NCAA West: Zags, WVU, Northwestern, Xavier, Seminoles, Gaels, Fighting Irish, Zona Advance To Round of 32

The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament's Round of 64 commenced on Thursday with 16 games, eight of them in the East Region.

At Key Bank Arena, Buffalo, New York:

The fifth-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish (26-9), with Bonzie Coleman scoring 18 points, defeated 12th-seeded Princeton (23-7) 60-85, snapping the Tigers' 19-game winning streak.



Tarik Phillip scored 16 points while Nathan Adrian added 12 (to go with his 10 rebounds) as the fourth-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers (27-8) defeated the 13th-seeded Bucknell Bison (26-9) 86-80.

Kimbal Mackenzie paced the Bison with 23 points.



At Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah:

Jordan Matthews scored 16 points to carry the top-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs (33-1) to a 66-46 victory over the sixteenth-seeded South Dakota State Jackrabbits (18-17).

Bryant McIntosh scored 25 points (two of them on a pair of clutch free throws with 14. 6 seconds remaining) as the eighth-seeded Northwestern Wildcats (24-11), in their NCAA Tourney debut, held off the ninth-seeded Vanderbilt Commodores (19-16) 68-66.

Matthew Fisher-Davis scored 14 of his Commodores-leading 22 points in the second half, but he committed an inexplicable foul that allowed Mr. McIntosh to sink those free throws in the final seconds. 



Jock Landale scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the seventh-seeded Saint Mary's Gaels (29-4) got the better of the tenth-seeded Virginia Commonwealth Rams (26-9) 85-77, offsetting a 30-point performance from VCU's JeQuan Lewis.



 In the final Thursday West Region match in SLC, Lauri Markkanen and Rawle Alkins each scored 20 points as the second-seeded Arizona Wildcats (31-4) ruined the NCAA Tourney debut of fifteenth-seeded North Dakota (22-10) 100-82.

Quinton Hooker scored 25 points while Drick Bernstine added 20 (to go with his ten rebounds) to pace the Fighting Hawks.


At Amway Center, Orlando, Florida:

In the first of two games in Orlando, Trevon Bluiett scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half as the eleventh-seeded Xavier Musketeers (22-13) knocked off the sixth-seeded Maryland Terrapins (24-9) 76-65.

In the nightcap, Dwayne Bacon scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds as the third-seeded Florida State Seminoles (26-8) held off the 14th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (26-8) 86-80.

Brandon Goodwin paced FGCU with 28 points.