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NCAA Tournament roundup: Iowa rallies past Cincinnati | TribLIVE.com
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NCAA Tournament roundup: Iowa rallies past Cincinnati

Associated Press
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AP
Iowa’s Luka Garza (55) drives past Cincinnati’s Keith Williams in the second half during a first-round NCAA Tournament game Friday, March 22, 2019, in Columbus, Ohio.

Iowa kept up the Big Ten’s blitz through its first six games in the NCAA Tournament.

Luka Garza scored 20 points, Jordan Bohannon made a three-point play during the Hawkeyes’ closing surge, and the No. 10 seed in the South Region kept its league unblemished by rallying for a 79-72 victory over No. 7 seed Cincinnati on Friday.

Win by win, the league is backing up its brag.

“We’ve been saying all year long that it’s the most competitive league in the country, top-to-bottom,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “And you sort of expect Big Ten coaches to make those kinds of statements, but the reality is we actually believe it.

“And so I think it’s proving it.”

Count the Bearcats as the latest believers.

Cincinnati (28-7) won the American Athletic’s tournament and had the league’s player of the year in Jarron Cumberland. The Bearcats also had what amounted to a homecourt advantage, with Nationwide Arena packed with fans that made the two-hour drive up Interstate 71.

None of it could stop the Big Ten’s tournament landslide.

“It’s tough,” said Cincinnati point guard Justin Jenifer, who had a career-high 19 points. “I didn’t picture that we were going to lose this game today.”

After trailing most of the way, the Hawkeyes (23-11) rallied late for their first NCAA Tournament win in four years . Bohannon’s big play with 1 minutes, 7 seconds left put Iowa up 73-64, and the league’s most accurate foul shooter made one of two with 18 seconds left to help finish off another shining Big Ten moment.

“That shows how powerful and strong this conference was,” Bohannon said.

The league sent eight teams into the field, the most in its history, and five won their opening games Thursday. Iowa was the first of three playing Friday along with Ohio State and Wisconsin.

Texas Tech 72, Northern Kentucky 57 — Jarrett Culver had 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to help No. 3 seed Texas Tech shake off a slow start.

Tariq Owens scored 12 points, and Davide Moretti had 10 for Texas Tech (27-6), which had won nine straight games to share the Big 12 regular-season title before losing to lowly West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals. That left them with an eight-day layoff.

It showed early on against Northern Kentucky (26-9), which got 23 points from Tyler Sharpe and 11 from Dantez Walton while giving the Red Raiders everything they could handle in the West Region.

The Norse were still within 34-31 on Sharpe’s three foul shots with 18:06 left, despite leading scorer and Horizon League player of the year Drew McDonald unable to get on track.

Oklahoma 95, Mississippi 72 — Nine days off, a few good practices and shootarounds, and suddenly Oklahoma looks like a new team.

The ninth-seeded Sooners used a balanced attack, with four players scoring at least 18 points, to beat Mississippi.

It was a start more often seen by Oklahoma’s high-octane football team. The Sooners (20-13) scored on eight of their first nine possessions — the only miss was an alley-oop — and led 12-0 less than three minutes in.

Oklahoma didn’t let up. The Sooners led by 17 at halftime, and their 95 points were the most this season.

“The ball felt good today,” said Christian James, who along with Rashard Odomes led Oklahoma with 20 points each.

The Sooners weren’t expected to be in the tournament after losing one-and-done phenom Trae Young, now playing for the Atlanta Hawks. They lost five in a row in the middle of the season, went 4-8 in their final 12 games and lost the Big 12 Tournament opener to West Virginia (15-20).

Buffalo 91, Arizona State 74 — Jeremy Harris and Nick Perkins each scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds to help lead No. 6 seed Buffalo past No. 11 Arizona State in the West Region.

CJ Massinburg had 18 points and six rebounds for Buffalo (32-3), which won its 13th straight game.

Zylan Cheatham scored 22 points and had eight rebounds before fouling out with 2:06 remaining for Arizona State (23-11). Romello White and Luguentz Dort each added 12 points.

Arizona State trailed 44-31 at halftime and pulled within nine early in the second half before Buffalo’s 7-0 run pushed its lead to 16 with 16:13 remaining. The Bulls’ advantage never fell below 14 the rest of the way.

Virginia 71, Gardner-Webb 56 — No. 1 seed Virginia rallied from 14 points down to beat No. 16 seed Gardner-Webb and avert another first-round exit as a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Cavaliers trailed 30-16 with 6:42 left in the first half of the South Region opener but rallied and cut the Runnin’ Bulldogs (23-12) lead to six at halftime.

Virginia (30-3) then opened the second half with a 25-5 run to put to rest any thoughts of an upset. The Cavaliers used their trademark stifling defense to force 11 Gardner-Webb turnovers in the first 12 minutes after the break.

De’Andre Hunter led the Cavaliers with 23 points and Mamadi Diakite added 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting and nine rebounds.

Jose Perez scored 19 points for Gardner-Webb, which was playing in its first NCAA Tournament.

Last year the Cavaliers were the top seed in the tournament and lost by 20 to No. 16 seed Maryland Baltimore County.

Tennessee 77, Colgate 70 — Admiral Schofield had 19 points, and No. 2 seed Tennessee held off a second-half rally by No. 15 seed Colgate in the opening round.

Jordan Bone added 16 and Jordan Bowden 14 for Tennessee (30-5).

The Raiders (24-11) erased most of Tennessee’s 42-30 halftime lead with an 11-2 run, tied the score midway through the second half, and kept the game close after that.

Schofield hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Tennessee a cushion with 45 seconds left.

Jordan Burns had 32 points for Colgate, which played much of the game without leading scorer Rapolas Ivanauskas because of eye problems.

Houston 84, Georgia State 55 — It’s beginning to look like old times for Houston in the NCAA Tournament.

Corey Davis scored 26 points to help the third-seeded Cougars beat Georgia State in the Midwest Region.

After reaching the national final in 1984, Houston went more than three decades without winning an NCAA Tournament game. Now, the Cougars have tourney wins in back-to-back seasons and are starting to resemble the program that has five Final Four appearances and produced stars including Elvin Hayes, Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon.

Liberty 80, Mississippi State 76 — Caleb Homesley scored 22 of his 30 points in the second half and Lovell Cabbil hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:16 to play to send 12th-seeded Liberty to its first NCAA Tournament win in school history. The Flames were making their fourth tournament trip in school history, having lost twice as a No. 16 seed and once in the play-in game.

Duke 85, North Dakota State 62 — Zion Williamson scored 25 points and put on his own personal highlight show in top-seeded Duke’s victory over 16th-seeded North Dakota State in his first NCAA Tournament game. Williamson got the Blue Devils going after a sluggish first-half that saw them up just 31-27 on the Bison. But with Williamson rising high for dunks and jams, Duke overwhelmed North Dakota State and advanced to the second round.

Washington 78, Utah State 61 — Noah Dickerson had 20 points and 12 rebounds, and Washington made a successful return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight years, beating Utah State.

Eighth-seeded Utah State (28-7) had won 10 in a row and 17 of 18 while taking the Mountain West title. The Aggies got the highest seed in school history and were trying to end their own long NCAA Tournament drought. They haven’t won since 2002, dropping eight in a row — including 2006 against the Huskies

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