Ivy champs stun Arizona
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Ryan Langborg lifted Princeton to its first lead with 2:03 to play and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their 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, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:43.
Tosan 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 advances to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region.
It marked the third straight year and 11th time overall that a No. 15 seed won a first-round game. Arizona is the only school to be on the wrong end of one of those upsets twice, also losing to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.
Missouri 76, Utah State 65:
Missouri used a second-half scoring spurt from Kobe Brown to win its first NCAA Tournament game in 13 years, beating Utah State. Brown hit three 3-pointers in a span of just more than three minutes to fuel a 13-2 run that turned a two-point deficit
into a 62-53 lead. The seventhseeded Tigers (25-9) held on from there, stopping a six-game tournament skid with their first win since beating Clemson in the first round in 2010.
Furman 68, Virginia 67:
JP Pegues made a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining, and No. 13 seed Furman completed a rally from a 12-point second-half deficit to hand fourth-seeded Virginia another first-round loss. Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will play fifth-seeded San Diego State on Saturday. Furman earned its first tournament berth since 1980 by beating Chattanooga for the Southern Conference title, capping a season-long quest to redeem itself after losing the league’s automatic berth to the Mocs on a 35-foot buzzerbeater in last year’s Southern final.
San Diego State 63, Charleston 57:
Matt Bradley scored 17 points, including two free throws in the final minute, and No. 5 seed San Diego State held on to beat 12th-seeded Charleston. The Aztecs (28-6) won their first game in the Big Dance since 2015 — ending a four-game losing streak — and snapped an 11-game skid for the Mountain West Conference.
Maryland 67, West Virginia 65:
Maryland overcame a sluggish start and a final heave at the buzzer by Kedrian Johnson to beat West Virginia. Johnson led all scorers with 27
points, but his potential winner bounced off the side of the rim as the horn sounded, allowing the eighth-seeded Terrapins (22-12) to advance.
Alabama 96, Texas A&mcorpus Christi 75:
Alabama buried Texas A&m-corpus Christi under an early 3-point onslaught, and the NCAA Tournament’s top seed won easily even with star freshman Brandon Miller going scoreless. The Crimson Tide (30-5) set aside their off-court distractions and buried 10 first-half 3s in a predictably easy win over the 16thseeded Islanders (24-11) at Legacy Arena, less than an hour from campus. Miller, the Allamerican who has been beset by questions about his presence at the scene of a fatal shooting, sat out the final 14 minutes and missed all five field goal attempts.
Kansas 96, Howard 68:
Jalen Wilson had 20 points and seven rebounds for No. 1 seed and defending national champion Kansas, which allowed absent and recovering coach Bill Self to rest during an easy victory over Howard. Gradey Dick had 19 points and 11 rebounds in the freshman’s first NCAA Tournament game.
Arkansas 73, Illinois 63:
Ricky Council IV scored 18 points and Arkansas survived some anxious moments in the second half against an Illinois team that wouldn’t go away. Devo Davis had 16 points for the eighth-seeded Razorbacks, who used relentless defense and rebounding to build big leads.