Duke hangs on in March Madness; Butler upsets
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Marshall Plumlee ditched the mask guarding his broken nose and responded by scoring a career-high 23 points to lead defending national champion Duke past UNC Wilmington 93-85 on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Plumlee had 10 of his points and two blocks as the Blue Devils stepped up the defensive pressure early in the second half to build a lead after trailing at the break.
Duke (24-10), seeded fourth in the West, will next play Yale or Baylor. UNCW (25-8), seeded 13th, was in it until the closing moments after Plumlee and Matt Jones fouled out.
Grayson Allen also scored 23 points for the Blue Devils, but 15 came from the foul line as he shot just 4 of 12 from the field. Brandon Ingram added 20.
Craig Ponder led UNCW with 22 points. Chris Flemmings had 18, Denzel Ingram 17 and C.J. Bryce 16.
Butler tops Texas Tech 71-61
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Kelan Martin scored all 11 of his points in the final 8 1/2 minutes, including consecutive 3-pointers to break a tie game, to help Butler beat Texas Tech 71-61 in Thursday's first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Kellen Dunham scored 23 points to lead the Bulldogs (22-10), including a critical 3 of his own with 2:26 left as the Midwest Region's No. 9 seed finally pulled away in the final minutes. Butler shot 52 percent after halftime, using some NCAA Tournament experience to rally from an early eight-point deficit and finally push ahead midway through the second half.
Devaugntah Williams scored 18 points to lead the eighth-seeded Red Raiders (19-13), who were making their first tournament appearance since 2007. But Texas Tech made just 2 of 9 shots to close the game as Butler began to take over in the critical moments.
UConn comes back, beats Colorado 74-67
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Rodney Purvis, Daniel Hamilton and a stifling defense carried Connecticut back from an 11-point first-half deficit, giving the Huskies enough for a 74-67 first-round victory over Colorado that kept coach Kevin Ollie unbeaten in the NCAA Tournament.
Purvis scored 15 of his 19 points after halftime, Daniel Hamilton had 17 points and 10 rebounds and the No. 9 seed Huskies (25-10) advanced to the second round of the South Region.
Josh Scott had 23 points and 11 rebounds for the No. 8 Buffaloes (22-12), finishing 0-3 in the NCAA Tournament in his career. He had five of Colorado's 11 misses in 30 free-throw attempts, aiding UConn's comeback.
Iowa State over Iona 94-81
DENVER -- Monte Morris showed no lingering effects of his right shoulder injury, scoring 20 points and dishing out eight assists in Iowa State's 94-81 win over Iona in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
Georges Niang's 28 points led the No. 3 seed Cyclones (22-11), who saw all five of their starters score in double figures. They will play either Purdue or Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday at the Pepsi Center.
Less than 24 hours after declaring he'd never felt better, Morris went out and proved it. Abdel Nader added 19 points, Matt Thomas had 14 and Jameel McKay 11 for the Cyclones.
A.J. English led 14th-seeded Iona (22-11) with 28 points and Jordan Washington scored 26.
Oh, and for those keeping track at home - or elsewhere - the 175 total points did surpass the over/under line in Vegas: 165.5.