Princeton uses late run to stun Arizona
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 Pac12 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.
Missouri used a secondhalf 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 over three minutes to fuel a 13-2 run that turned a two-point deficit into a 62-53 lead.
JP Pegues made a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining, and No. 13 seed Furman completed a rally from a 12-point secondhalf deficit to hand fourthseeded Virginia another first-round loss.
Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (287) advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will play fifthseeded San Diego State on Saturday.
Matt Bradley scored 17 points, including two free throws in the final minute, and No. 5 seed San Diego State held on to beat 12thseeded Charleston.
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 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.
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.
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.
Boo Buie scored 22 points to lead Northwestern past Boise State in the Wildcats’ second appearance ever in the NCAA Tournament.
Jeremy Roach matched his career high with 23 points, and No. 5 seed Duke beat Oral Roberts in the school’s first NCAA Tournament game since Jon Scheyer took over as the Blue Devils’ coach.
Johni Broome had 19 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots, and Auburn beat Iowa. The ninthseeded Tigers (21-12) made 11 of 12 free throws over the final four minutes to lock up a second-round matchup with No. 1 seed Houston or Northern Kentucky.
Sir’jabari Rice scored 23 points and No. 2 seed Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate.
Rice made five of his seven 3-pointers in the first half, helping the Longhorns get off to a fast start.