McCain’s big day fuels Duke’s rout
NEW YORK — Jared McCain scored 22 of his 30 points in the first half and set a Duke record for an NCAA Tournament game with eight 3-pointers as the Blue Devils ended 12th-seeded James Madison’s dream season with a 93-55 second-round victory Sunday.
The fourth-seeded Blue Devils (26-8) are headed to the Sweet 16 to face the winner of Houston-Texas A&M in the South Region semifinals Friday in Dallas.
McCain and Duke emphatically ended the nation’s longest active winning streak at 14 games, taking a 22-point lead into halftime and never letting the advantage slip below 20 in the second half. The rugged defense JMU used to beat Wisconsin in the first round didn’t seem to bother Duke at all.
The Dukes (32-4) finished with a program record for victories. Terrence Edwards Jr. led JMU with 13 points.
MARQUETTE 81 COLORADO 77
Tyler Kolek had 21 points and 11 assists, and David Joplin made two free throws with 7.4 seconds left to help the Golden Eagles finally put away the Buffaloes on Sunday in Indianapolis.
In their third season under former Texas coach Shaka Smart, secondseeded Marquette (27-9) reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2013 by outlasting 10th-seeded Colorado (26-11) and its dynamic offense.
Kam Jones scored 18 points and Joplin finished with 14 for Marquette, which shot 61.8% from the field but still couldn’t shake Colorado until the closing seconds. Chase Ross made a tiebreaking 3-pointer off a pass from Kolek with 2:53 left and finished with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
NORTH CAROLINA ST. 79 OAKLAND 73 (OT)
DJ Burns Jr. scored 24 points, including a goahead putback that ignited a 9-0 run in overtime, and the 11th-seeded Wolfpack beat the 14th-seeded Golden Grizzlies on Saturday night in Pittsburgh.
North Carolina State (24-14) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015 by finally pulling away from 3-point specialist Jack Gohlke and Oakland (24-12) in the extra period.
N.C. State will face Marquette on Friday in the South Region semifinals.