Pitt clamps Iowa State in a first-round victory
Nelly Cummings scored 13 points and No. 11 seed Pittsburgh held sixth-seeded Iowa State to 23% shooting in a 59-41 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
Jamarius Burton added 11 points and Greg Elliott had 10 for coach Jeff Capel's Panthers, who stormed to a 22-2 lead after Iowa State missed its first 11 shots. Things didn't get much better for the Cyclones, who had three stretches in which they missed at least eight consecutive shots.
Pitt (24-11), which edged Mississippi State in the First Four, moves on to Sunday's second-round Midwest Region game against third-seeded Xavier, which had to rally from 13 points down to beat No. 14 seed Kennesaw State.
Gabe Kalscheur and Jaren Holmes each had 12 points for Iowa State (19-14), which reached the Sweet 16 last year in coach T.J. Otzelberger's first season.
The Cyclones, who had lost nine of their previous 13 games, didn't make a basket until Holmes' short jumper with 9:53 left in the first half, which drew a sarcastic cheer from Iowa State fans.
Iowa State's poor start came while shooting at the same basket that officials worked to fix before the game, causing a brief delay.
XAVIER 72, KENNESAW STATE 67 >> Jack Nunge blocked Terrell Burden's driving attempt at a goahead layup in the final seconds, and Xavier dug out of a 13-point hole against surprising Kennesaw State to escape with a victory.
Souley Boum hit four clinching free throws in the final 2.6 seconds for the third-seeded Musketeers (26-9), who ran off 15
unanswered points as part of a game-ending 24-6 run. That was enough to turn away the 14th-seeded Owls (26-9) in the program's first-ever March Madness game.
Jerome Hunter scored 24 points to lead the Musketeers, while Boum had 17.
Burden and Chris Youngblood each scored 14 points to lead Kennesaw State. MICHIGAN STATE 72, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 62 >> Joey Hauser scored 17 points and No. 7 seed Michigan State clamped down defensively on No. 10 seed Southern California in the second half.
Coach Tom Izzo's Spartans (20-12) will face the winner of the VermontMarquette matchup on Sunday for a spot in the Sweet 16.
Tyson Walker and Jaden Akins added 12 points apiece for Michigan State, which held USC to 34% shooting in the second half.
Joshua Morgan scored 14 and Kobe Johnson 13 to lead the Trojans (2211), who were knocked out in the tournament's first round for the second straight year.
BAYLOR 74, UC SANTA BARBARA 56 >> Caleb Lohner scored a season-best 13 points in just 18 minutes, and No. 3 seed Baylor beat UC Santa Barbara.
Adam Flagler led the Bears with 18 points, and LJ Cryer scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half.
Baylor (23-10) overcame a one-point halftime deficit to advance to play the Creighton-North Carolina State winner on Sunday.
UCONN 87, IONA 63 >> Adama Sanogo scored 10 of his 28 points in the first five minutes of the second half as fourth-seeded UConn took control and beat Rick Pitino's Iona Gaels.
The Huskies (26-8) advanced to play fifth-seeded Saint Mary's after losing in the first round under coach Dan Hurley the last two seasons.
CREIGHTON 72, NORTH CAROLINA STATE 63 >> Ryan Kalkbrenner scored a career-high 31 points and sixth-seeded Creighton overcame an abysmal 3-point shooting day to fend off No. 11 seed North Carolina State.
The 7-foot-1 Kalkbrenner did a little bit of everything for the Bluejays (22-12), which included hitting a big 3-pointer on a day the team finished 3 of 20 from long range.
MARQUETTE 78, VERMONT 61 >> Kam Jones scored 18 of his 19 points in the second half as second-seeded Marquette beat No. 15 Vermont.