NCAA Latest: Xavier starting to pull away from Florida St.
By The Associated Press, Associated Press
Mar 18, 2018 8:13 PM CDT
Cincinnati forward Kyle Washington (24) stands on the court as the Nevada team celebrates during the end of the second half of a second-round game in the NCAA college basketball tournament in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 18, 2018. Nevada defeated Cincinnati 75-73. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)   (Associated Press)

The Latest on the second round of the NCAA Tournament (all times Eastern):

9:10 p.m.

Top-seeded Xavier is starting to put some space between the Musketeers and Florida State.

After swapping the lead six times, Xavier took the lead on a 3-pointer by Paul Scruggs. That was the first of 8 straight points by the top-seeded Musketeers, and Scruggs capped the spurt with a layup giving Xavier the biggest lead of the first half with 10:20 left.

Scruggs' layup put Xavier up 22-15.

Xavier routed Florida State in the second round a year ago, also in the West Region, with a 91-66 victory.

— Teresa M. Walker reporting from Nashville, Tennessee.

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8:55 p.m.

Call them the Fallen Four.

The top four seeds in the South Region — No. 1 Virginia, No. 2 Cincinnati, No. 3 Tennessee and No. 4 Arizona — have all been eliminated on the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

The NCAA says that it is the first time in tourney history that none of a region's top four seeds will make the Sweet 16.

Fifth-seeded Kentucky, seventh-seeded Nevada and 11th-seeded Loyola-Chicago are already on their way to Atlanta for the South Region semifinals. That trio will be joined by either ninth-seeded Kansas State or UMBC. The Retrievers made history as the first No. 16 seed to beat a top seed.

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8:50 p.m.

Top-seeded Xavier and ninth-seeded Florida State have the challenge of trying to follow up one of the biggest comebacks in NCAA Tournament history.

If the opening minutes are any indication, they appear up to the task.

Florida State opened the game scoring the first five points and jumped out to an 8-2 lead. Xavier, a No. 1 seed for the first time in program history, quickly answered with eight straight points. Kerem Kanter has seven point helping Xavier take a 12-11 lead with 15:06 left in the first half.

Xavier is trying to reach the Sweet 16 for a second straight year and seventh in the past 11 years.

Florida State hasn't been there since 2011.

The winner plays Gonzaga in Los Angeles in the West Region semifinal.

— Teresa M. Walker reporting from Nashville, Tennessee.

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8:30 p.m.

Nevada's comeback win against Cincinnati is going into the record book.

The seventh-seeded Wolf Pack rallied from 22 points down to beat No. 2 seed Cincinnati 75-73 to advance to the Sweet 16. The NCAA says that it ties the second-biggest comeback in tournament history, behind BYU's rally from 25 down to beat Iona in the 2012 First Four.

Duke also won after trailing by 22 after beating Maryland in the 2001 Final Four.

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8:25 p.m.

Kansas State has found its groove and taken its first lead in its second round game against 16th-seeded UMBC.

The Wildcats needed 11 trips down the court to get on the scoreboard and cut UMBC's lead to 10-2. From there, Kansas State settled down and reeled off a 7-0 run to go up 15-14. Kansas State has yet to his a 3-pointer and has missed all six attempts.

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8:15 p.m.

The Nevada Wolf Pack just keeps digging out of deep holes. And now they're on their way to Nevada's first Sweet 16 since 2004.

The seventh-seeded Wolf Pack trailed this time by 22 before an amazing comeback.

Josh Hall hit a short jumper with 9.1 seconds left to give Nevada its only lead of the game at 75-73, and No. 2 seed Cincinnati couldn't get a shot off before the clock expired sending the Wolf Pack celebrating and hugging on the court.

Nevada trailed by 14 in the second half of their first-round game when they forced overtime and beat Texas.

Cincinnati was the highest remaining seed left in the South Region after a string of upsets, and now the Bearcats are the latest to go down.

Now Nevada will play another surprising team in Loyola-Chicago in the South Region semifinals Thursday in Atlanta.

— Teresa M. Walker reporting from Nashville, Tennessee.

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8:15 p.m.

Kansas State coach Bruce Weber left the door open on leading scoring Dean Wade playing against UMBC, but so far the 6-foot-10 junior has not seen the floor near the midway point of the first half.

Wade is dealing with a stress fracture in his foot and has missed the Wildcats' last two games.

Meanwhile, UMBC has shown no signs of a letdown after their historic upset of No. 1 Virginia, jumping out to a 12-6 lead with 11 minutes left in the first half.

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8:10 p.m.

Clemson is running its way to the Sweet 16.

The Tigers closed the first half on a 30-6 run and have a 43-19 lead over No. 4 seed Auburn at halftime of their second-round game in the Midwest Region. Elijah Thomas has 11 points and Marcquise Reed has 10 to lead Clemson.

Auburn simply couldn't make shots. The Tigers closed the half missing 18 straight shots and 20 of its final 21 attempts in the half.

Auburn didn't make a basket the final 10:33 of the half with all six points coming at the free throw line. Auburn shot just 18 percent in the first half.

Clemson normally plays at a slow pace but outscored Auburn 10-0 on fastbreak points and had a 22-2 advantage on points in the paint.

—Tim Booth reporting from San Diego.

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7:55 p.m.

Nevada went on a 16-0 run to get back into the game, but Cincinnati is trying to hold on by controlling the boards. The Bearcats were up by just three points with about 3 1/2 minutes left.

Second-seeded Cincinnati ended a long drought by converting a pair of putbacks. The Bearcats were outrebounding seventh-seeded Nevada 41-26 and outscoring the Wolf Pack 20-3 in second-chance points.

But don't count out Nevada just yet.

Nevada trailed by 14 in the second half of their first-round game when they forced overtime and beat Texas.

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7:42 p.m.

Nevada may have dug itself too deep a hole to pull off another comeback.

Cincinnati opened the second half on an 11-3 run and has extended its lead over Nevada to 59-41 with 14:16 remaining. Nevada's Cody Martin exemplified the Wolf Pack's frustrations when he picked up a technical foul early in the second half.

—Steve Megargee reporting from Nashville, Tennessee

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7:40 p.m.

UMBC entered the Spectrum Center on Sunday night with long-sleeve warm-up jerseys that had "Unleash Chaos" on the front and "Shock the World" written on the back.

UMBC became the first No. 16 seed to beat a 1 seed on Friday night when it toppled Virginia, the nation's top-ranked team in the biggest upset in college basketball history.

The Retrievers face Kansas State in the second round.

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7:27 p.m.

Defending national champion North Carolina is done in the NCAA Tournament.

Seventh-seeded Texas A&M dominated the second-seeded Tar Heels in an 86-65 win to advance to the Sweet 16.

The Aggies controlled the boards and held Carolina to a paltry 19 percent shooting from 3-point range.

Texas A&M won in Tar Heel-friendly country in Charlotte. It was North Carolina's first NCAA loss in Charlotte after winning their first 12 games there.

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7:12 p.m.

Texas A&M is cruising against North Carolina in Charlotte.

The Aggies have maintained a 20-point lead for much of the last few minutes in the second half of their second-round game in the NCAA Tournament.

The Tar Heels will need a miraculous comeback to earn another shot to get back to the Final Four.

North Carolina is shooting a paltry 4 of 28 from 3-point range with about 4 1/2 minutes to go. Texas A&M is shooting 49 percent overall from the floor.

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7:10 p.m.

Two football powerhouses have tipped off with a spot in the Sweet 16 at stake.

Clemson and Auburn sounds more like a matchup in the College Football Playoff than a second-round game in the NCAA Tournament. But the schools are meeting with the winner facing No. 1 seed Kansas in the regional semifinals.

Clemson, the No. 5 seed, pulled away from 12th-seeded New Mexico State in the first round. No. 4 seed Auburn held off a challenge from 13th-seeded Charleston to advance.

Clemson was last in the regional semifinals in 1997. The last time Auburn was in the Sweet 16 was 2003.

—Tim Booth reporting from San Diego.

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7:05 p.m.

Jacob Evans III has 15 points and Jarron Cumberland has 13 to give Cincinnati a 44-32 halftime lead over Nevada.

This marks the fifth straight game Nevada has trailed at halftime. Nevada has won two of those games so far.

Nevada will need a big second half from Caleb Martin, the star of its first-round overtime victory over Texas. Martin picked up two early fouls and has just two points.

In the Texas game, Martin scored 13 points in the second half and overtime.

—Steve Megargee reporting from Nashville, Tennessee

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6:45 p.m.

North Carolina is in big trouble.

They were down by 21 to Texas A&M with about 12 minutes left in the second-round game in Charlotte.

The Tar Heels are off from the 3-point line, shooting just 2 of 22. They've got a lot of work to do if they want to make a third straight Final Four.

The Aggies shooting 49 percent from the field.

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6:30 p.m.

Cincinnati's Jarron Cumberland continues his torrid NCAA Tournament performance. He was on a triple-double pace about 8 ½ minutes into the game with 11 points, three rebounds and three assists.

Cumberland's production has staked Cincinnati to a 27-12 lead over Nevada. The Bearcats are known for their stingy defense, but their offense is sizzling so far as they've shot 10 of 15 overall and 4 of 5 from 3-point range.

—Steve Megargee reporting from Nashville, Tennessee

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6:22 p.m.

North Carolina must come back from a double-digit deficit if it wants to make a third straight Final Four.

The Tar Heels trail Texas A&M 42-28 at halftime in Charlotte, though it isn't UNC's biggest halftime deficit. That came when the Tar Heels trailed by 16 at Clemson before making a second-half comeback that fell short in an 82-78 loss.

The Aggies' defense frustrated the Tar Heels, who also missed plenty of good looks. UNC shot 33 percent and made just 1 of 13 from behind the 3-point arc.

North Carolina also got a combined nine points from starters Theo Pinson, Kenny Williams and Cameron Johnson.

The Aggies shot 50 percent and took a 25-18 rebounding advantage.

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6:20 p.m.

Nevada coach Eric Musselman has already needed to call two timeouts in the first 4 ½ minutes as Cincinnati has grabbed an 18-4 lead over the Wolf Pack.

Nevada will have to try to erase a 14-point deficit for the second straight game. Nevada staged a dramatic rally Friday to beat Texas 97-93 in overtime after trailing by 14 early in the second half.

Jarron Cumberland has eight points and Kyle Washington has six for Cincinnati. Nevada has missed its first four 3-point attempts.

—Steve Megargee reporting from Nashville, Tennessee —Steve Megargee reporting from Nashville, Tennessee

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5:55 p.m.

Texas A&M has regrouped from a slow start with a 12-0 run to take a 25-20 lead on North Carolina.

The Tar Heels led 20-13 but missed their next six shots, while 6-foot-10 forward Tyler Davis scored three times inside to get the Aggies going during the current burst.

UNC's Luke Maye had six quick rebounds for the Tar Heels, but picked up two fouls.

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