Dayton’s comeback knocks out Nevada
Texas stops Colorado St., Duquesne stuns BYU
SALT LAKE CITY — DaRon Holmes II and seventh-seeded Dayton staged a huge March Madness rally, closing with a 24-4 run to erase a 17-point deficit and beat 10th-seeded Nevada 63-60 in the West Region on Thursday.
Holmes, the Atlantic 10 player of the year, scored 18 points, including a three-point play with 2:01 remaining that gave Dayton its first lead since the first half.
The Flyers (25-7) trailed 56-39 with 7:36 left but responded with 17 unanswered points. The run included three 3-pointers from Koby Brea, who finished with 15 points.
“In those situations, it’s easy for somebody to try to, like, just get a home run play, try to make it happen by themselves,” Brea said. “In the situation we were in, I think we did a good job of just staying together and doing it together, taking it one possession at a time.”
Enoch Cheeks’ layup with 34 seconds left put Dayton ahead for good, and he made two free throws for the final margin. He scored 12 points as the Flyers picked up their first NCAA Tournament win in nine years.
Dayton, which made its final seven baskets, will face No. 2 seed Arizona in the second round on Saturday.
Jarrod Lucas scored 17 points, and Kenan Blackshear and Nick Davidson scored 15 apiece for the Wolf Pack (26-8), who took control by closing the first half on a 16-0 run. Nevada appeared to have the game well in hand when it held Holmes without a basket for nearly 14 minutes during the second half.
But the Wolf Pack made only two baskets over the final 7 1/2 minutes. They had a chance to force overtime, but Davidson and Blackshear both missed 3-pointers just before the buzzer.
“We had zero flow to us offensively,” Nevada coach Steve Alford said.
East Region IOWA STATE 82, SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 65:
In Omaha, Neb., Milan Momcilovic looked nothing like a freshman while pouring in 19
points, Tamin Lipsey had 17 with seven assists, and No. 2 Iowa State used big runs to start each half to beat No. 15 seed South Dakota State.
Keshon Gilbert had 15 points and Hason Ward dunked his way to 10, helping the Cyclones (28-7) advance to a second-round matchup with seventh-seeded Washington State or No. 10 seed Drake.
Zeke Mayo hit four 3s and had 19 points for South Dakota State (22-13).
ILLINOIS 84, MOREHEAD STATE 69:
In Omaha, Marcus Domask posted the NCAA Tournament’s first triple-double since 2019 and Terrence Shannon scored 26 points, helping No. 3 seed Illinois pull away from No. 14 Morehead State.
Domask had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in his first career triple-double. It was the first triple-double in the NCAA tourney since Ja Morant accomplished the feat.
Next up for Illinois (27-8) is No. 11 seed Duquesne on Saturday. Riley Minix led the Eagles(26-9) with 27 points.
DUQUESNE 71, No. 21 BYU 67: In Omaha, Dae Dae Grant scored 19
points, including four clinching free throws in the final 10 seconds, and the Dukes kept retiring coach Keith Dambrot working for a little bit longer with a victory against the Cougars.
Jakub Necas added 12 points and Jimmy Clark III had 11 for the Atlantic 10 tourney champs, who celebrated their return to the dance after 47 years with their first win there since 1969. The Dukes (25-11) will play No. 3 seed Illinois on Saturday.
The Cougars (23-11) trailed by as many as 14 in the second half before drawing even when Foussyni Traore knotted the game at 60-all with 1:45 to go. But Clark scored the next five points to put the Dukes ahead to stay.
Midwest Region CREIGHTON 77, AKRON 60:
In Pittsburgh, Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 23 points and Trey Alexander had 19 as the Bluejays opened the NCAA Tournament with a win over the Zips.
The third-seeded Bluejays (249) got all they could handle in the first half from the 14th-seeded Zips (24-11), who came in as a 10½-point underdogs. However,
Creighton flexed its Big East muscles after halftime and pulled away to advance to the second round and a matchup against Oregon on Saturday.
Akron’s Enrique Freeman, the MAC Player of the Year and nation’s leading rebounder, finished with 21 points and 14 boards. It was Freeman’s 31st double-double, tying him with Navy great David Robinson (1986) for the single-season NCAA record.
OREGON 87, No. 16 SOUTH CAROLINA 73:
In Pittsburgh, Jermaine Couisnard scored a career-high 40 points to haunt South Carolina — his former school — while leading Oregon to a victory.
Couisnard, who spent three years at South Carolina (268) before transferring in part because of a coaching change following the 2022 season, made five 3-pointers and went 14 of 22 from the field to pace the 11th-seeded Ducks (24-11).
Oregon advanced to the second round to face No. 3 seed Creighton.
TEXAS 56, COLORADO STATE 44:
In Charlotte, N.C., Max Abmas and Dylan Disu each scored 12 points, and No. 7 seed Texas held Colorado State to 11 points in the first half en route to a victory.
The Longhorns (21-12) will meet the winner of second-seeded Tennessee and No. 15 St. Peter’s on Saturday.
Isaiah Stevens and Joel Scott paced the Rams (25-11) with 10 points each. The Rams shot 29% from the field and scored just three points over the final 15 1/2 minutes of the first half. Texas closed the half on a 25-3 run to take a 27-11 lead into the locker room.
West Region No. 5 NORTH CAROLINA 90, WAGNER 62:
In Charlotte, N.C., Armando Bacot had 20 points and 15 rebounds, and No. 1 seed North Carolina never trailed in beating 16th-seeded Wagner.
Jae’Lyn Withers had a season-high 16 points and matched his best rebounding work with 10 boards for the Tar Heels (28-7), who face Michigan State on Saturday. Melvin Council Jr. and Julian Brown each scored 18 points for the Seahawks (17-16).
MICHIGAN STATE 69, MISSISSIPPI STATE 51:
In Charlotte, N.C., Tyson Walker scored 19 points and Spartans coach Tom Izzo picked up his 20th win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as his ninth-seeded Spartans beat the eighth-seeded Bulldogs.
Michigan State improved to 20-6 in March Madness openers under Izzo, who is making his 26th straight NCAA Tournament appearance — an NCAA Division I record for a coach at one school.
Jaden Akins added 15 points for the Spartans (20-14), who’ll face top-seeded North Carolina on Saturday. Freshman Josh Hubbard scored 15 points for the Bulldogs (21-14).
ARIZONA 85, LONG BEACH STATE 65:
In Salt Lake City, Arizona scored 16 straight points over a five-minute stretch to pull away for a victory and snuff out Dan Monson’s coaching tenure at Long Beach State.
Kylan Boswell scored 20 points for the second-seeded Wildcats (26-8), who made 13 3-pointers, the program record for March Madness.
This marked the end of a 17-year stretch at Long Beach State for the 62-year-old Monson. Aboubacar Traore and A.J. George led the Beach (21-15) with 14 points each.