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.
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.
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 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.
South Regional
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
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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