Duquesne pulls off upset over BYU
Dae Dae Grant scored 19 points and Duquesne picked up its first NCAA Tournament victory since 1969 by knocking off BYU 71-67 on Thursday afternoon in East Region first-round play at Omaha, Neb.
Jakub Necas added 12 points, six assists and three blocked shots and Jimmy Clark III tallied five of his 11 points in the final 88 seconds as the 11th-seeded Dukes (2511) won their ninth consecutive game. The contest was Duquesne's first in the NCAA Tournament since the Norm Nixon-led team played in the 1977 tourney.
Jaxson Robinson scored 25 points off the bench for the sixth-seeded Cougars (2311). Spencer Johnson had 11 points and 16 rebounds, while Fousseyni Traore and Dallin Hall each scored 11 points for BYU.
The Dukes will face either No. 3 seed Illinois or No. 14 Morehead State in Saturday's second round.
Traore scored back-to-back baskets to knot the score at 60-60 with 1:48 remaining.
Clark made two free throws with 1:28 left to put the Dukes ahead. Clark split two free throws with 49.9 seconds to give Duquesne a threepoint edge and added a layup with 26.9 seconds remaining to make it 65-60. Hall scored BYU'S next seven points, including a 3-pointer to trim the Duquesne lead to 69-67 with 5.7 seconds remaining.
Grant then sank two free throws with 4.3 seconds left to wrap up the victory.
Duquesne shot 46.4 percent from the field, including 7 of 18 from 3-point range. Clark had four steals for the Dukes.
At Charlotte, Tyson Walker scored 19 points and Michigan State never trailed in claiming a 69-51 victory against Mississippi State in the NCAA West Region's first round Thursday afternoon.
The Spartans mostly did it with their defence, but six different players made at least one 3-point shot to boost the offence.
Jaden Akins racked up 15 points, joining Walker with three 3-pointers, and Malik Hall added 10 points..
Ninth-seeded Michigan State (20-14) meets the winner between top-seeded North Carolina and No. 16 seed Wagner in Saturday's second round.
Josh Hubbard scored 15 points for eighth-seeded Mississippi State (21-14), which shot 37 percent from the field and made only 6 of 27 attempts from 3-point range. The Bulldogs ended up with a season-low point total.
Mississippi State hung around, aided by a 3-pointer and dunk from reserve Shakeel Moore, who was playing in his home state, in the second half, but the Bulldogs couldn't keep up.