Princeton rally stuns Arizona
Ryan Langborg gave Princeton 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 in South Region play in Sacramento, Calif.
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.
Two Chicago-area players contributed for the Tigers: Glenbard West’s Caden Pierce, who scored six points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Evanston’s Blake Peters, who had nine points.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 22 points for the Wildcats (28-7).
Furman 68, Virginia 67
JP Pegues hit a three-pointer with 2.4 seconds left, and No. 13 seed Furman (28-7) completed a rally from a 12-point secondhalf deficit to send fourth-seeded Virginia (25-8) to another firstround loss in South Region play in Orlando, Fla.
Jalen Slawson, the Southern Conference player of the year, finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists for Furman.
Maryland 67, W. Virginia 65
Maryland overcame a sluggish start and a final heave at the buzzer by Kedrian Johnson to beat West Virginia (19-15). 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.
Auburn 83, Iowa 75
Johni Broome had 19 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots, and Auburn (21-12) beat Iowa (1914) in the Midwest Region at Birmingham, Ala. Payton Sandford scored 21 points for the Hawkeyes.
Duke 74, Oral Roberts 51
Jeremy Roach matched his career high with 23 points, and No. 5 seed Duke (27-8) beat Oral Roberts in the East Region at Orlando, Fla., as the Blue Devils won their first NCAA Tournament game since Jon Scheyer took over as head coach. Oral Roberts (30-5) entered the tournament on a nation-leading 17game winning streak.
Alabama 96, Texas A&M-CC 75
Alabama (30-5) buried Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (24-11) under an early three-point onslaught, and the NCAA Tournament’s top seed won easily in the South Region in Birmingham, Ala., even with star freshman Brandon Miller going scoreless. Miller, the All-American 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 fieldgoal attempts.
Kansas 96, Howard 68
Jalen Wilson had 20 points and seven rebounds for No. 1 seed and defending national champion Kansas (28-7) in the West Region in Des Moines, Iowa, allowing absent and recovering coach Bill Self to rest during an easy victory over Howard (22-13). Self is still recovering from a recent heart procedure.
Missouri 76, Utah State 65
Missouri (25-6) used a secondhalf scoring spurt from Kobe Brown to win its first NCAA Tournament game in 13 years, beating Utah State (26-9) in the South Region at Birmingham, Ala. Brown hit three three-pointers in a span of just over three minutes to fuel a 13-2 run. He finished with 19 points, and D’Moi Hodge had 23 for Missouri.