arrive for their final nine games of the regular season, with Towns being upgraded to questionable for the first time since his injury. The team sent down backup center Luka Garza to the G League in a further indication that they are expecting their star back in action.

Edwards is also listed as questionable, likely indicating that they will return to the line-up if they successfully make it through their warm-ups without any incident.

If they cannot get up for Wednesday's game, they will have a few more days to prepare for Sunday's road trip to take on the Golden State Warriors.

The Wolves have gone 26-26 in the 52 games that Towns has missed this season.

Memphis Grizzlies franchise player Ja Morant faced the media on Tuesday to discuss what he had learned from his eight-game suspension.

Morant, 23, has missed nine games since showing off a gun while intoxicated on an Instagram live video in the early hours of the morning in a Colorado nightclub.

A league investigation found him guilty of bringing the league into disrepute and "holding a firearm in an intoxicated state", but did not find any evidence that the gun belonged to him, or that he took it on the team plane or any NBA facilities.

After serving an eight-game suspension from the NBA, Morant missed his ninth in a row on Monday as he worked his way back into playing shape, and he is expected to return on Wednesday at home against the Houston Rockets.

Speaking to the media about his time away from the team, where he spent 11 days at a Florida counselling facility, Morant stated he has no problem with alcohol and has been focusing on positive ways to deal with stress.

"Obviously, I took that time to better myself, get in a better space mentally," he said. "It's an ongoing process, a continued process for me. 

"I've been there for two weeks, but that doesn't mean I'm completely better. So that's an ongoing process for me that I've still been continuing since I've come out.

"Obviously, I've made mistakes in the past that caused a lot of negative attention – not only to me, but my family as well, my team, the organisation – and I'm completely sorry for that.

"So my job now is, like I said, to be more responsible, more smart, and don't cause any of that no more.

"I don't have an alcohol problem, never had an alcohol problem. I went [to Florida] for counselling to learn how to manage stress, cope with stress in a positive way instead of ways I've tried to deal with it before that caused me to make mistakes."

When asked if he planned to dial back his nightlife activities, Morant said "clubbing and all is not on my mind at all right now".

"Right now for me, it's just keeping the main thing, the main thing, and continuing to go through my process of becoming a better me," he said. "I feel like if I do that, not only will it help me, but it'll help everybody around me as well."

While he received a raucous ovation from the home fans in Memphis when he returned to the bench on Monday, Morant admitted he is "uncomfortable" with how crowds may react to him.

"It's a lot, man," he said. "A lot of people don't know what's going on – not in my shoes right now with everything that's been going on as of late. Obviously, I take responsibility for decisions I've made that pretty much hurt me to the core.

"Like I said, it not only affected me, but it affected everyone around me… and caused me not to be out there on the floor. Which, one thing I love to do the most is play basketball. 

"So it's a lot, but like I said before, it's an ongoing process with everything I've been doing the past two weeks, and I'm going to continue to do that to get through everything I need to be healthy."

Legendary New York Knicks Hall of Famer Willis Reed, who was part of one of the most memorable moments in NBA history, died on Tuesday at the age of 80.

Reed played his entire 10-year NBA career with the New York Knicks, winning championships in 1970 and 1973 while being named MVP in both of those Finals.

He is most famous for surprisingly playing in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers after sitting out Game 6 due to a thigh injury.

After not joining his team-mates on the court during pregame warm-ups, Reed emerged from the tunnel at Madison Square Garden and received a rousing ovation from the fans.

Reed started the game and hit his first two shots, and while those were the only points he scored, the captain of the Knicks inspired his team to a 113-99 win that secured the franchise's first title.

"Willis Reed was the ultimate team player and consummate leader," NBA commissioner Adam Silver said.

"My earliest and fondest memories of NBA basketball are of watching Willis, who embodied the winning spirit that defined the New York Knicks' championship teams in the early 1970s.

"He played the game with remarkable passion and determination, and his inspiring comeback in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals remains one of the most iconic moments in all of sports."

Reed was the NBA regular-season MVP in 1969-70, earned seven All-Star selections and was named to the 50th and 75th NBA anniversary teams.

The first pick of the second round (eighth overall) in the 1964 NBA Draft and 1964-65 NBA Rookie of the Year, Reed averaged 18.7 points and 12.9 rebounds over 650 regular-season games before retiring after the 1973-74 season.

Reed became head coach of the Knicks in the 1977-78 campaign and led them to the playoffs before only lasting 14 games the next season. He coached Creighton University from 1981-85 and took over the New Jersey Nets in March 1988 before coaching them in 1988-89.

That marked Reed's final season as a coach before moving to the Nets' front office.

Prior to the NBA, Reed helped Grambling State win the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) championship in 1961 and averaged 26.6 points and 21.3 rebounds during his senior season.

He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982 and was a member of the founding class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Iona did not take long to replace departed Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, turning to the breakout star of the NCAA Tournament.

Tobin Anderson has been rewarded for leading 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson into the second round with one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.

FDU defeated Purdue, who had won the Big Ten regular season title and the Big Ten Tournament, in what Anderson described as "one of the most unbelievable stories of all".

Anderson had garnered attention even before that first-round game, telling the Knights after a play-in win: "The more I watch Purdue, the more I think we can beat them. Let's go shock the world."

He and FDU delivered on that, although their run ended in the second round against Florida Atlantic, losing 78-70.

And that was the end of the road for Anderson at Fairleigh Dickinson as his appointment at Iona was confirmed on Tuesday.

The Gaels moved swiftly to name a new coach after Pitino left for St. John's this week.

"We are very excited to introduce Tobin Anderson as Iona University's men's basketball head coach," said Iona director of athletics Matthew Glovaski.

"We have long known him to be a fantastic coach and an even better person. Now, with his team's impressive run in the NCAA tournament, everyone paying attention to March Madness also knows this.

"We're delighted that he will be at the helm of our men's basketball programme."

Antoine Davis claims there was a concerted effort to block him from breaking 'Pistol' Pete Maravich's NCAA points record after the Detroit Mercy Titans were not invited to the College Basketball Invitational.

The 24-year-old Davis finished his college career with 3,664 points, three behind Maravich's total, which was the precursor for a five-time NBA All-Star career.

Maravich scored his points in 83 games over three years for LSU at an average of 44.2 points, while Davis reached his total in 144 games across five seasons, averaging 25.4 points.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Davis spoke of feeling "upset" and "cheated" out of a possible moment of history.

Detroit Mercy's 14-19 record meant they were counted out of the reckoning for the CBI, despite initial interest from organisers.

Davis responded angrily to Twitter user @801bracketology, who posted: "I'm sorry WHAT? Antoine Davis feels he got 'cheated' out of the scoring record AND that the CBI is selfish for not inviting a 14-19 Detroit Mercy team?? Are you joking??"

In a retort to that comment, Davis suggested there had been pressure put on CBI organisers to exclude Detroit Mercy and deny him an opportunity to go past Maravich.

Davis posted: "I said they cheated me and 5 other seniors from playing post season play cause people like you are sending emails to the CBI telling them not to invite us so he can't break it. You don't know what you're talking about weirdo.

"So you should just shut up cause you don't know what's going on or why I said it."

Rick Giles, president of CBI organiser the Gazelle Group, last week told the Detroit News there had been consideration given to handing the Titans a place.

Talks took place, and Giles said: "After just weighing all the different factors, we just decided that we would move forward with the teams that we had. It was a number of things. It wasn't one single thing.

"It didn't turn on us wanting to facilitate him breaking the record or not, being for or against that. It was just weighing everything out. It was interesting."

Davis, who will hope to make his way in the professional game, also said last week: "My career can't and won't be taken away from me. If people were in my shoes, they would feel the same way. It's weird how people are moving about this."

Mike Davis, Antoine's father and head coach, said earlier this month: "People would have put an asterisk by his name if he would've broken [the record].

"Pistol Pete was in a world of his own, and there will never be another Pistol Pete in college basketball.

"I think there will never be another Antoine, the way he scored in 144 consecutive games."