WEST REGIONAL
MARQUETTE 58, UTAH STATE 57
BOISE, Idaho — Lazar Hayward scored 26 points and Marquette made 10 straight free throws down the stretch to beat Utah State 58-57 Friday in the first round of the West Regional.
Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews each scored 14 points for sixth-seeded Marquette (25-9), which blew a 14-point lead before rallying from a six-point deficit to win.
Jared Quayle led Utah State (30-5) with 18 points. The 11th-seeded Aggies recovered from a dismal first half by shooting 12-for-20 to start the second half, but couldn’t hang on and lost their fourth straight first-round game.
Hayward put Marquette ahead 52-51 on two free throws with 1:45 left, and the Golden Eagles led the rest of the way. They advanced to play Missouri in the second round.
MISSOURI 78, CORNELL 59
BOISE, Idaho — DeMarre Carroll scored all but two of his 13 points in the second half to help the third-seeded Tigers pull away from the plucky Big Red.
Leo Lyons finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers (29-6), the Big 12 tournament champions who returned to the NCAAs for the first time in six years and will face Marquette in the second round.
Ryan Wittman led the Ivy League champions with 18 points and 14th-seeded Cornell (21-10) hung around in this game for a half, trailing by only four.
But Mizzou’s talent took over after the break and the win gave the Big 12 a clean sweep — six wins, no losses through the first round of the tournament.
MIDWEST REGIONAL
LOUISVILLE 74, MOREHEAD ST. 54
DAYTON, Ohio — Louisville had a few early missteps, but uncoiled its full-court press in the second half and rolled to an easy victory over Morehead State.
With the win, No. 1 seeds improved to 100-0 against No. 16s since the tournament expanded in 1985. There have been a few close calls, and Morehead State (21-16) kept up for a half.
Samardo Samuels led Louisville (29-5) with 15 points. Terrence Williams, who danced a little prematurely at midcourt before the game, added 13 points and nine rebounds. Kenneth Faried had 14 points and 11 rebounds for Morehead State.
By halftime, the Big East’s regular-season and conference champs led only 35-33. Then they got down to business hitting 3-pointers and using their full-court press to pull away.
KANSAS 84, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 74
MINNEAPOLIS — Sherron Collins scored a season-high 32 points and went toe-to-toe with NDSU star Ben Woodside, while Cole Aldrich had 23 points to lead the defending NCAA champions.
Woodside played all 40 minutes and scored 37 points, and fellow senior Brett Winkelman had 15 points and 12 rebounds to keep third-seeeded Kansas (26-7) from getting comfortable.
Still, the Jayhawks managed to hang on and will play Dayton in the second round.
In their first season of eligibility for the tournament after a four-year waiting period following their move from Division II, the Bison (26-7) proved they belong.
They were within three points several times down the stretch, but the team from the unheralded Summit League couldn’t clear that last hurdle and clearly wore down late.
ARIZONA 84, UTAH 71
MIAMI — Nic Wise scored 21 of his 29 points in the second half, Chase Budinger added 20 and the 12th-seeded Wildcats proved it belonged in the field of 65.
Jordan Hill added 17 points and 13 rebounds for Arizona (20-13), which has been in the NCAAs 25 years in a row, but hadn’t reached the second round since 2006.
Tyler Kepkay scored 19 points for Utah (24-10), which was 8-for-32 from 3-point range and matched a season-high with 20 turnovers. Lawrence Borha finished with 11 points for Utah, which got 10 points and 10 rebounds from Shaun Green.
Kyle Fogg scored 12 for Arizona, which sweated out Selection Sunday, its tourney streak in serious jeopardy after finishing a mere 9-9 and tied for fifth in the Pac-10.
CLEVELAND STATE 84, WAKE FOREST 69
MIAMI — Some 23 years later, Cleveland State still has a knack for first-round shockers in the NCAA tournament.
The Vikings raced to an early 17-point lead and stunned one-time No. 1-ranked Wake Forest 84-69. The win was reminiscent of the Vikings’ only other appearance in the tournament in 1986, when they upset Indiana in the opening round.
The latest result wasn’t as big of a surprise as the win over Bob Knight. The Vikings (26-10) were seeded 14th then; they’re 13th in the Midwest region this year. On Sunday, they’ll play No. 12 Arizona.
No. 4 Wake Forest (24-7) lost in its first tournament game since 2005. Norris Cole scored 22 points for the Vikings, who committed only six turnovers to 18 for Wake Forest.
Demon Deacons scoring-leader Jeff Teague was shut out for the first 13 minutes, totaled two points in the first half and finished with 10. James Johnson’s trio of 3-pointers kept Wake Forest in the game in the first half, and he finished with 22 points.
The only worry for Cleveland State: Guard Cedric Jackson hobbled off the court rubbing his left knee in final minute after scoring 19 points. Backcourt mate Norris Cole had 22, and J’Nathan Bullock scored 21.
MICHIGAN STATE 77, ROBERT MORRIS 62
MINNEAPOLIS — Raymar Morgan scored 16 points and Goran Suton had 11 points and 17 rebounds as Michigan State bullied Robert Morris.
Draymond Green added 16 points for the second-seeded Spartans (27-6), who were spotty during the Big Ten season thanks to Morgan’s walking pneumonia and Suton’s gimpy knees. They both looked fine against the overmatched Colonials and the Spartans regained the form that led to convincing victories over Kansas, Oklahoma State and Texas earlier in the year.
Michigan State will play 10th-seeded USC on Saturday.
Jeremy Chappell was the only player in double figures with 11 for Robert Morris (24-11), a commuter school from suburban Pittsburgh making its first NCAA appearance since 1992.
SOUTHERN CAL 72, BOSTON COLLEGE 55
MINNEAPOLIS — Taj Gibson had 24 points on 10-for-10 shooting from the field, sending the 10th-seeded Trojans to an easy win over the Eagles.
Dwight Lewis had 20 points and DeMar DeRozan added 18 points and nine rebounds for USC (22-12), which maintained the momentum from last week’s Pac-10 tournament title and advanced to Sunday’s second round in the Midwest Region.
Gibson’s perfect shooting was the second-best performance in NCAA tournament history with a minimum 10 attempts, behind Kentucky’s Kenny Walker and his 11-for-11 in 1986. Gibson matched Marvin Barnes of Providence in 1973 and Christian Laettner of Duke from 1992.
Corey Raji led No. 7 seed Boston College (22-12) with 15 points.
DAYTON 68, WEST VIRGINIA 60
MINNEAPOLIS — Chris Wright scored a career-high 27 points to lead the 11th-seeded Flyers to their first victory in the NCAA tournament in 19 years.
Charles Little added 18 points for once-mighty Dayton (27-7), which had been 1-13 against Bob Huggins’ teams dating to his days storming up and down the Cincinnati sideline.
Darryl Bryant had 21 points and Devin Ebanks added 14 points and 12 rebounds for West Virginia (23-12), which had won at least two games in the NCAA tournament in each of its last four appearances.
Wright’s fifth dunk of the game, a LeBron-like hammer in transition, punctuated Dayton’s first NCAA tournament win since an 88-86 triumph over Illinois in the first round in 1990.
SOUTH REGIONAL
SYRACUSE 59, STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 44
MIAMI — Jonny Flynn scored 16 points, Rick Jackson and Arinze Onuaku each added 12 and the third-seeded Orange cruised past NCAA first-timer Stephen F. Austin.
Syracuse (27-9) ran out to a 20-4 lead, never letting the Southland Conference champions get anything going, and will meet Arizona State in the second round.
Benson Akpan led Stephen F. Austin (24-8) with 12 points, with Nick Shaw adding 10. The Lumberjacks missed 12 of their first 13 shots, and didn’t connect from 3-point range until Walt Harris hit from the left wing with 11:25 remaining — on their 16th try from beyond the arc.
They finished 2-for-21 from 3-point range, which played perfectly into Syracuse’s hands.
ARIZONA STATE 66, TEMPLE 57
MIAMI — James Harden’s only basket, a 3-pointer with 4:02 left, helped the Sun Devils hold off Temple and reach 25 wins for the first time since 1975.
The Sun Devils’ scoring leader 1-for-8 and was held to nine points, less than half his average. Junior Derek Glasser scored a career-high 22 points and Jeff Pendergraph also had 22 for the Sun Devils, playing in the tournament for the first time since 2003.
Dionte Christmas scored 29 to lead Temple (22-12), which was eliminated in the opening round for the second year in a row and hasn’t won a tournament game since 2001.
Sixth-seeded Arizona State (25-9) will play against Syracuse in the second round.
EAST REGIONAL
PITTSBURGH 72, EAST TENNESSEE STATE
DAYTON, Ohio — DeJuan Blair had 27 points and 16 rebounds as the Panthers, playing their first game as a top seed, survived a frightful 40 minutes from East Tennessee State.
Pittsburgh (29-4) will play eighth-seeded Oklahoma State in the second round.
The Panthers had better improve if they want to go much further. They made 18 turnovers, struggled with ETSU’s end-to-end press and hardly looked like potential national champions.
Kevin Tiggs scored 21 for the Buccaneers (23-11), who shot just 31 percent but still had a chance to become the first No. 16 to down a No. 1 until the final two minutes.
It was the 161st win for Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, tying him with North Carolina State’s Everett Case (1947-52) for the best start in six seasons.
OKLAHOMA STATE 77, TENNESSEE 75
DAYTON, Ohio — Byron Eaton found a clear path to the basket for a three-point play with 7.2 seconds left, sending the Cowboys to a scintillating victory over Tennessee.
Oklahoma State (23-11) will play top seed Pittsburgh in the second round.
Tyler Smith had a chance to win it for Tennessee (21-13), but his jumper from behind the arc hit the side of the rim and bounced up to the top of the backboard as the buzzer sounded. Smith led all scorers with 21 points.
Oklahoma State tried to set the run-and-shoot style that made it one of the nation’s top scoring teams. Tennessee stuck with its halfcourt game, and it was a stalemate — 10 ties, 17 lead changes — until Eaton, who was playing in his first NCAA game, found that final opening.
XAVIER 77, PORTLAND STATE 59
BOISE, Idaho — C.J. Anderson scored 14 points and Xavier shot 54 percent from the field to reach the second round of the NCAA tournament for the third straight year.
The Musketeers (26-7) stifled Portland State’s usual barrage of 3-pointers and showed they could shoot from the outside, too, making eight of 19 tries.
Derrick Brown, B.J. Raymond and Dante Jackson added 13 points each as Xavier overwhelmed the Big Sky Conference champion Vikings, who were in the tournament for just the second time.
Jamie Jones led the Vikings (23-10) with 16 points.
Andre Murray finished with 14 points and Jeremiah Dominguez, the Vikings’ sparkplug point guard, finished with 13 points and four rebounds.
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