Houston wins comfortably over Georgia State
It’s beginning to look like old times for Houston in the NCAA Tournament.
Corey Davis scored 26 points to help the thirdseeded Cougars beat Georgia State 84-55 in the Midwest Region on Friday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
After reaching the national final in 1984, Houston went more than three decades without winning an NCAA Tournament game. Now, the Cougars have tourney wins in back-to-back seasons and are starting to resemble the program that has five Final Four appearances and produced stars including Elvin Hayes, Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Fabian White had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Breaon Brady added 13 for Houston (32-3), which will face either Iowa State or Ohio State on Sunday.
Houston rolled out to a 15-3 lead in the first five minutes, and the rout was on. The Cougars shot 52 percent to lead 40-31 at halftime, and then opened the second half on a 10-2 run to put the game out of reach.
D’marcus Simonds scored 18 points for No. 14 seed Georgia State (24-10), which received an automatic bid as the Sun Belt Conference Tournament champion.
Houston held the Panthers to 30-percent shooting, an impressive effort against a squad that entered averaging 75 points per game. DUKE 85, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 62: Zion Williamson had an explosive NCAA Tournament debut with 25 points to lead top-seeded Duke (31-5) to a win over North Dakota State (19-16) in Columbia, South Carolina. RJ Barrett led Duke with 26 points and 14 rebounds. Duke led just 31-27 at halftime but Williamson took over after the break. He opened the half by driving on two defenders for a layup that drew a foul. He missed the free throw but Williamson answered with a monster slam. The highlight, though, came moments later on Williamsson’s breathtaking dribble-behind-his-back-afterchasing-down-his-own-steal layup. The 6-foot-7, 285-pound freshman outran 5-foot-11 190-pound Vinnie Shahid of North Dakota State for the ball after he tipped it for a steal. Williamson then dribbled behind his back, briefly losing and regaining his balance with a hand on the floor. That cleared room for Williamson to get to the lane and go up and under for a layup. Just like that, the Blue Devils were up 40-27 and cruising.
LIBERTY 80, MISSISSIPPI STATE 76: Caleb Homesley scored 22 of his 30 points in the second half and Lovell Cabbil hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:16 to play to send 12th-seeded Liberty (29-6) to its first NCAA Tournament win in school history, beating fifth-seeded Mississippi State (23-11) in San Jose, California. The Flames were making their fourth tournament trip in school history, but lost twice as a No. 16 seed and once in the play-in game. This year’s team had more respect, a higher seeding and capitalized on the opportunity. Homesley helped rally Liberty from a 10-point deficit in the second half by scoring 14 points in a span of less than five minutes. Cabbil then hit from long range to make it 72-70 and celebrated with an enthusiastic fan section that made the cross-country trip from Virginia for the game. Liberty did the rest at the foul line to spoil the first tournament trip for Mississippi State in a decade. The Flames advanced to the second round of the East Region to play the winner of the game between Saint Louis and Virginia Tech. Quinndary Weatherspoon scored 27 points to lead the Bulldogs and Reggie Perry added 21. TEXAS TECH 72, NORTHERN KENTUCKY 57: Jarrett Culver had 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to help No. 3 seed Texas Tech (27-6) shake off a slow start and beat No. 14 seed Northern Kentucky (26-9) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tariq Owens scored 12 points and Davide Moretti had 10 for Texas Tech, which had won nine straight games to share the Big 12 regular-season title before losing to West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals. The Red Raiders face Buffalo on Sunday. Northern Kentucky got 23 points from Tyler Sharpe and 11 from Dantez Walton.