Princeton pulls off a stunner vs. Arizona
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Tosan Evbuomwan and Princeton used a late-game run to earn the school’s first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55 on Thursday.
The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points to finish the upset, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:21.
Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton’s first tournament victory since beating UNLV in 1998, when current coach Mitch Henderson was a player for the Tigers.
Princeton advanced to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region. The Tigers beat Utah State 76-65.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 21 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven’t won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.
SOUTH REGION ALABAMA 96 TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI 75
The Crimson Tide, the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, hit 15 3-pointers in a blowout of the Islanders in a first-round matchup in Birmingham, Ala.
Alabama (30-5) will play eighth-seeded Maryland — a 67-65 winner over ninth-seeded West Virginia — in the round of 32.
Playing 58 miles from their Tuscaloosa, Ala., campus, the Tide ignited the Crimson-clad crowd of 15,198 at Legacy Arena
with a 9-0 spurt to open the game and led by double-digits for the final 28-plus minutes. Mark Sears and Noah Clowney combined for six of Alabama’s 3-pointers and 25 points.
Texas A&m-corpus Christi, which advanced with a 75-71 win over Southeast Missouri in the First Four, finished the season at 24-11.
Alabama was 10-of-17 shooting from beyond the arc in the first half, taking a 54-34 lead at the break, and the Crimson Tide continued the barrage in the second half.
FURMAN 68, VIRGINIA 67
JP Pegues made a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining as the 13th-seeded Paladins completed a rally from a 12-point second-half deficit to hand the fourth-seeded Cavaliers another first-round tournament loss in a game hosted in Orlando, Fla.
Making its first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, Furman (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region.
MARYLAND 67 WEST VIRGINIA 65
The Terrapins overcame a sluggish start and a final heave
at the buzzer by Kedrian Johnson, topping the Mountaineers in the first round of the tournament in Birmingham, Ala.
Johnson led all scorers with 27 points, but his potential winner bounced off the side of the rim as the horn sounded, allowing Maryland (22-12) to advance in March Madness.
MISSOURI 75, UTAH STATE 65
The Tigers used a secondhalf scoring spurt from Kobe Brown to take down the Aggies for their first tournament victory in the past 13 years in a game played in Sacramento, Calif.
SAN DIEGO STATE 63 CHARLESTON 57
Matt Bradley scored 17 points, including a pair of free throws in the final minute, as the fifth-seeded Aztecs held on to survive the No. 12 seed Cougars in a first-round tournament game held in Orlando, Fla.
WEST REGION KANSAS 96, HOWARD 68
Jalen Wilson had 20 points and seven rebounds for the No. 1 seed and defending national champion Jayhawks, who allowed absent and recovering coach Bill Self to rest during an easy victory over the Bison in an opening-round game hosted in Des Moines, Iowa.
Gradey Dick had 19 points and 11 rebounds in the freshman’s first NCAA Tournament game. K.J. Adams Jr. scored 13 points and Dajuan Harris Jr. added 11 points for Kansas (28-7).
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON 84 TEXAS SOUTHERN 61
Ansley Almonor scored 23 points as the Knights beat the Tigers in a First Four game in Dayton to earn their first tournament win in the past four seasons.
ARIZONA STATE 98, NEVADA 73
DJ Horne had 20 points as the Sun Devils raced to a big halftime lead in Dayton and scored the most points ever in a First Four game, burying the Wolf Pack.