Thursday, March 15, 2012

NCAA East: Wildcats (K-State, That Is), Badgers Advance; Orangemen Hold Off Pesky UNC-Ashville; Zags, Buckeyes Also Advance

The East Region of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament commenced with six contests on Thursday.

At Pittsburgh:

In the first of four games at the Consol Energy Center, Rodney McGruder scored 30 points as the #8-seeded Kansas State Wildcats (22-10) held off the ninth-seeded Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (25-9) 70-64.


In the second contest, top-seeded Syracuse (32-2) survived a scare from sixteenth-seeded UNC-Ashville (24-10) 72-65. J. P. Primm scored 18 points for the Orangemen, who will get their shot at Kansas State on Saturday.


The opening match of the evening session saw the seventh-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs (26-6) dominate the tenth-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers (19-14) 77-54. Robert Sacre scored 14 points to pace the Zags.


In the nightcap, a 31-point, 12-rebound night from Deshaun Thomas carried the second-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes (28-7) to a 78-59 win over the Loyola (Maryland) Greyhounds (24-9).  The Buckeyes will face Gonzaga on Saturday.

At Albuquerque, New Mexico:

In the first of two contests at The Pit, the fourth-seeded Wisconsin Badgers (25-9) proved too much for the #13-seeded Montana Grizzlies (25-7) 73-49. Ryan Evans scored 18 points while Jordan Taylor added 17 (to go with his six assists and eight rebounds) for the Badgers.


In the second game, John Jenkins scored 27 points as the  fifth-seeded Vanderbilt Commodores (25-10) held off twelfth-seeded Harvard (26-5) 79-70.  Laurent Rivard scored 20 points to pace the Crimson, who made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1946.  The Commodores will face Wisconsin on Saturday.

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