Sundays NCAA Tournament Capsules
March 23rd, 2009 Posted in NCAA basketball news, NCAA college basketball(1) PITTSBURGH 84, (8) OKLAHOMA ST 76
DAYTON, Ohio Pittsburgh powered its way to a familiar place.
Sam Young, the Panthers poet in motion, scored 32 points and DeJuan Blair added another double-double as top-seeded Pittsburgh advanced to the round of 16 for the fifth time in eight years with an 84-76 win over Oklahoma State.
Pitt (30-4) will play Xavier in the East Regional semifinals in Boston on Thursday.
Obi Muonelo scored 19 points for the eighth-seeded Cowboys (23-12), who gave the Panthers all they could handle before losing their touch in the final minutes. Oklahoma State made 10 3-pointers in the first half but made only two of 12 from long range after halftime.
The Panthers, who played poorly and barely escaped a first-round upset against No. 16 seed East Tennessee State, showed a champions poise down the stretch.
The Cowboys tied it 74-74 with 2:42 left on an inside shot by Marshall Moses and the basket had the University of Dayton Arena fans, including some of Pitts Big East brethren from Louisville, thinking they might see the tournaments first No. 1 seed go down.
But Pitts pudgy point guard Levance Fields drove for a layup, and after OSUs James Anderson missed a 3-pointer, Fields dropped a 3 from up top to make it 79-74 with 1:27 left.
Byron Eatons two free throws got the Cowboys within 79-76 and it looked like Oklahoma State would get the ball back when Fields missed a long jumper and the ball caromed high in the air.
Blair, though, wanted it more.
The powerful 6-foot-7 forward rose up and snatched the board with his massive hands and dropped it off the glass to give Pitt an 81-76 lead with 40 seconds left.
Oklahoma State, which shot 63 percent in the first half, couldnt get another shot to fall and the Panthers put it away at the line.
After the final horn, there was little celebrating by Panthers, who calmly lined up to shake hands with the Cowboys.
(4) XAVIER 60, (12) WISCONSIN 49
BOISE, Idaho B.J. Raymond scored 15 points and Xavier finally broke through Wisconsins defense midway through the second half, pulling away to a 60-49 victory Sunday in the second round of the East Regional.
The Musketeers (27-7) struggled as the Badgers controlled the pace for the first 30 minutes, before Xavier pulled away with a 13-4 run and hung on to the lead from the foul line.
Wisconsin (20-13) kept Xavier off balance, but the tight defense wasnt quite enough to overcome 29 percent shooting. The Badgers were just 16-for-56 from the floor and made three of 20 3-point attempts.
Marcus Landry scored 18 and Trevon Hughes had 17 points for the Badgers.
MIDWEST REGIONAL
(3) KANSAS 60, (6) DAYTON 43
MINNEAPOLIS The long arms of Cole Aldrich forced the Dayton Flyers down for a rough landing.
Aldrich, the 6-foot-11 Kansas sophomore, posted a triple-double with 13 points, 20 rebounds and 10 blocked shots to lead the defending NCAA champions past the 11th-seeded Flyers 60-43 in the second round.
Shaquille ONeal set the NCAA tournament record with 11 blocks in a game for LSU in 1992. Shawn Bradley had 10 in 1991 for BYU. Aldrichs feat was, officially, the sixth triple-double in the history of the tournament.
Sherron Collins had 25 points to pace the Jayhawks (27-7), the No. 3 seed, which moved on to play the USC-Michigan State winner in the Midwest Region semifinals next Friday in Indianapolis.
(12) ARIZONA 71, (13) CLEVELAND STATE 57
MIAMI The new role as long shots seems to suit the Arizona Wildcats fine.
Seeded only 12th, the NCAA tournament perennials took an early 14-point lead and advanced to the round of 16 by beating upstart Cleveland State 71-57.
The Wildcats (21-13) are appearing in the tournament for the 25th year in a row, two shy of the record. But theyve never been seeded so low and drew criticism as undeserving of a berth.
Now theyre bound for the final 16 for the 12th time since 1988.
Nic Wise scored 21 points to lead four double-figure scorers for the Wildcats, who earned a trip the Midwest Regional semifinal in Indianapolis.
Bracket-busting Cleveland State, seeded 13th, finished 26-11.
(2) MICHIGAN STATE 74, (10) SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 69
MINNEAPOLIS An unexpected scoring binge from the Big Tens defensive player of the year propelled Michigan State to a familiar place.
Travis Walton scored a career-high 18 points to lift the second-seeded Spartans to a 74-69 victory over 10th-seeded USC, putting Michigan State in the round of 16 for the eighth time in 12 years.
Durell Summers added 11 points and eight rebounds for the Spartans (28-6), who have advanced to the regional semifinals more times in the last dozen years than any team besides Duke.
(1) LOUISVILLE 79, (9) SIENA 72
DAYTON, Ohio Terrence Williams had 24 points and 15 rebounds, rallying top-seeded Louisville in the final minutes for a 79-72 win over Siena in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Louisville (30-5) advanced to the round of 16 for the second straight year. The Cardinals will play 12th-seeded Arizona in the Midwest Regional on Friday in Indianapolis.
Siena (27-8) overcame a 12-point deficit in the second half and led by four before Williams took over, hitting 3s, getting rebounds and starting fast breaks with one-handed passes.
SOUTH REGIONAL
(3) SYRACUSE 78, (6) ARIZONA STATE 67
MIAMI With Syracuses season on the cusp of slipping away, Eric Devendorf picked the perfect time to be at his best.
Devendorf hit a pair of 3-pointers less than a minute apart to snuff out a big Arizona State rally, and the third-seeded Orange held on for a 78-67 win over the sixth-seeded Sun Devils in a South Regional second-round game.
Devendorf finished with 21 points for Syracuse (28-9), which moves on to play second-seeded Oklahoma (29-5) in Memphis on Friday, a spot in the regional final against either North Carolina or Gonzaga at stake for the winner.
Rihards Kuksiks scored a career-high 20 points, and Ty Abbott also finished with 20 for Arizona State (25-10), which struggled mightily against Syracuses zone and led for only 31 seconds all afternoon.
WEST REGIONAL
(3) MISSOURI 83, (6) MARQUETTE 79
BOISE, Idaho Freshman Kim English came off the bench with 5.5 seconds left and made two free throws for the hurting J.T. Tiller to lift Missouri to an 83-79 victory over Marquette in the NCAA tournament.
English, who scored 15 points during an amazing 4-minute stretch in the first half, spent most of the second on the bench. But when Tiller got hurt driving to the basket, Missouri took advantage of the college rule that allows a team to substitute anyone for the injured player to take the free throws.
English calmly sank them to finish with 17 points. And when Lazar Hayward stepped over the baseline on the ensuing inbounds pass, Marquette was forced to foul. Leo Lyons made two more free throws to ice the game and Missouri moved onto the West Regional semifinals to play Memphis.
