The Latest on the NCAA Tournament (all times Eastern):9:04 p.m.Barry Brown scored 18 points, and ninth-seeded Kansas State led wire-to-wire to post a 69-59 victory over No. 8 Creighton on Friday night despite playing without leading scorer Dean Wade.Mike McGuirl added 17 points and Kamau Stokes had 11 as the Wildcats reached the final 32 in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. Wade had been expected to play after suffering a stress fracture in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament, but never saw the floor.His teammates picked him up, particularly on defense.Creighton came into the game ranked 10th in scoring in Division I at 84.3 points per game but tied a season-low with 59 points after shooting 33.8 percent from the field, including 26 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.Leading scoring Marcus Foster, who spent two seasons at Kansas State, was held scoreless for the first 28 1/2 minutes and finished with five points on 2-of-11 shooting.—8:45 p.m.The Xavier Musketeers are looking every bit of a No. 1 seed thanks to senior guards J.P. Macura and Trevon Bluiett.Macura scored 18 points and Bluiett added 17 as the Musketeers took a 49-37 lead into halftime over No. 16 seed Texas Southern. Macura took care of the scoring early, hitting seven of his first eight shots, including all four beyond the arc. He scored 15 points during a 21-2 run by the Musketeers as Xavier responded to falling behind 20-13. Macura capped the run with a 3 putting Xavier up 34-22 with 7:12 left.Bluiett scored seven down the stretch, including his third 3-pointer for a 49-29 lead with 1:39 left.But the Tigers, who won their first NCAA Tournament game in the First Four to advance, finished the half scoring the final eight points. Guard Demontrae Jefferson stole the ball for a layup that not only beat the buzzer but drew a foul. He hit the free throw to pull Texas Southern closer at halftime.– Teresa M. Walker reporting from Nashville, Tennessee—8:40 p.m.Auburn is trying to avoid becoming the second No. 4 seed to lose at San Diego State’s Viejas Arena in the NCAA Tournament.The Tigers are tied at 25 with College of Charleston at halftime of their Midwest Region matchup on Friday night.The Tigers are shooting horribly. They’ve made only 9 of 32 field goals for 28.1 percent, and have missed all 13 3-pointers.Charleston is shooting 40.7 percent and has rallied from an early deficit.The Cougars’ Grant Riller has 12 points and is the only player in double figures.In an East Region game earlier Friday at Viejas, No. 13 seed Marshall upset No. 4 seed Wichita State 81-75. Another No. 4, Arizona, lost Thursday night to Buffalo, bouncing the Pac-12 from the tournament.– Bernie Wilson reporting in San Diego.—8:09 p.m.The injury to Purdue center Isaac Haas changes the complexion of Sunday’s matchup between the Boilermakers and in-state rival Butler.Haas is out for the rest of the NCAA Tournament with an elbow injury.“Obviously the first thought goes out to Isaac and his family and Purdue and their program,” said Butler coach LaVall Jordan, whose team beat Arkansas immediately after Purdue’s win over Cal State Fullerton. “You hate that for anybody, but especially a senior and his last run, for that to take him out when they had a really good team, a really good chance to make a deep run.”That’s not to say the Boilermakers can’t go far without Haas. Backup Matt Haarms is actually an inch taller at 7-foot-3.“I think our mentality doesn’t change. It’s not like they’re going to play four guys,” Jordan said. “They have other players that are really good. We’ve got to be prepared for them.”– Noah Trister reporting from Detroit.—8:05 p.m.Looks like playing the nation’s toughest schedule has helped Texas Southern prepare for the NCAA Tournament.When No. 1 seed Xavier took a 13-4 lead, Texas Southern answered with an even bigger run of its own and reeled off the next 16 points hitting all five shots. Robert Lewis’ 3 capped the run and put the Tigers up 20-13 with 12:18 left in the first half.The Tigers played their first 13 games on the road to earn money for the SWAC program, and that schedule included visits to Gonzaga, Ohio State, Kansas, Clemson, Oregon and Baylor. Texas Southern lost all 13 of those games. But coach Mike Davis says that schedule was planned to prepare his Tigers for March and the games that matter most.– Teresa M. Walker reporting from Nashville, Tennessee—8:05 p.m.Scrappy Bucknell is hanging right with third-seeded Michigan State through 20 minutes.In front of a partisan crowd of Spartans fans in Detroit, the Bison rallied from an 11-point deficit and actually took a 28-27 lead at one point, delighting the small but spirited group of Bucknell supporters in attendance.Michigan State leads 44-40 at halftime, but that’s not a huge margin considering the Spartans shot 59 percent from the field.Bucknell’s Zach Thomas has 20 points.– Noah Trister reporting from Detroit.—7:46 p.m.No Wade? No problem for Kansas State.The ninth-seeded Wildcats lead No. 8 seed Creighton 32-26 at halftime despite playing without leading scorer Dean Wade, who spent all 20 minutes sitting on the bench cheering on his teammates.Dean suffered a stress fracture in his left foot in the Big 12 Conference tournament, but coach Bruce Weber said earlier this week that he expected Wade to be ready for the first round.Wade is suited up and does not have a protective boot on his foot.He is averaging 16.7 points per game.—7:45 p.m.The Texas Southern Tigers started the season losing their first 13 games. They’re in Nashville for their first-round game trying to see if they can extend their eight-game winning streak by doing something that’s never been done.Knock off a top seed as a No. 16 seed.The Tigers of the Southwestern Athletic Conference won the first NCAA Tournament game in the program’s history Wednesday night knocking off North Carolina Central in the First Four in Dayton.They tip off against Xavier, which is playing its first game ever as a No. 1 seed, in the first round of the West Region.– Teresa M. Walker reporting from Nashville, Tennessee.—7:23 p.m.Creighton’s Marcus Foster was struggling in the first half against his former team, Kansas State. The senior guard was 0 for 3 from the field and had yet to score as the eighth-seeded Bluejays trailed 25-16 to the ninth-seeded Wildcats with 4:36 left in the first half.Foster spent two seasons at Kansas State before being kicked off the team for disciplinary reasons in 2015.He transferred to Creighton, where has played the last two seasons after sitting out a year. He’s the team’s leading scorer this season with 20.3 points per game.—7:05 p.m.Nevada coach Eric Musselman was pumped up after his team beat Texas in overtime in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and his locker room speech that was broadcast live ended up being rated PG-13.The CBS/Turner cameras caught Musselman three times, twice loud and clear, dropping an obscenity while excitedly congratulating his team. After the third time, the cameras cutaway.Musselman then opened his postgame news conference by apologizing for his language.—6:50 p.m.Caleb Martin made three clutch 3-pointers in overtime for Nevada and the seventh-seeded Wolf Pack came from behind to force overtime and then beat 10th-seeded Texas 87-83 in the East Regional.Nevada erased a double-digit second-half lead by the Longhorns and fouled out Texas star Mo Bamba at the end of regulation.Martin made the biggest shots, but Nevada could not miss, going 6 for 6 in OT and scoring 19 points. The Wolf Pack advance to the second round against No. 2 seed Cincinnati by earning its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2007.Meanwhile, Texas coach Shaka Smart fell to 2-6 in the NCAA Tournament, including his time at VCU, since a Final Four run in 2013.—6:40 p.m.West Virginia did its part and has set up one crazy Mountain State showdown way out on the West Coast.The fifth-seeded Mountaineers ousted No. 12 seed Murray State 85-68 in the first round of the East Region. The victory sets up a round of 32 matchup with in-state rival Marshall on Sunday. The 13th-seeded Thundering Herd upset No. 4 seed Wichita State earlier Friday.West Virginia’s do-everything star Jevon Carter led the way with 21 points and seven assists. Carter was also part of a tremendous defensive effort on Murray State standout Jonathan Stark. Stark entered the game averaging 21.8 points per game but was held to nine points on 1-of-12 shooting.Terrell Miller led the Racers with 27 points. The Racers had won 13 straight entering the NCAAs, the second-longest win streak in the country.– Tim Booth reporting from San Diego.—More AP college basketball: https://collegebasketball.ap.org ; https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 and https://www.podcastone.com/ap-sports-special-events
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