RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -Stephen Curry scored 30 of his 40 points in the second half and hit the tie-breaking 3-pointer with just over a minute left, leading 10th-seeded Davidson to an 82-76 win over Gonzaga on Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament’s Midwest Regional.
Curry hit 8 of 10 3-pointers, and his two free throws with 14.5 seconds left iced it for the Wildcats (27-6), who won their first NCAA game since Lefty Driesell was coach in the 1960s.
Jason Richards added 15 points for Davidson, which extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 23 games. Andrew Lovedale had 12 points, and one of his 13 rebounds came on the offensive glass, which led to Curry’s deciding 3-pointer.
Davidson advanced to play the region’s second seed, Georgetown, on Sunday.
Freshman Steve Gray hit seven 3-pointers and scored 21 points for Gonzaga (25-8), which blew 11-point leads in both halves to make a first-round exit for the second straight year.
Georgetown 66, UMBC 47
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Roy Hibbert went over and around undersized UMBC all day, finishing with 13 points and leading the second-seeded Hoyas past the 15th-seeded Retrievers.
Jonathan Wallace added 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting and Austin Freeman finished with 11 for the Hoyas (28-5), who shot 51 percent and held UMBC scoreless for a 7-minute stretch.
Darryl Proctor scored 16 points and Brian Hodges added 11 for America East champion UMBC (24-9), which didn’t have a starter taller than 6-foot-9 to defend the 7-foot-2 Hibbert.
Patrick Ewing Jr. added 10 points for the Hoyas, who let UMBC hang around for only about 10 minutes of this one before taking control with a 22-5 run late in the first half that overwhelmed the suddenly cold-shooting Retrievers.
Siena 83, Vanderbilt 62
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Kenny Hasbrouck scored 30 points, Tay Fisher added 19 on 6-for-6 shooting from 3-point range, and 13th-seeded Siena stunned Vandy to become the first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference team to reach the second round since Manhattan in 2004.
Until now, Siena (23-10) was best-known for a first-round upset over Stanford in 1989 – a 14 seed over a 3. This one might have been just as shocking.
A.J. Ogilvy scored 18 points for Vanderbilt (26-8), which got 13 from SEC player of the year Shan Foster – who became the 22nd player in SEC history to eclipse the 2,000-point career mark – and 10 from Ross Neltner. The Commodores came into the tournament more than a little miffed that they were widely picked to be a first-round upset victim.
Villanova 75, Clemson 69
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Scottie Reynolds scored 21 points, Corey Fisher added 17 and the 12th-seeded Wildcats gave this NCAA tournament pod its fourth upset in four games.
Villanova, which has more wins as a lower-seeded team in the tournament than any program since 1979, overcame an 18-point deficit for this win.
The Wildcats trailed 36-18 with 5 minutes to play in the first half. But they made their 3-pointers – Reynolds made his first three after the break – and slowly sliced into the big lead.
Reynolds’ bucket gave Villanova its first lead of the game, 50-49 with 11:56 remaining.
Demontez Stitt led the Tigers with 14 points. K.C. Rivers Jr. added 12, and Terrence Oglesby finished with 11.
Tampa is the first site in NCAA history to have four 12 or lower seeds win. In fact, no other had done it more than twice.
East Regional
Tennessee 72, American 57
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – JaJuan Smith finished with 19 points, Wayne Chism added 16 and Tennessee woke up just in time to avoid a big upset in the first round.
Ahead 53-51 with 5:45 left, Tennessee (30-4) escaped from a team making its NCAA tournament debut. The Vols held the 15th-seeded Eagles to only one basket the rest of the way.
Garrison Carr, the MVP of the Patriot League tournament, poured in 24 points for American (21-12), even the Vols threw five different defenders at him to no avail.
The Volunteers survived to play seventh-seeded Butler on Sunday.
The Vols felt slighted coming in, believing they deserved more recognition. Smith wrote “No. 1 seed” on his orange-and-white sneakers, but coach Bruce Pearl and Tennessee cost themselves with a sluggish showing in the Southeastern Conference tournament.
Butler 81, South Alabama 61
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – Pete Campbell hit eight 3-pointers and scored 26 points, and the Bulldogs won their fourth straight first-round game to set a school record for wins.
The Bulldogs (30-3) were a No. 7 seed and a popular first-round upset on many brackets. But the 10th-seeded Jaguars (26-7) couldn’t live up to its much-criticized at-large bid.
All anyone wanted to talk about before the game was the matchup of starting guards, and A.J. Graves of Butler and South Alabama’s Daon Merritt didn’t disappoint. Graves had 18 points and Merritt, who kept the Jaguars in the game early, scored 14 points.
Butler hit 15 of 28 from beyond the arc, surpassing 50 percent from long range for the fourth time this season. The Bulldogs also got 16 points off 13 Jaguars turnovers.
North Carolina 113, Mount St. Mary’s 74
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson each had 21 points to help the Tar Heels cruise by Mount St. Mary’s in a game played a short drive from their Chapel Hill campus.
Wayne Ellington added 16 points for the Tar Heels (33-2), who have won 12 straight and continued their near-perfect run in NCAA games played in their home state. North Carolina improved to 22-1 in those games and will face Arkansas in the second round Sunday.
North Carolina shot 61 percent, took a 48-22 rebounding advantage and finished with 26 second-chance points against the undersized Mountaineers (19-15).
Chris Vann scored 16 points to lead Mount St. Mary’s.
Arkansas 86, Indiana 72
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Sonny Weems scored a career-high 31 points and Darian Townes added 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Razorbacks to the victory.
Weems hit 12 of 14 shots for Arkansas (23-11), which shot 54 percent and snapped a five-game losing streak in NCAA tournament games dating to a first-round victory against Siena in 1999.
D.J. White had 22 points in his third straight 20-point game for Indiana (25-8).
The Hoosiers lost their tournament opener for the first time since 2001, went one-and-done in both the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments and ended their once-promising season on a free fall.
Ranked No. 7 as recently as two months ago, Indiana finished the year by losing four of seven since coach Kelvin Sampson’s scandal-tainted resignation and former Hoosiers guard Dan Dakich was named interim coach.
Louisville 79, Boise State 61
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – Earl Clark scored 15 points and Juan Palacios had 13 as Louisville cruised to the easy victory.
The third-seeded Cardinals rushed to a 10-1 lead and Derrick Caracter’s slam made it 42-26 late in the first half.
Leading scorer David Padgett didn’t even take a shot before the break and Louisville still breezed, helped by a dozen 3-pointers.
Coming off a disappointing one-and-done performance in the Big East tournament, the Cardinals (25-8) punctuated the rout with several late jams. They next play Sunday against Oklahoma.
Matt Nelson scored 17 for Boise State (25-9).
Oklahoma 72, St. Joseph’s 64
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – David Godbold scored a career-high 25 points, including the Sooners’ first 11 of the second half, and they survived a late rally to beat Saint Joseph’s.
Godbold and the Sooners (23-11), who had a 25-year postseason streak end last season, built a 19-point lead and watched it dissipate against a Hawks team eager to prove it belonged.
Ahmad Nivins’ putback for the Hawks made it 65-61 with 3:29 to play, then Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin scored back-to-back baskets inside to double the lead with about 2 minutes left.
The Hawks (21-13) managed just three free throws after that.
Longar Longar had 14 points for the Sooners, who shot 57 percent. Griffin finished with 12.
Rob Ferguson helped keep Saint Joseph’s in the game with 21 points.
South Regional
Memphis 87, Texas-Arlington 63
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Chris Douglas-Roberts led five Tigers in double figures with 23 points, and he also had seven rebounds and four assists. Derrick Rose and Antonio Anderson added 17 points each, and Robert Dozier had 12 for Memphis, which improved to 34-1 with its eighth straight victory. Next up is eighth-seeded Mississippi State (23-10).
Anthony Vereen led the Mavericks (21-12) with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Jermaine Griffin had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Rog’er Guignard added 10.
The Tigers shot almost 52 percent from the floor, had seven steals and outrebounded the smaller Texas-Arlington 39-29. UTA had 14 turnovers and Memphis converted those miscues into 13 points.
Texas 74, Austin Peay 54
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – A.J. Abrams scored 26 points, and along with Connor Atchley and Dexter Pittman nearly outscored Austin Peay on their own in a first-round victory.
Abrams was 6-of-10 from 3-point range, Atchley added 12 points and Pittman had 11.
At 29-6, Texas is now one victory away from matching the school record for wins. The 2005-06 squad, which lost to LSU in the regional finals of the tournament, finished 30-7.
Ernest Fields led the Governors (24-10) with 14 points. Todd Babington added 11.
The victory sets up a second-round game Sunday with former Longhorns assistant Frank Haith, now the coach at Miami.
Mississippi State 76, Oregon 69
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Charles Rhodes scored a career-high 34 points and the eighth-seeded Bulldogs came back from a 13-point second-half deficit to beat the Ducks.
Mississippi State trailed 41-28 after Malik Hairston’s 3-pointer at the start of the second half, but Oregon didn’t make another 3 until the final seconds, finishing 9-for-38 overall.
Barry Stewart’s third 3 pulled the Bulldogs within one at 52-51. Rhodes then put Mississippi State (23-10) ahead with a dunk, and the Bulldogs finally took control.
Malik Hairston scored 22 points for Oregon, but when the Ducks (18-14) stopped making outside shots, their offense went into disarray. That was the case for most of the second half.
Miami 78, Saint Mary’s 64
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Jack McClinton scored a career-high 38 points – 32 during a brilliant second half – to send seventh-seeded Miami past the Saints.
The Hurricanes (23-10) trailed 32-27 at intermission, but went on a 25-5 run shortly afterward. McClinton scored 10 straight points early in that stretch. Later, after the Gaels (25-7) pulled within eight, McClinton calmly sank an open 3 from the left corner.
Patty Mills, the Gaels’ freshman point guard and one of four players on the roster from Australia, scored 24 points. Saint Mary’s has won only one NCAA tournament game, in 1959.
Miami, which was predicted to be the Atlantic Coast Conference’s worst team this season, has won eight of its last 11, part of a remarkable turnaround after a 12-20 record a season ago.
West Regional
San Diego 70, Connecticut 69, OT
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – De’Jon Jackson’s pull-up jumper just inside the 3-point line with 1.2 seconds remaining in overtime gave 13th-seeded San Diego its first win in four tries in the NCAA tournament, and the second upset in as many games in Tampa.
Gyno Pomare had 22 points, Brandon Johnson hit four 3-pointers and had 18 points, and the small school known for its scenic ocean views is headed to a second-round game with 12th-seeded Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers upset Drake earlier in the day.
The Huskies (24-9) were inconsistent all season, but had an excuse in this one. They played most of the game without leading scoring A.J. Price, who injured his left knee in the first half and did not return.
San Diego (22-13) took advantage, pulling out to an 11-point lead early in the second half and UConn was left without its top playmaker in overtime.
Western Kentucky 101, Drake 99, OT
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Ty Rogers hit a 3-pointer with three defenders in his face and no time on the clock, helping the 12th-seeded Hilltoppers stun Drake in overtime.
The Bulldogs (28-5) overcame a 16-point deficit in the final 8 minutes and led 99-98 after Jonathan Cox’s two free throws with 5.7 seconds left. But Tyrone Brazelton raced across up court and kicked it to Rogers, who gave the Hilltoppers (28-6) their first tournament win since 1995.
Brazelton finished with a career-high 33 points for Western Kentucky.
Cox had 29 points and 16 boards for Drake, making its first tourney appearance since 1971.
Rogers’ final shot was the 30th 3-pointer of the game, breaking the previous NCAA mark set by West Virginia and Louisville two years ago. Western Kentucky and Drake combined for 70 3-point attempts, also breaking the previous record of 66 set by UCLA and Cincinnati in 2002.
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