Marquette escapes Davidson

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Vander Blue’s layup with one second left capped Marquette’s rally from a nine-point deficit and gave the third-seeded Golden Eagles a 59-58 victory over Davidson on Thursday in the NCAA tournament.

Blue and Jamil Wilson made consecutive 3-pointers to bring Marquette within 58-57 with 11 seconds left. The Golden Eagles then caught a huge break when De’Mon Brooks’ long inbounds pass went out of bounds at midcourt with 5.5 seconds left, providing another opportunity.

Blue took full advantage after getting Wilson’s inbounds pass, driving left and finding room for the winning basket. He then sealed Marquette’s improbable win by stealing Davidson’s last-ditch inbounds pass at midcourt to set off a noisy celebration among players and Golden Eagles fans at Rupp Arena.

Blue scored seven of Marquette’s final 11 points to finish with 16. Wilson added 14 points as the Golden Eagles (24-8) won for the fifth time in six games and advanced to face Butler in Saturday’s third-round game.

The Bulldogs beat Bucknell, 68-56.

Louisville 79, North Carolina A&T 48

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Russ Smith scored 23 points and set a Louisville NCAA tournament record with a career-high eight steals, and Peyton Siva had eight assists as the Cardinals demolished North Carolina A&T.

Louisville finished with a season-high 20 steals as it forced the Aggies (20-17) into 27 turnovers. It was the 11th straight win for the Cardinals (30-5), who will play Colorado State or Missouri on Saturday.

Rick Pitino and the Big East champions quickly ended a postseason run for the Aggies, who finally earned their first NCAA tournament win on Tuesday. Bruce Beckford led North Carolina A&T with 12 points.

St. Louis 64, New Mexico State 44

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Dwayne Evans scored 24 points, Cody Ellis added 12 points and fourth-seeded Saint Louis overwhelmed New Mexico State in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Playing through the death of Rick Majerus in December, Saint Louis reached another mark for its late coach. The Billikens (28-6) eclipsed the 1988-89 team’s school record of 27 victories.

Oregon 68, Oklahoma State 55

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Damyean Dotson scored 17 points and Arsalan Kazemi added 11 points and 17 rebounds to help 12th-seeded Oregon extend a run that began in the Pac-12 tournament by beating fifth-seeded Oklahoma.

Dominic Artis scored 13 points and helped frustrate Oklahoma State star freshman Marcus Smart on the defensive end to give the Ducks (27-8) their first tournament win in six years.

Smart came into the game with the hype of a top NBA prospect but was held to 14 points on 5 for 13 shooting for the Cowboys (24-9).

Michigan State 65, Valparaiso 54

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Derrick Nix had 23 points and a career-high 15 rebounds to help power third-seeded Michigan State past 14th-seeded Valparaiso.

The Spartans went on a 26-5 run in the first half to take control.

Michigan State (26-8) will play the winner of the Memphis-St. Mary’s game on Saturday when Spartans coach Tom Izzo will be shooting for a spot in the round of 16 for the fifth time in six years.

The Crusaders (26-8) were no match for Michigan State in their first NCAA tournament in nine years, just as they weren’t as a first-round loser in 2000 to the eventual champion Spartans.

Valpo had enough size to match up, but didn’t have enough strength.

Memphis 54, Saint Mary’s 52

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Matthew Dellavedova’s 3-pointer from the right wing sailed long as time expired, allowing sixth-seeded Memphis to hold on for a win over 11th-seeded Saint Mary’s.

The Tigers (31-4) led by 15 in the first half but nearly gave the game away in the final seconds. With Saint Mary’s (28-7) down five, Eividas Petrulis banked in a 3-pointer with 3.1 seconds to play. Memphis then lost the ball when Jordan Giusti deflected the inbound pass off Joe Jackson of the Tigers and out of bounds.

Michigan 71, South Dakota State 56

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Glenn Robinson III scored 21 points and Mitch McGary added 13 points and nine rebounds, helping fourth-seeded Michigan overcome a rough night for Trey Burke in a NCAA tournament win over 13th-seeded South Dakota State.

Burke made only two field goals and left the game briefly in the second half after a hard fall under the basket. The star point guard came back after that, but he finished with only six points.

Arizona 81, Belmont 64

SALT LAKE CITY — Mark Lyons scored 23 points and the sixth-seeded Arizona Wildcats rolled past No. 11 seed Belmont in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The Wildcats (26-7) used their huge size advantage to shut down the Bruins (26-7), who are 0-6 in tourney games.