Wolverines roll on in postseason
11th-seeded Rhode Island eliminates Creighton
INDIANAPOLIS — Derrick Walton Jr. stuck to the plan Friday.
He kept running the Michigan Wolverines offense against an aggressive Oklahoma State defense and eventually things fell into place. Again.
Walton scored 26 points and had 11 assists as the Wolverines made a school-record 16 3-pointers in an NCAA Tournament game, getting past Oklahoma State 92-91 in the first round of the Midwest Regional.
“We haven’t played a team that got up into us in a minute. It’s hard to simulate that in practice,” Walton said. “In the second half, I settled down. I wanted to make the right play consistently.”
Coach John Beilein had no complaints.
Seventh-seeded Michigan needed every point it could muster in a game that ended with a parade to the freethrow line, a buzzer-beating 3-pointer and a foe that refused to go away.
The difference: Poise and emotion, the same components that helped Michigan (25-11) overcome last week’s harrowing plane mishap to sweep four games in four days at the Big Ten tournament.
Early Friday, it looked like Michigan’s momentum was waning. The Wolverines (2511) looked out of sync and out of sorts in the first half.
But rather than change the game plan, Walton followed the script, steadied his team and the shots started going.
Jawun Evans scored 23 points to lead Oklahoma State (20-13).
Up next for Michigan is No. 2 Louisville on Sunday. No. 11 RHODE ISLAND 84, No. 6 CREIGHTON 72: In Sacramento, Calif., Jeff Dowtin scored a career-high 23 points with a perfect day at the freethrow line, and upstart Rhode Island answered every threat as the Rams ran right into the next round by stunning Creighton.
Kuran Iverson scored 17 points, and Hassan Martin had 12 points and eight rebounds as Rhode Island (25-9) earned its ninth straight victory.
The Rams advance to face third-seeded Oregon. No. 1 KANSAS 100, No. 16 UC DAVIS 62 : In Tulsa, Okla., Frank Mason III scored 22 points and had eight assists as Kansas won its opening game of the tournament for an 11th straight year with a victory over UC Davis.
Freshman Josh Jackson, making his return after a one-game suspension for an accumulation of embarrassing incidents, added 17 points
for KU (29-5).
Chima Moneke scored 20 points to lead the Aggies (23-13).
The Jayhawks will advance to play face No. 9 seed Michigan State on Sunday.
No. 2 LOUISVILLE 78, No. 15 JACKSONVILLE STATE
63: In Indianapolis, Mangok Mathiang scored 18 points and Deng Adel added 16 to help Louisville pull away from Jacksonville State in another first-round game.
The Cardinals (25-8) have won five straight openinground games.
Norbertas Giga scored 30 points for Jacksonville State (20-15). Cibola grad Christian Cunningham had five blocks, four points and three rebounds. No. 3 OREGON 93, No. 14
IONA 77: In Sacramento, with star big man Chris Boucher cheering in a bulky knee brace from the sidelines, Tyler
Dorsey scored 24 points to lead four players in double figures as Oregon beat Iona.
The Ducks (30-5) showed they have the depth and athleticism to make a special March run, just as coach Dana Altman hoped this week when he challenged role players to make larger contributions in shot-blocker Boucher’s absence.
Iona finished 22-13. No. 9 MICH. STATE 78, No.
8 MIAMI 58: In Tulsa, Nick Ward scored 19 points to help Michigan State atone for last season’s early NCAA Tournament disappointment with an opening-round win over Miami.
The Spartans (20-14) trailed by 12 points in the first half before blitzing past the Hurricanes (21-12) the rest of the way, using a 20-2 first-half run to take control for good.
Ja’Quan Newton scored 16 points to lead Miami.