Upstart 11th seed URI stuns No. 6 Creighton

Jeff Dowtin scored a career-high 23 points with a perfect day at the free-throw line, upstart Rhode Island answered every threat and the Rams ran right into the next round of the NCAA Tournament by stunning cold-shooting No. 6 seed Creighton 84-72 on Friday in an opener of the Midwest Region.

Kuran Iverson scored 17 points and Hassan Martin had 12 points and eight rebounds as 11th-seeded Rhode Island (25-9) earned its ninth straight victory. The program won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since advancing to the Elite Eight and losing to Stanford in 1998.

Ronnie Harrell Jr. scored a career-high 15 points in Creighton’s 40-percent shooting day. 78-63 in the first round of the Midwest Regional.

The Cardinals (25-8) have won five straight opening round games. Louisville was making its first postseason appearance since 2015 after sitting out last year because of a one-year, school-imposed postseason ban for alleged recruiting violations.

Norbertas Giga scored 30 points for 15th-seeded Jacksonville State (2015), which was one of a record five teams making their first tourney appearance.

And it was a bigger challenge than most expected.

But after trailing for the first 13 minutes, the Cardinals finally took the lead with an 8-2 late in the first half. It closed the half on a 9-4 spurt then opened the second half on 10-2 run to make it 48-33. Louisville led by double digits most of the rest of the game. much to overcome.

The Cowboys haven't won an NCAA Tourney game since 2009.

D.J. Wilson had 19 points and four blocks for the Wolverines. Zak Irvin and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman each had 16.

Jeffrey Carroll had 19 points for Oklahoma State while Phil Forte added 12 points and Leyton Hammonds had 10.

After Barford hit his free throws, Daryl Macon added another to make it a 75-71 game. Carrington missed a 3 at the other end in what amounted to the ninth-seeded Pirates' last gasp.