NCAA Tourney Saturday Third Round Late Games; #1 Gonzaga 'Shocked' by Wichita State

Midwest Region

(1) Louisville 82 (8) Colorado State 56 - Louisville, the #1 overall seed in the tournament, once again employed high-pressure defense and the hot shooting of Russ Smith to decimate another opponent. By the end of the first half, the Cardinals had already broken the game open with a 15-point bulge and continued to press their advantage in the second half.

Smith was on fire, scoring a game-high 27 points on 7-for-15 shooting including four of seven from three-point land and a 9-for-10 mark from the foul line. Louisville advances to the Sweet 16 to face 12-seed, Oregon.

(12) Oregon 74 (4) Saint Louis 57 - While this result may come as a surprise to some, other observers believe that Oregon was badly mis-seeded and should have been no worse than a four, having won the PAC-12 tournament.

The margin of victory was more than most expected, though all the scores on this sub-regional Saturday have been more or less of the blowout variety.Damyean Dotson led all scorers with 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting, with a 5-for-6 mark from beyond the arc.


West Region

(6) Arizona 74 (14) Harvard 51 - After winning the first NCAA tournament game in school history Thursday with their victory over New Mexico, Harvard seemed out of gas and up against a determined opponent as the Wildcats led the entire game, holding the Crimson to 28% shooting.

Mark Lyons had a game-high 27 on 12-for-17 shooting, including a trio of threes.

(9) Wichita State 76 (1) Gonzaga 70 - The Shockers of Wichita State stunned the #1-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs, eliminating the first of the #1 seeds in the tournament with a 16-7 run to close out the game. Wichita State took an early lead into the half, but Gonzaga rallied to lead, at one point, by eight points.

Not giving an inch, the Shockers' resolve and a spate of three-pointers by Cleanthony Early and Ron Baker late in the game provided the winning margin. Gonzaga's Kelly Olynyk was the game's high scorer with 27 points. Both Early and Baker hit four threes and scored 16 points.

After Davidson - which had won 17 in a row - was defeated on Thursday night by Marquette, Gonzaga's 15-game winning streak became the longest in the nation, ended by #9 seed Wichita State from the Missouri Valley.


East Region

(3) Marquette 74 (6) Butler 72 - In one of the more hotly-contested and physically-demanding games of the tournament, Marquette avenged a buzzer-beater win by Butler way back in November, when the Bulldogs won, 72-71, on a last-second shot by Rotnei Clarke, in the Maui Invitational.

Marquette's Vander Blue was the difference here, as the 3rd-seeded Golden eagles advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Blue had a game-high 29 points on 9-for-15 shooting, including three of four from three-point range and a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe.

Marquette will face the winner of tomorrow's Illinois-Miami match-up.

(4) Syracuse 66 (12) California 60 - CJ Fair and James Southerland led Syracuse to the Sweet 16 with 18 and 14 points, respectively.

The Orange joins fellow Big East teams, Louisville and Marquette in the round of 16.