Cincinnati survives upset bid by East Tennessee State
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Another 3-pointer came between East Tennessee State and a first-round upset.
Tony Bobbitt hit a 3 from the left corner with 16.1 seconds left Friday, rallying fourth-seeded Cincinnati to an 80-77 victory over a team that keeps coming up just short in the NCAA tournament.
Flashy point guard Tim Smith scored 26 points, but missed a driving layup on his last try. The Buccaneers (27-6) then missed two follow-up shots before Jason Maxiell got the rebound to clinch it.
East Tennessee State, the 13th seed in the Atlanta Regional this year, nearly pulled off a surprise last year. The Eagles fell by three points to second-seeded Wake Forest and Smith shot an airball on a 3 at the end.
This time, his layup didn’t go and Cincinnati (25-6) was spared from the prospect of another quick exit. The Bearcats had failed to make it past the first weekend of the tournament six of the last seven years.
They advanced to play Illinois Sunday in the second round.
Illinois 72, Murray State 53
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Dee Brown scored 21 points to lead the fifth-seeded Fighting Illini to a victory on the same floor where they won their first outright Big Ten title in 52 years.
Roger Powell added 11 points and James Augustine 10 for Illinois (25-6), which took control with a late run in the first half and reached the second round of the Atlanta Regional.
Cuthbert Victor had 15 points and Chris Shumate 13 for the 12th-seeded Racers (28-6), the Ohio Valley Conference champions who dropped to 0-12 in games against Big Ten schools.
Kentucky 96, Florida A&M 76
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Gerald Fitch scored 26 points and the top-seeded Wildcats advanced to the second round with a victory in the St. Louis Regional that was much tougher than the final score indicated.
The Wildcats (27-4) didn’t lock up their 13th straight first-round win until midway through the second half against the Rattlers (15-17). For nearly 30 minutes, Florida A&M’s unheralded players went toe-to-toe with Kentucky, which advanced to play Alabama-Birmingham in the second round of the St. Louis Regional.
Alabama-Birmingham 102, Washington 100
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Demario Eddins scored a career-high 26 points and made the decisive plays in the closing seconds, leading Alabama-Birmingham to a first-round victory over Washington.
Eddins took a charge that negated a basket, hit two free throws with 16.2 seconds left and blocked a shot, sending the Blazers (21-9) to their first tournament victory since 1986.
Nate Robinson led Washington (19-12) with 27 points.
Oklahoma State 75, Eastern Washington 56
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Oklahoma State seemed to forget it was a No. 2 seed. Eastern Washington sure didn’t act like a No. 15.
The Cowboys (28-3) won, but not before Eastern Washington (17-13) tied the score at halftime to stun the partisan Oklahoma State crowd.
In the second round of the East Rutherford Regional on Sunday, the Cowboys will meet No. 7 seed Memphis.
Ivan McFarlin had 20 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma State and Tony Allen had 17 points.
Memphis 59, South Carolina 43
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Memphis’ NCAA tournament drought is over.
Rodney Carney hit six 3-pointers and scored 26 points, both career highs, and added 10 rebounds to lead Memphis past South Carolina.
Anthony Rice added three 3s and 12 points for the Tigers (22-7), seeded seventh in the East Rutherford Regional. Memphis reached the third round in 1995 but was eliminated in the first round in 1996 and 2003.
Tenth-seeded South Carolina (23-11) has not won an NCAA tournament game since 1973.
Pacific 66, Providence 58
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A day after 12th-seeded Manhattan stunned Florida in the East Rutherford Regional, Pacific did the same thing to fifth-seeded Providence in the St. Louis Regional.
Miah Davis scored 19 points and Guillaume Yango added 18 for Pacific, the Big West tournament champion, which won its 16th straight game and will play fourth-seeded Kansas in the second round of the St. Louis Regional.
Kansas 78, Illinois-Chicago 53
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — J.R. Giddens scored 17 points, including two thunderous crowd-pleasing dunks during a game-clinching run in the second half, to lead Kansas past Illinois-Chicago.
Bigger and quicker than Illinois-Chicago (24-8), the Jayhawks (22-8) were ahead 48-37 when two free throws by Keith Langford ignited a 21-2 run with 13:27 to go.
Vanderbilt 71, Western Michigan 58
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Mario Moore scored a career-high 26 points and Matt Freije added 13 and eight rebounds, leading the sixth-seeded Commodores past Western Michigan in the first round of the Phoenix Regional.
It was the first NCAA tournament win for Vanderbilt since reaching the round of 16 in 1993.
The Commodores (22-9) advanced to play No. 3 seed North Carolina State on Sunday.
North Carolina State 61, Louisiana-Lafayette 52
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — North Carolina State overcame a slow start to win an opening round game that sometimes resembled an early-season matchup with its ragged play and poor shooting.
Marcus Melvin scored 20 points and North Carolina State (21-9), seeded third in the Phoenix Regional, survived a subpar performance by ACC player of the year Julius Hodge, who struggled all afternoon and was held to 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting.
Louisiana-Lafayette (20-9) kept it interesting, cutting its biggest deficit — 11 points — to seven on Antoine Landry’s 3-pointer with just under three minutes to go.
Mississippi State 85, Monmouth 52
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Mississippi State withstood Monmouth’s early barrage of 3-pointers and won in a blowout.
Lawrence Roberts scored 19 points, and the second-seeded Bulldogs (26-3) outlasted the Hawks in the first round of the Atlanta Regional. The Southeastern Conference player of the year appeared unhindered by an ankle injury that kept him out of practice this week.
Mississippi State will play Xavier in the second round.
Xavier 80, Louisville 70
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Chalmers scored 25 points and Romain Sato added 24 for Xavier, which wiped out a 53-39 deficit with a 36-10 run that forced Louisville (20-10) out of the patient game plan that helped them build an 11-point halftime lead.
Seventh-seeded Xavier (24-10) moves on to the second round for the third straight year.
Georgia Tech 65, Northern Iowa 60
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Georgia Tech got as big a test as any it found in the ACC. From the most unlikely of schools, no less.
Luke Schenscher scored 13, including a pair of free throws with 34 seconds to play, and B.J. Elder had 12 points as Georgia Tech held off pesky Northern Iowa.
Anthony McHenry added 10 points for the third-seeded Yellow Jackets (24-9), who advanced to the second round of the St. Louis Regional, where they’ll play sixth-seeded Boston College on Sunday.
Northern Iowa (21-10), the 14th seed, was making just its second NCAA appearance.
Boston College 58, Utah 51
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Craig Smith scored 19 points and had eight rebounds for sixth-seeded Boston College, which muscled Utah out in the first round of the St. Louis Regional.
Utah (24-9), seeded 11th, got just eight points from senior sharpshooter Nick Jacobson, who made just 3-of-18 shots and was just 2-of-13 from beyond the arc.
Boston College (24-9), snubbed by the NCAA selection committee last year, won at at-large bid after losing to Pittsburgh in the Big East semifinals. The Golden Eagles quickly proved they belonged.
Pittsburgh 53, Central Florida 44
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Pittsburgh played its worst game of the season and barely managed to hold off scrappy Central Florida.
The third-seeded Panthers (30-4) shot a season-worst 29.5 percent, and had their fewest field goals (13) and assists (seven). Carl Krauser led Pittsburgh with 18 points and Chevon Troutman added 13 on 5-for-5 shooting, but the rest of the squad went 4-of-26.
The victory was Pittsburgh’s 30th this season, a school record, and the Panthers advance to play Wisconsin in the second round of the East Rutherford Regional.
The 14th-seeded Golden Knights (25-6) are 0-for-3 in the NCAA tournament.
Wisconsin 76, Richmond 64
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Playing 75 miles from campus, Wisconsin got 18 points from Mike Wilkinson and a career-high 16 from Boo Wade in overcoming a 13-point second-half deficit to beat Richmond (20-13).
The Badgers (25-6) set a school record for wins in a season, but trailed 42-29 with less than 14 minutes left.