WASHINGTON (AP) -Joe Alexander had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and West Virginia reached the NCAA tournament’s round of 16 in Bob Huggins’ first season at his alma mater, beating second-seeded Duke 73-67 in the West Regional on Saturday.
Seventh-seeded West Virginia (26-10) limited Duke to 38 percent shooting and held a 47-27 edge on the boards. The Mountaineers also got 17 points from Alex Ruoff, and 13 points and 11 rebounds from reserve guard Joe Mazzulla, and advanced to face third-seeded Xavier in Phoenix on Thursday night.
After eking out a one-point victory over No. 15-seed Belmont in the first round, three-time national champion Duke (28-6) looked much better en route to a 34-29 halftime lead. But West Virginia went on an 18-3 run to take the lead while the Blue Devils misfired.
Gerald Henderson finished with 18 points for Duke. Jon Scheyer added 15 off the bench, and Greg Paulus finished with 13.
Xavier 85, Purdue 78
WASHINGTON (AP) – C.J. Anderson and Drew Lavender each scored 18 points and Josh Duncan had 16, and Xavier was surprisingly efficient on offense.
The Musketeers (29-6) shot 54 percent in breaking the school record for wins, going 26-for-33 at the free throw line and 27-for-50 from the floor against a team that led the Big Ten in field-goal percentage defense. Their 85 points were the most allowed by Purdue this season.
Keaton Grant scored 19 for the Boilermakers (25-9), who have won 10 straight first-round games but have exited without another win in half those tournaments – including two in a row.
Lavender, a 5-foot-7 guard, had nine assists and provided Xavier with a pivotal basket after the Musketeers frittered away an almost insurmountable lead in this defensive struggle.
West Regional
M 49
M.
The Bruins (33-3) won their 12th in a row and will face Western Kentucky or San Diego next week in Phoenix.
Urged on by 17,600 pro-UCLA fans that made it seem like a home game, the Bruins rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half.
Kevin Love had 19 points and 11 rebounds – his 21st double-double – and UCLA overcame the combined 3-of-14 shooting of Shipp and Russell Westbrook.
M was trying to get back to the final 16 for the second straight year.
Midwest Regional
Wisconsin 72, Kansas State 55
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Trevon Hughes matched his career high with 25 points, and the third-seeded Badgers shut down Kansas State freshman star Michael Beasley in the second half.
Beasley had 23 points for the 11th-seeded Wildcats, but just six after halftime.
Michael Flowers had 15 points and Greg Stiemsma 14 for the Badgers (31-4), who set a school record for wins in a season and head to the round of 16 in Detroit with 12 straight wins and 25 victories in the last 27 games. They’ll play the winner of Sunday’s Georgetown-Davidson game.
Beasley, just 2-for-6 in the second half, hugged teammates and coaches when he left the game with 53.9 seconds left. Many expect him to declare for the NBA draft.
Bill Walker added 18 for the Wildcats (21-12), who were 0-for-13 from 3-point range.
Kansas 75, UNLV 56
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Mario Chalmers scored 17 points and the top-seeded Jayhawks pulled away from UNLV in the second half in another romp that sent Kansas to the round of 16.
Chalmers had plenty of help: Russell Robinson scored 13, Brandon Rush had 12 and Sherron Collins 10. That depth proved too much for the Runnin’ Rebels (27-8), who barely had enough personnel to finish the game after two of their 10 players in uniform fouled out.
The Rebels shot 27 percent (12 of 45) and were outrebounded 36-26. Kansas (33-3) shot 58 percent in what amounted to a brisk workout before playing the winner of Sunday’s Villanova-Siena game next week in Detroit.
East Regional
Washington State 61, Notre Dame 41
DENVER (AP) – Derrick Low scored 18 points and Kyle Weaver added 15, and the Cougars won a clash of styles by shutting down Luke Harangody and the high-flying Fighting Irish.
Washington State held the Big East’s Player of the Year to 10 points, half his average, and limited the Irish (25-8) to half their scoring average, too. Harangody did have 22 rebounds.
Washington State advanced to play the winner of Sunday’s Arkansas-North Carolina game.
Robbie Cowgill added 12 points for the fourth-seeded Cougars (26-8), who won a second game in the tournament for the first time since 1941, when they lost to Wisconsin in the national championship game.
South Regional
Stanford 82, Marquette 81, OT
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Ejected for unsportsmanlike behavior in the first half, Stanford coach Trent Johnson wasn’t around to see Brook Lopez make a baseline leaner with 1.3 seconds left that sent the third-seeded Cardinal to the round of 16.
Lopez, one of the Cardinal’s twin 7-footers, scored eight of their 11 points in overtime and finished with 30, one shy of a career high. The go-ahead bucket came on Mitch Johnson’s career-high 16th assist, and sent Stanford (28-7) to play the winner of Sunday’s Miami-Texas game.
Lopez was an effective counter to Marquette sharpshooter Jerel McNeal, who scored a career-high 30 points, and hit three 3-pointers in overtime for the No. 6 seed Golden Eagles (25-10).
But McNeal misfired on a 15-footer with 15 seconds left, setting up Lopez’s winner.
Michigan State 65, Pittsburgh 54
DENVER (AP) – Drew Neitzel and Kalin Lucas went on a late ballhandling and scoring spree to help Michigan State pull away from Pittsburgh.
Lucas and Neitzel combined for 21 of the final 25 points for the fifth-seeded Spartans to help them win a battle of the bullies – a rough-and-tumble game between two Rust Belt teams who brought their show to the Rocky Mountains.
Neitzel led the Spartans with 21 points, and Lucas finished with 19.
Levance Fields had 19 points for fourth-seeded Pitt (27-10), which had won six straight.
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