The Latest on the second round of the NCAA Tournament (all times Eastern):
2:45 p.m.
A buzzer beater at the NCAA Tournament.
Tremont Waters drove around three defenders and flipped in a shot with 1.6 seconds remaining to give LSU a 69-67 victory over Maryland in the second round of the East Region.
Maryland rallied from a 15-point deficit in the second half, setting up the thrilling finish. Skylar Mays hit a 3-pointer with 40 seconds left, giving LSU a 67-64 lead, but Jalen Smith answered from the corner with 26 seconds remaining to tie it.
The first round of this tournament was a bit light on exciting finishes. New Mexico State’s Trevelin Queen shot an air ball from the wing, missing a chance to beat Auburn, and Iowa State’s Nick Weiler-Babb missed a 3-pointer against Ohio State that would have tied the game.
Waters took advantage of his opportunity. He ran the clock down, got a pick near the foul line and drove down the right side of the lane to make the game winner.
Third-seeded LSU (28-6) is heading to the Sweet 16 for first time since reaching the Final Four in 2006. The Tigers will face the winner of the Michigan State-Minnesota game. Those teams are playing Saturday night. Maryland finishes 23-11.
– Paul Newberry reporting from Jacksonville, Florida.
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1:15 p.m.
LSU is handling Maryland in the post and on the scoreboard.
Naz Reid has 8 points, all of them in the paint, and the Tigers lead the Terrapins 38-29 at halftime on Saturday.
No. 3 seed LSU has doubled up sixth-seeded Maryland in the paint, 20-10. The Tigers also played exceptional defense, holding Maryland to 28.6 percent from the field and forcing six turnovers.
Maryland trailed by as many 15 midway through the half, but got it under double digits thanks to two late 3-pointers by Aaron Wiggins. Wiggins hit one with 1:01 remaining and another with four ticks left.
It didn’t help Maryland that forward Jalen Smith picked up two fouls and played less than 10 minutes.
– Mark Long reporting from Jacksonville, Florida.
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12:10 p.m.
Time to see whether the upstarts of the NCAA Tournament can dance their way to the Sweet 16.
Seventh seeded Wofford of the Southern Conference plays No. 2 seed Kentucky on Saturday in a game that will test how the team outside the Power Five is set up for a deep run.
The Terriers have won 21 straight games and haven’t lost since Dec. 19. They were ranked in the AP Top 25 for much of the season. Kentucky is favored by 5 but is playing without leading scorer and rebounder PJ Washington because of a foot sprain.
No. 12 seed Murray State also plays Florida State in the West, riding high behind Ja Morant and his virtuoso performance with 17 points, 16 assists and 11 rebounds in a rout of fifth-seeded Marquette in the first round.
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11:45 a.m.
The Big Ten leads the tournament among conferences with seven teams still in and a 7-1 record.
It’s even set up for a less than ideal second-round matchup between No. 2 seed Michigan State and 10th-seeded Minnesota.
Here’s a quick look at the rest of the conference records going into Round 2 among those that have teams remaining, including the first four play-in games:
– Big Ten, 7-1, 7 teams left
– SEC, 5-2, 5 teams
– ACC, 5-2, 5 teams
– Big 12, 4-2, 4 teams
– Pac-12, 3-1, 2 teams
– American Athletic, 2-2, 2 teams
– Ohio Valley, 2-1, 1 team
– Big West, Southern, MAC, Atlantic Sun, 1-0, 1 team each
– West Coast, 1-1, 1 team
– Big East, 1-3, 1 team.
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More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/MarchMadness and http://www.twitter.com/AP-Top25
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