Chris Wright scored a career-high 27 points to lead the 11th-seeded Flyers to a 68-60 win over sixth-seeded West Virginia on Friday in the first round of the Midwest Regional.
Charles Little added 18 points for Dayton (27-7), which had been 1-13 against the Mountaineers coach, dating to Huggins’ days storming up and down the Cincinnati sideline.
Darryl Bryant had 21 points and Devin Ebanks added 14 points and 12 rebounds for West Virginia (23-12), which had won at least two games in the NCAA Tournament in each of its last four appearances.
Cleveland State 84, Wake Forest 69
MIAMI - Some 23 years later, Cleveland State still has a knack for first-round shockers in the NCAA Tournament.
The Vikings raced to an early 17-point lead Friday night and stunned one-time No. 1-ranked Wake Forest 84-69. The win was reminiscent of the Vikings’ only other appearance in the tournament in 1986, when they upset Indiana in the opening round.
The latest result wasn’t as big of a surprise as the win over Bob Knight. The Vikings (26-10) were seeded 14th then; they’re 13th in the Midwest region this year. On Sunday, they’ll play No. 12 Arizona.
No. 4 Wake Forest (24-7) lost in its first tournament game since 2005.
Siena 74, Ohio State 72 (2OT)
DAYTON, Ohio - Siena strikes again.
Ronald Moore hit a 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds left in the second overtime - from the identical spot he made one at the end of the first OT - as the Saints beat eighth-seeded Ohio State.
Moore’s two clutch shots advanced ninth-seeded Siena (27-7) into Sunday’s second round where the Saints will meet Louisville.
Louisville 74, Morehead State 54
DAYTON, Ohio - Louisville had a few early missteps, but uncoiled its full-court press in the second half and rolled to an easy victory over Morehead State.
With the win, No. 1 seeds improved to 100-0 against No. 16s since the tournament expanded in 1985. There have been a few close calls, and Morehead State (21-16) kept up for a half.
Samardo Samuels led Louisville (29-5) with 15 points.
Arizona 84, Utah 71
MIAMI - Nic Wise scored 21 of his 29 points in the second half, Chase Budinger added 20 and the 12th-seeded Wildcats proved they belonged in the field of 65.
Jordan Hill added 17 points and 13 rebounds for Arizona (20-13), which has been in the NCAAs 25 years in a row but hadn’t reached the second round since 2006.
Tyler Kepkay scored 19 points for Utah (24-10), which was 8-for-32 from 3-point range and matched a season-high with 20 turnovers. Lawrence Borha finished with 11 points for Utah, which got 10 points and 10 rebounds from Shaun Green.
Kyle Fogg scored 12 for Arizona.
Southern California 72, Boston College 55
MINNEAPOLIS - Taj Gibson had 24 points on 10-for-10 shooting from the field, sending the 10th-seeded Trojans to an easy win over the Eagles.
Dwight Lewis had 20 points and DeMar DeRozan added 18 points and nine rebounds for USC (22-12), which maintained the momentum from last week’s Pac-10 Tournament title and advanced to Sunday’s second round in the Midwest Regional.
Gibson’s perfect shooting was the second-best performance in NCAA Tournament history with a minimum 10 attempts, behind Kentucky’s Kenny Walker and his 11-for-11 in 1986.
Corey Raji led No. 7 seed Boston College (22-12) with 15 points.
Syracuse 59, Stephen F. Austin 44
MIAMI - Jonny Flynn scored 16 points, Rick Jackson and Arinze Onuaku each added 12 and the third-seeded Orange cruised past NCAA first-timer Stephen F. Austin.
Syracuse (27-9) ran out to a 20-4 lead, never letting the Southland Conference champions get anything going and will meet Arizona State in the second round.
Benson Akpan led Stephen F. Austin (24-8) with 12 points, with Nick Shaw adding 10. The Lumberjacks missed 12 of their first 13 shots, and didn’t connect from 3-point range until Walt Harris hit from the left wing with 11:25 remaining - on their 16th try from beyond the arc.
Arizona State 66, Temple 57
MIAMI - James Harden’s only basket, a 3-pointer with 4:02 left, helped the Sun Devils hold off Temple and reach 25 wins for the first time since 1975.
The Sun Devils’ scoring leader 1-for-8 and was held to nine points, less than half his average. Junior Derek Glasser scored a career-high 22 points and Jeff Pendergraph also had 22 for the Sun Devils, playing in the tournament for the first time since 2003.
Dionte Christmas scored 29 to lead Temple (22-12), which was eliminated in the opening round for the second year in a row.
Michigan State 77, Robert Morris 62
MINNEAPOLIS - Raymar Morgan scored 16 points and Goran Suton had 11 points and 17 rebounds as Michigan State bullied 15th-seeded Robert Morris.
Draymond Green added 16 points for the second-seeded Spartans (27-6), who were spotty during the Big Ten season thanks to Morgan's walking pneumonia and Suton's gimpy knees. They both looked fine on Friday night against the overmatched Colonials and the Spartans regained the form that led to convincing victories over Kansas, Oklahoma State and Texas earlier in the year.
WEST REGIONAL
Marquette 58, Utah State 57
BOISE, Idaho - Lazar Hayward scored 26 points and Marquette made 10 straight free throws down the stretch to beat Utah State in the first round of the West Regional.
Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews each scored 14 points for sixth-seeded Marquette (25-9), which blew a 14-point lead before rallying from a six-point deficit to win.
Jared Quayle led Utah State (30-5) with 18 points.
Hayward put Marquette ahead 52-51 on two free throws with 1:45 left, and the Golden Eagles led the rest of the way.
Missouri 78, Cornell 59
BOISE, Idaho - DeMarre Carroll scored all but two of his 13 points in the second half to help the third-seeded Tigers pull away from the plucky Big Red.
Leo Lyons finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers (29-6), the Big 12 Tournament champions who returned to the NCAAs for the first time in six years and will face Marquette in the second round.
Ryan Wittman led Ivy League champions Cornell (21-10) with 18 points.
East Regional
Pittsburgh 72, East Tennessee State 62
DAYTON, Ohio - DeJuan Blair had 27 points and 16 rebounds as the Panthers, playing their first game as a top seed, survived a frightful 40 minutes from East Tennessee State.
Pittsburgh (29-4) will play eighth-seeded Oklahoma State in the second round.
The Panthers had better improve if they want to go much further. They made 18 turnovers, struggled with ETSU’s end-to-end press and hardly looked like potential national champions.
Kevin Tiggs scored 21 for the Buccaneers (23-11), who shot just 31 percent but still had a chance to become the first No. 16 to down a No. 1 until the final two minutes.
Oklahoma State 77, Tennessee 75
DAYTON, Ohio - Byron Eaton found a clear path to the basket for a three-point play with 7.2 seconds left, sending the Cowboys to a scintillating victory over Tennessee.
Oklahoma State (23-11) will play top seed Pittsburgh in the second round.
Tyler Smith had a chance to win it for Tennessee (21-13), but his jumper from behind the arc hit the side of the rim and bounced up to the top of the backboard as the buzzer sounded. Smith led all scorers with 21 points.
Wisconsin 61, Florida State 59 (OT)
BOISE, Idaho - Trevon Hughes banked in a spinning shot over two defenders for a three-point play with 2 seconds left in overtime to lift Wisconsin (20-12) to an upset over Florida State.
Hughes, who had his hands full covering Seminoles star Toney Douglas all game, then capped the game by batting away Florida State’s desperation pass at the end.
Douglas finished with 26 points, not a single one of them easy, thanks to Hughes’ huge defensive work. Douglas’ 3-point shot with 1:16 left gave the Seminoles (25-10) a 59-56 lead but it wasn’t enough to prevent a loss in their first tournament appearance since 1998.
Jason Bohannon led Wisconsin with 16 points.
Xavier 77, Portland State 59
BOISE, Idaho - C.J. Anderson scored 14 points and Xavier shot 54 percent from the field to reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year.
The Musketeers (26-7) stifled Portland State’s usual barrage of 3-pointers and showed they could shoot from the outside, too, making eight of 19 tries.
Derrick Brown, B.J. Raymond and Dante Jackson added 13 points each as Xavier overwhelmed the Big Sky Conference champion Vikings.
