UNDATED (AP) — It didn’t very long for the NCAA Tournament to provide its first major upset, this one involving a No. 2 seed.
No. 15 Oral Roberts has played itself into the second round with a 75-72 overtime win against Big Ten power Ohio State. Kevin Obanor scored seven of Oral Roberts’ 11 points in overtime, including two free throws with 13 seconds left. Obanor finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds, while Max Abmas had 29 points.
There were a few other surprises as the top 64 got underway:
— Javion Hamlet scored 24 points and Thomas Bell had 16, along with some game-changing defense in overtime to lead 13th seed North Texas to a 78-69 win over No. 4 Purdue. Hamlet did most of his damage during a pair of 8-0 personal runs in the second half, each of which stopped the Boilermakers’ momentum in its tracks.
— Roman Silva scored 16 points and No. 12 Oregon State took advantage of Tennessee’s icy perimeter shooting to beat the fifth-seeded Vols, 70-56. The 7-foot-1 Silva bulled his way through the Vols for an 8-for-8 night after struggling in the Pac-12 Tournament. Oregon State hit seven 3s in the second half to win their first NCAA Tournament game since reaching the 1982 Elite Eight.
— Buddy Boeheim hit seven 3-pointers and finished with 30 points as No. 11 Syracuse handled San Diego State, 78-62. Boeheim finished 7 of 10 from beyond the arc and 11 of 15 from the field. Marek Dolezaj added 11 points for the Orange, who held the Aztecs without a basket for a stretch of about 10 minutes.
In other Friday action:
— Kofi Cockburn muscled his way to 18 points as top seed Illinois cruised past Drexel, 78-49. Cockburn got loose for 10 straight Illinois points, capping his personal run with a slam off a flip from Ayo Dosunmu. Dosunmu had 17 points for the Illini, who closed the first half on a 31-13 run.
— MaCio Teague scored 22 point and top-seeded Baylor shook off a slow-as-molasses start to roll to a 79-55 victory over Hartford. Jared Butler chipped in 13 points, nine assists and four boards for the Bears, who were coming off a loss in the Big 12 semifinals. Davion Mitchell and Adam Flagler each had 12 points to help Baylor advance.
— No. 5 Villanova pulled out a 73-63 win over Winthrop as Jeremiah Robinson-Earl delivered 22 points and 12 rebounds. Robinson-Earl delivered when the Wildcats needed him, making four free throws that launched a 9-0 run to give Villanova its biggest lead at 60-47. Villanova (17-6) had lost both games since senior point guard and Big East co-player of the year Connor Gillespie tore a ligament in his left knee during the Wildcats’ victory over then-No. 14 Creighton on March 3.
— Mac McClung scored 16 points in his first career NCAA Tournament game and Kyler Edwards added 12 to help sixth-seeded Texas Tech pull away from Utah State, 65-53. Terrence Shannon Jr. changed the game by scoring eight of his 10 points during the decisive 13-0 run early in the second half to make it 38-31 for the Red Raiders.
— Rutgers earned its first NCAA Tournament victory in 38 years as Geo Baker scored 13 points, including the decisive layup with 10 seconds left to push the 10th-seeded Scarlet Knights past No. 7 Clemson 60-56. Baker scored the final five points after Rutgers wasted much of an 11-point lead. Jacob Young and Caleb McConnell both added 13 points and Ron Harper Jr. added 10 points.
— Miles McBride scored 18 of his 30 points after halftime to help third seed West Virginia pull away in an 84-67 victory against Morehead State. The 6-foot-2 sophomore finished 11 for 17 from the floor with six rebounds and six assists, helping coach Bob Huggins post his 900th career victory.
— Tre Mann hit a step-back 3-pointer with 23 seconds left in overtime to help No. 7 Florida hold off Virginia Tech, 75-70. Colin Castleton scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Gators, and Mann finished with 14 points.
— Lucas Williamson scored 21 points in a dynamic performance by the defensive whiz, guiding eighth-seeded Loyola Chicago to a 71-60 decision over Georgia Tech. Keith Clemons hit a 3-pointer that gave the Missouri Valley champs a 62-54 lead with 3 1/2 minutes to go, and Buddy Norris added another from the top of the key to make it 67-56 with just over 2 minutes left.
— Justin Smith had 29 points and 13 rebounds for 10th-ranked Arkansas in an 85-68 win against Colgate. The Razorbacks scored 19 straight points spanning halftime and collected 34 points off Colgate’s 22 turnovers.
— Brad Davison scored 29 points and Wisconsin negated North Carolina’s size advantage by draining 13 of 27 3-pointers in an 85-62 thumping of the Tar Heels. D’Mitrik Trice scored 21 points for the Badgers, who handed coach Roy Williams his first opening-round loss in 30 NCAA Tournament appearances.
— Avery Anderson III had a team-high 21 points and Cade Cunningham was productive down the stretch as fourth seed Oklahoma State pulled out a 69-60 decision over Liberty. Cunningham scored nine of his 15 points in the final minutes to help the Cowboys win its first tournament game since 2009. Anderson shot 8 of 14, including a three-point play with 10:25 remaining for a 50-44 lead.
— Quentin Grimes provided 18 points and Houston coach Kelvin Sampson tied John Wooden for 38th on the career victories list as No. 2 hammered 15th-seeded Cleveland State, 87-56. Sampson earned his 664th win in his first game at Assembly Hall since resigning as Indiana’s coach in February 2008. Tramon Mark added 15 points in place of DeJon Jarreau, who suffered a right hip injury early in the first half.
