Terps shut UConn down
Eric Ayala scored 23 points and 10th-seeded Maryland clamped down on defense down the stretch to beat No. 7 seed UConn, 63-54, on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.
NCAA ROUNDUP
The 10th-seeded Terrapins (17-13) held UConn to 32 percent shooting to overcome the Huskies’ strong physical game. Maryland was outrebounded 40-29 but its defense carried the Terps to a second-round matchup against second-seeded Alabama.
James Bouknight had 15 points and Jalen Gaffney 12 for the Huskies (15-8).
Creighton 63, UC Santa Barbara 62
In Indianapolis, Christian Bishop made both ends of a oneand-one with 16 seconds left to give fifth-seeded Creighton (21-8) the lead, and the Bluejays hung on to beat 12th-seeded UC Santa Barbara (22-5).
Michigan 86, Texas Southern 66
Juwan Howard won his first NCAA Tournament game since taking over at Michigan, guiding Mike Smith and the top-seeded Wolverines (21-4) past Texas Southern (17-9) in the East Region in West Lafayette, Ind.
LSU 76, St. Bonaventure 61
In Bloomington, Ind., freshman Cameron Thomas scored 27 points in another impressive performance and his LSU teammates provided the rebounding muscle, leading the eighth-seeded Tigers (19-9) past ninth-seeded St. Bonaventure (16-5) in an East Region matchup.
Florida St. 64, UNC Greensboro 54
In Indianapolis, RaiQuan Gray scored 17 points and Florida State began what it hopes will be another deep run under coach Leonard Hamilton, holding off 13thseeded UNC Greensboro (21-9) in an East Region game.
USC 72, Drake 56
Evan Mobley had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 6 seed Southern
California (23-7) used smothering defense to beat Drake (26-5) in a West Region tilt in Indianapolis.
Iowa 86, Grand Canyon 74
Iowa got 24 points from Luka Garza and avoided the early NCAA Tournament exit that befell other high seeds with a firstround victory over Grand Canyon (17-7) in the West Region in Indianapolis.
Ohio State, Purdue and Tennessee were all bounced from the tournament on a wild opening day of upsets, but the second-seeded Hawkeyes (22-8) used a strong shooting display to advance.
Oklahoma 72, Missouri 68
In Indianapolis, Austin Reaves scored 23 points, Brady Manek added 19 and Oklahoma (16-10) slipped by ninth-seeded Missouri (16-10) to win in a West Region first-round matchup of the NCAA Tournament.
UCLA 73, BYU 62
Johnny Juzang poured in 27 points in his second big game of the NCAA Tournament, Jules Bernard provided a big second-half lift, and No. 11 seed UCLA (19-9) beat sixth-seeded BYU (20-7) in Indianapolis.