Karon Bradley hit a go-ahead, stepback jumper with about two minutes left while P.J. Couisnard followed with a big 3-pointer to help Wichita State beat Tennessee 80-73 Saturday in the second round of the Washington Regional.
The victory over the second-seeded Volunteers (22-8) marks Wichita State's first trip to the round of 16 since reaching a regional final 25 years ago.
Couisnard finished with 20 points on 6-for-7 shooting to lead the seventh-seeded Shockers (26-8), who used a late 7-0 spurt to break a 65-all tie. Wichita State next faces the winner of Sunday's George Mason-North Carolina game.
PHOTO: AP
Kyle Wilson added 17 points to help make up for an off day by first-round leaders Paul Miller and Sean Ogirri. Miller managed 10 points on 1-for-9 shooting. Ogirri scored 12 points after finishing with 23 in the first round.
Chris Lofton and C.J. Watson each scored 20 points to lead the Volunteers. Major Wingate finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and five blocks.
Washington 67, Illinois 64
At San Diego, Brandon Roy helped bring Washington back from an 11-point deficit in the second half and the Huskies made the regional semifinals for the second straight year.
Dee Brown and the fourth-seeded Fighting Illini (26-7) go home, coming up short of reaching the regionals for the third straight year. Illinois reached the national championship game last year before losing to North Carolina.
Roy scored 21 points, including five during an 18-7 run that brought the fifth-seeded Huskies (26-6) back from a 53-42 deficit with 12 1/2 minutes to play. Roy scored from inside to tie the game at 60 with 3:27 left, setting up a thrilling finish.
The Huskies await the winner of Sunday's game between Kentucky and Connecticut.
Duke 74, George Washington 61
At Greensboro, North Carolina, J.J. Redick had 20 points, Shelden Williams added 17 points and 14 rebounds and the No. 1 overall seed easily advanced to the round of 16.
Josh McRoberts got his second double-double of the season with 14 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, while fellow freshman Greg Paulus never got frazzled against the ever-changing, trapping defense used by the Colonials (27-3). He had six assists to go with 10 points.
Omar Williams had 14 points for the eighth-seeded Colonials, and Mike Hall added 13. Duke next plays LSU on Thursday night.
LSU 58, Texas A&M 57
At Jacksonville, Florida, Darrel Mitchell's long 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds capped a wild finish and gave the fourth-seeded Tigers the victory. Glen ``Big Baby'' Davis scored 21 points, including a key basket in the final minute. But it was Mitchell who saved the day after Texas A&M snapped a 55-55 tie with Acie Law's jumper over Mitchell's outstretched arms with 19.3 seconds left.
The victory sends LSU (25-8) to the regional semifinals against top-seed Duke (32-3) on Thursday night. It's the Tigers' first trip to the regional semifinals since 2000. Law led the 12th-seeded Aggies (22-9) with 15 points. Antanas Kavaliauskas added 12. Mitchell joined Davis in double figures for LSU with 16.
Florida 82, UW-Milwaukee 60
At Jacksonville, Florida, Corey Brewer scored 23 points, Joakim Noah added 17 and the third-seeded Gators routed 11th-seeded Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Florida advanced to the semifinals of the Minneapolis Regional, the first time the team has escaped the opening weekend of the tourney since 2000. The last time the Gators (29-6) advanced to the round of 16, they went to the championship game before losing to Michigan State.
Adrian Tigert carried the Panthers (22-9) most of the way. He had 27 points on 11-of-13 shooting and eight rebounds. Florida next plays the winner of Sunday's game between Georgetown and Ohio State.
Boston College 69, Montana 56
At Salt Lake City, Craig Smith had 22 points and 16 rebounds, pulling down eight on offense and putting most of them back for easy layups as Boston College made it to the round of 16 for the first time since 1994.
Jared Dudley added 20 and Tyrese Rice was strong from the outside, making four of six 3-pointers and scoring 14 points.
Montana's Kevin Criswell had three points, 13 below his average, and BC held Andrew Strait to 11 points -- five below his average.
Boston College's last six appearances in the tournament had ended within the first two rounds. The Eagles await the winner of Sunday's Villanova-Arizona game.
Gonzaga 90, Indiana 80
At Salt Lake City, J.P. Batista had 20 points and nine rebounds, Erroll Knight had 11 points and Sean Mallon had a career game with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The victory got the third-seeded Bulldogs (29-3) out of the first weekend of the tournament for the first time since 2001. Davis, meanwhile, will head back and start packing his desk despite a super effort from the sixth-seeded Hoosiers (19-12).
Next up for Gonzaga is a game against UCLA in the Oakland Regional, which means another chance for Adam Morrison, who scored 14 points, to show he's the best player in the country, not Duke's J.J. Redick.
Robert Vaden led Indiana with 20 points.
UCLA 62, Alabama 59
At San Diego, Jordan Farmar scored 18 points, including five 3-pointers, Arron Afflalo had 13 points and Ryan Hollins 12, sending the Bruins to their first NCAA tournament regional since 2002.
No. 2 seed UCLA (29-6) will play third-seeded Gonzaga in Oakland, trying to get back to the Final Four for the first time since their 1995 national championship.
Ronald Steele scored 21 points for 10th-seeded Alabama (18-13), which had seven players available. Three players in uniform were walk-ons who didn't see action. Leading scorer Chuck Davis went down with a season-ending knee injury in January.
Twice in the final minute the Crimson Tide came within one point, but the Bruins had an answer.
Dwyane Wade scored 13 of his 15 points on free throws and Antoine Walker added 13 points off the bench Saturday to lead the Miami Heat to a 85-84 victory over the Chicago Bulls.
Wade who shot 59 percent in his last five games and averaged 34.4 points, shot 1-for-8 from the field and had 10 turnovers, but was 13-for-13 from the free throw line. Wade and Shaquille O'Neal had to battle through foul problems the entire game.
O'Neal finished with 13 points and five rebounds and Jason Williams added 12 points for Miami.
Trailing 81-77 with 4:59 left, Wade hit four three throws in a row to get the Heat within 82-81 with 3:59 left. After Andres Nocioni made 1-of-2 on the line, James Posey hit a 3 to give the Heat 84-83 lead with 2:59 left.
Luol Deng finished with 19 points.
Pistons 108, Bobcats 103
At Charlotte, North Carolina, Richard Hamilton scored 23 points to help Detroit hold off the Bobcats.
Detroit trailed for much of the game before taking the lead late in the third quarter. The Pistons went up by as many as 10 points midway through the fourth, but couldn't put the Bobcats away.
Charlotte used an 8-2 run to cut its deficit to 102-98 -- getting two pretty dunks from Gerald Wallace in the spurt -- but both teams went cold shortly after. Chauncey Billups hit a 3 with 3:43 to play to make it 105-98, and Bernard Robinson scored on a running layup right after for the Bobcats.
Primoz Brezec led the Bobcats with 20 points.
Nuggets 109, Hornets 94
At New Orleans, Carmelo Anthony scored 28 points and reserve Greg Buckner capped a 19-point performance with a pair of key 3-pointers to help Denver beat New Orleans.
Just as they've returned to New Orleans, playing before enthusiastic sellout crowds, the Hornets have ceased to look like a playoff team. The Hornets have lost a season-high eight straight games.
David West had 24 points and eight rebounds for New Orleans but got little help until it was too late.
Spurs 92, Rockets 77
At Houston, Tony Parker scored 23 points and Tim Duncan added 14 to help San Antonio keep pace with Dallas for the best record in the West.
The Spurs recovered from a sluggish start to match the Mavs' 52-14 record atop the Western Conference. Dallas plays at New Jersey on Sunday.
Yao Ming scored 20 points for the Rockets, the 13th straight time he's reached 20.
But Houston has lost four in a row for the first time since dropping seven straight in January and the latest losses are following the same pattern -- with Tracy McGrady sidelined with back trouble, Yao isn't getting enough help.
Bucks 97, Trail Blazers 93
At Milwaukee, Michael Redd scored 27 of his 33 points in the first half to help Milwaukee beat Portland.
The victory was Milwaukee's third straight at home, marking the Bucks (33-33) first three-game winning streak at the Bradley Center since Feb. 8-14.
Redd was 12-for-21 from the field and 7-for-8 from the free throw line. Charlie Bell added 14 points for the Bucks.
Darius Miles scored 26 points and Sebastian Telfair had 21 for the Trail Blazers.
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