MIDWEST REGION

No. 11 Syracuse 57, No. 6 TCU 52

Forget the matchup between the Syracuse defense and TCU's offense. That was no contest.

The question was whether the Orange could score enough to take that smothering zone to another round.

"We just wanted to stay poised down the stretch," guard Frank Howard said. "We didn't want to get frustrated or start to force anything."

Howard's jumper with 1:27 remaining gave 11th-seeded Syracuse a five-point lead, and the Orange held on for a victory over sixth-seeded TCU on Friday night in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament. Marek Dolezaj scored 17 points before fouling out, and Syracuse imposed its will defensively.

The Orange (22-13) won for the second time in the tournament and advanced to face third-seeded Michigan State on Sunday.

TCU (21-12) is still without an NCAA Tournament victory since 1987, when coach Jamie Dixon was a player. This was the school's first appearance since 1998, and it was short-lived.

"We kind of made history this year getting in the tournament for the first time in 20 years," guard Kenrich Williams said. "I mean, I learned a lot on and off the court, learned a lot from my teammates, from the coaches."

There was little doubt who won the much-anticipated matchup between TCU's excellent offense and Syracuse's zone. The Horned Frogs were held 31 points below their season average.

"They didn't get any easy shots the whole game, and I thought that was the difference," Orange coach Jim Boeheim said. "We did a good job on the boards and didn't turn the ball over. It was a really good win."

Syracuse led 50-49 before mid-range shots by Tyus Battle and Howard pushed the lead to five. That margin was plenty in this game.

The Orange shot 39.6 percent from the field. TCU finished at 36.8.

"We're probably not going to shoot 50 percent against them," Dixon said. "What they do, you've got to get second shots, you've got to get putbacks."

TCU had only 11 second-chance points. Williams led the Horned Frogs with 14 points.

TCU did score eight straight points to finish the first half with a 28-27 lead.

Michigan State 82, Bucknell 78

Miles Bridges outlasted Zach Thomas, scoring 29 points and grabbing nine rebounds to help third-seeded Michigan State beat Bucknell.

Thomas fouled out on a technical with 6:06 left and finished with 27 points. He put on a show in the first half, scoring 20 points and making all three of his shots beyond the 3-point arc.

The Spartans (30-4) made the most of playing about 75 miles from campus.

Leading by 15 points with 2 minutes left, Michigan State won by a slim margin after Bucknell (25-10) made a late flurry of long-range shots.

Auburn 62, College of Charleston 58

Jared Harper made a clutch 3-pointer with 1:17 to go — his only basket of the game — and Auburn held off No. 13 College of Charleston.

The Tigers (26-7) avoided being the second No. 4 seed to be upset at Viejas Arena. Marshall beat fourth-seeded Wichita State earlier in the day.

Auburn, playing under the cloud of a federal investigation, survived a poor shooting performance to win in its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2003.

Jarrell Brantley scored 24 for the Cougars (26-8), the CAA champs who made their first NCAA Tournament since 1999.

Clemson 79, New Mexico State 68

Shelton Mitchell scored a season-high 23 points, Gabe DeVoe had 22 and Clemson beat New Mexico State to complete a perfect first round for No. 5 seeds.

The 5-12 line is usually one of the top spots for March Madness upsets, but Clemson (24-9) shot 56 percent from the field while advancing out of the first round for the first time since 1997. It was the Tigers' first win in the NCAA tourney since the First Four in 2011.

Clemson was nearly flawless at the offensive end against the 12th-seeded champions of the WAC. It made 9 of 11 shots during one stretch on its way to a 12-point lead at halftime.

Zach Lofton led New Mexico State (28-6) with 29 points.

EAST REGION

Marshall 81, Wichita State 75

The Marshall Thundering Herd celebrated like never before.

For the first time in six tries during 62 years, the Thundering Herd won an NCAA Tournament game.

Jon Elmore scored 27 points and Jarrod West hit a huge 3-pointer with three minutes left to help No. 13 seed Marshall topple fourth-seeded Wichita State in the East Region.

When the buzzer sounded, West raised his arms in the air and joyously ran practically the length of the court before joining his teammates in celebration.

"Long time!" coach Dan D'Antoni said moments later.

Was it ever.

The Thundering Herd (25-10) made its first NCAA tourney appearance in 1956 and made its most recent one in 1987, losing all five along the way. The 1987 loss was later vacated due to infractions. Its only postseason victories were in the NIT in 1967, when D'Antoni was on the team.

"So we've got a little bit to do," said D'Antoni, the older brother of Houston Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni. "I like these guys. I like the chance riding with them, fun to be on a trip with and they're fun to watch to play and it's real fun when we win. So we're going to try to do that one more time.

"I told them the beginning goal is to win the NCAA Tournament. Wherever we get in the car driving down the road to that championship, when it stops we'll all get off and we'll be happy because we like who is in the car. We like the journey we're on. We're looking forward to the next leg, and I have confidence in these guys that they'll give you a real good ballgame and got a great chance to win."

Marshall joined Buffalo as 13th seeds to win this week. On Thursday night, Buffalo beat No. 4 seed Arizona.

The Thundering Herd also got big shots down the stretch from Ajdin Penava and C.J. Burks and will play the Murray State-West Virginia winner in the next round.

Wichita State (25-8) got 27 points from Conner Frankamp and seemed to be in control midway through the second half, but the Thundering Herd refused to fade despite its lack of NCAA tourney experience.

After Frankamp's long jumper gave the Shockers a 70-69 lead with just less than 5 minutes to go, Penava made a layup. The next time down the floor, West buried a long 3 and raised his right hand in celebration after giving the Thundering Herd a 74-70 lead.

Shaquille Morris responded with a slam dunk for the Shockers before the 6-foot-9 Penava made another layup and Burks had a steal and a layup to give Marshall a six-point lead.

Frankamp hit a 3 with 44.1 seconds left before Marshall benefited from a critical call. With 36.2 seconds left, Zach Brown of Wichita State blocked a shot by Jannson Williams and the ball went out of bounds. After a long video review, the referees awarded the ball to Marshall, and Penava had a slam dunk off an inbounds pass.

Wichita State blew several chances to pull any closer. Landry Shamet missed the front end of a one-and-one with 28.9 seconds and the Shockers then missed two 3-point attempts in the next 12 seconds before turning the ball over.

The 6-foot-3 Elmore held up even though he was guarded by bigger opponents.

"This is another day in the park," he said. "Basketball is what I love to do and whoever that guy is in front of me I'm trying to crush him. Every play I want to play him out, get around him, get him in foul trouble, get the assist. I don't care who you put on me I'm going to attack you 40 minutes, and that's what we did tonight."

Frankamp said Elmore "controlled the pace of the game. He played really well, but we knew that going into the game. He made some tough shots and got some easy looks that we can't give up."

Penava scored16 points, Burks 13 and Williams 10. Morris had 12 for the Shockers and Shamet 11.

Elmore scored nine straight points midway through the second half, including two 3-pointers, to help Marshall keep pace after it allowed the Shockers to go on a 15-1 run spanning halftime.

Frankamp responded with 3s on consecutive possessions for Wichita State

"I like our style. I like our kids. Our kids fit the style real well," D'Antoni said. "They're hustlers. They put their heart on the line, and usually I'm pretty good at quotes. But I'm so excited I'm losing my mind! I don't know, I'm just happy where we are and I'm never at a loss for words. Hell, I'm at a loss for words."

Marshall led for most of the first half, twice taking a seven-point lead, before Wichita State went on an 11-1 run to take a 37-34 halftime lead. The Thundering Herd played for the final shot of the half, but Elmore was whistled for a foul with 9.2 seconds left. Willis missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Wichita State outrebounded the Thundering Herd 44-30, with Rashard Kelly grabbing 12. But the Shockers also committed 15 turnovers, which led to 27 points for Marshall.

Butler 79, Arkansas 62

Kelan Martin scored 27 points and Kamar Baldwin added 24 to lift 10th-seeded Butler over seventh-seeded Arkansas.

The Bulldogs (21-13) raced to a 21-2 lead in the opening minutes. Although Arkansas wiped out that entire deficit before halftime, Butler took control again early in the second.

The Bulldogs now play an in-state rival, second-seeded Purdue.

Jaylen Barford scored 15 points for Arkansas (23-12).

Purdue 74, Cal State Fullerton 48

Purdue center Isaac Haas broke his right elbow during a win over Cal State Fullerton and will miss the rest of the NCAA Tournament.

The 7-foot-2, 290-pound senior went down while taking a hard foul midway through the second half. Haas, who averaged 14.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, had nine points and 10 rebounds in the first-round victory.

The second-seeded Boilermakers (29-6) will play Butler on Sunday.

Kyle Allman scored 21 for the Titans (20-12).

West Virginia 85, Murray State 68

Jevon Carter scored 21 points, had eight assists and six steals as No. 5 seed West Virginia overwhelmed 12th-seeded Murray State.

The Mountaineers (25-10) advanced to the round of 32 for the third time in the past four seasons. Next up for West Virginia is a Mountain State showdown with 13th-seeded Marshall far away from home.

Terrell Miller scored 27 points for Murray State (26-6).

SOUTH REGION

Nevada 87, Texas 83 (OT)

Caleb Martin scored 18 points and made two huge 3-pointers in overtime as seventh-seeded Nevada rallied for its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2007.

Nevada (28-7) erased a 14-point, second-half deficit and tied it at 68 when Jordan Caroline hit one of two free throws with 3.8 seconds left in regulation. The Wolf Pack trailed by four early in an overtime period that featured 34 total points.

Kerwin Roach II had a career-high 26 points for Texas (19-15).

Cincinnati 68, Georgia State 53

Jarron Cumberland set career highs of 27 points and 11 rebounds as Cincinnati recovered after blowing a 10-point lead in the second half.

The second-seeded Bearcats (31-4) advanced to play seventh-seeded Nevada.

After trailing 42-32 early in the second half, 15th-seeded Georgia State (24-11) rallied to take a pair of one-point leads, its last one coming on a driving bank shot from D'Marcus Simonds with 9:30 left.

Kansas State 69, Creighton 59

Barry Brown scored 18 points and ninth-seeded Kansas State never trailed despite playing without top scorer Dean Wade.

Mike McGuirl added 17 points for the Wildcats (23-11). Wade had been expected to play after suffering a stress fracture in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament, but never got on the floor.

Marcus Foster, thrown off the Kansas State team after the 2015 season for multiple violations of team rules, finished with five points on 2-of-11 shooting for Creighton (21-12).

WEST REGION

Xavier 102, Texas Southern 83

Xavier looked every bit like a No. 1 seed its first time around in the role at an NCAA Tournament.

J.P. Macura scored 18 of his career-high 29 points in the first half, and Xavier routed No. 16 seed Texas Southern in its tournament opener.

Trevon Bluiett added 26 points and Kerem Kanter had 24 for the Musketeers (29-5).

Texas Southern (16-20) came in having won the first NCAA Tournament game in program history, a First Four win over North Carolina Central in Dayton on Wednesday night.

North Carolina 84, Lipscomb 66

Kenny Williams scored 18 points and defending national champion North Carolina took its time before opening up to beat Lipscomb.

Theo Pinson had 15 points and flirted with a triple-double for the second-seeded Tar Heels (26-10). North Carolina next plays Texas A&M.

Playing for the first time in the NCAA tourney, the 15th-seeded Bisons (23-10) held an early six-point edge. They led 33-31 with under four minutes left in the first half before North Carolina went on a 12-1 run to take control by the break.

Florida State 67, Missouri 54

Ninth-seeded Florida State has lots of guys who can score, and the Seminoles used that depth to win their fourth straight NCAA Tournament opener.

Mfiondu Kabengele scored 14 points, and Florida State beat No. 8 seed Missouri.

PJ Savoy had 12 points and Phil Cofer scored 11. A total of 10 Seminoles scored at least two points apiece — by halftime — as they wore out Missouri, which had only eight healthy players available.

This was the first trip to the tournament for every player on the roster for Missouri (20-13). Even with new players and a new coach in Cuonzo Martin, the Tigers head home from their first NCAA trip since 2013 with the program's fourth straight loss in a first round.