Roach leads Duke in rout of Oral Roberts in NCAA opener TTU women get eighth straight win, beat Monmouth in First Four Broome, Auburn hold off Iowa 83-75 in NCAA tourney Northwestern beats Boise State 75-67 in March Madness Everett hits shot with 0.3 left, St John’s women edge Purdue Arkansas holds off Illinois 73-63 with big defensive effort

ORLANDO, Florida. Jeremy Roach scored a career-high 23 points and No. 5 seed Duke beat Oral Roberts 74-51 on Thursday in the first NCAA high school game since John Scheier took over as Blue Devils coach.

Darik Whitehead added 13 points to the Blue Devils (27-8), winners of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. Roach scored 23 points in consecutive games after setting his career high in an ACC Championship game.

Shyer helped Hall of Famer coach Mike Krzyszewski win two of five national titles as a former Duke player and assistant. Now he is trying to organize his own March Madness magic.

In his first game of the NCAA Tournament as a replacement for Krzyszewski, Scheyer led Duke to a 10th straight win and a second-round matchup in the East Region against either fourth-seeded Tennessee or 13th-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette.

Oral Roberts (30-5) entered the tournament with the nation’s best 17-game winning streak, but failed to repeat his two-year-old success when the Golden Eagles swept Ohio State and Florida in a surprise transition to the Sweet 16.

Duke scored the first 15 points of the game, Oral Roberts missed 12 straight shots—seven of them three-pointers—during the 12-minute pregame drought. Until the end of the journey, Duke’s advantage was never less than 13.

Debilitated by injuries for extended stretches of the season, Duke improved to 19-1 when Shyer had a full roster. While the Blue Devils excelled defensively throughout the year, their offense has blossomed over time.

Major League Player of the Year Max Abmas was limited to 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting for Oral Roberts. The Golden Eagles had only 30.2% field goal shooting, including 8 of 32 from 3-pointers.

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Oral Roberts: Abmas and three other starters are adults, which means the Golden Eagles will have a new look next season.

Duke: The Blue Devils are a year behind their 17th Final Four appearance. Judging by the way they play, another serious tournament streak is not out of the question.

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana – Maalia Owens and Jada Guinn each scored 18 points as Tennessee Tech won their eighth game in a row with a 79-69 win over Monmouth Thursday night in the top four.

Tennessee Tech (23-9), the 16th seed, comes out on Saturday to take on top seed Indiana in the first round. The Golden Eagles won their first NCAA Tournament since 1990.

The Golden Eagles hit 10 3-pointers in the first half, while they’ve only averaged 6.5 this season. Peyton Carter had four 3s, Owens missed all three and Jordan Brock also made three. Tennessee Tech finished the game 12 out of 26 from a distance.

Owens scored seven points in the third quarter as Tennessee Tech closed out 11–5 with a 54–44 lead. Monmouth scored six with 4:31 left in fourth thanks to a 3-pointer from Ariana Vanderhoop. Regan Grimes grabbed the offensive rebound on the other end and brought it back, and Tennessee Tech’s lead stayed eight points for the rest of the way.

Brock finished with 16 points and Carter added 12 points for Tennessee Tech. Owens made four 3-pointers, setting the program’s record for scoring in a season. Guinn provided six assists.

The Golden Eagles hit eight straight field goals to end the first half at 12–4 for a 40–33 lead. Owens started a straight 10-point streak with a 3-pointer, Brock added 3 on the next possession, Reagan Hurst hit a baseline jumper, and Guinn converted a layup to close the streak.

Vanderhoop scored 17 points and Lucy Thomas added 16 points for Monmouth (18–16), who were looking for their first win in the tournament since 1983. Bree Tinsley, who averaged 12.1 points per game, did not score in the first half and finished with 11 points.

Monmouth won four games in four days to win the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. The Hawks made history as the first #7 seed to win a CAA title after eliminating the top, two, and three seeds.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama. When it comes to Auburn and the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers know how to make the opening statement.

Johny Broome had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks as 9th-seeded Auburn beat Iowa 83-75 on Thursday, his 10th consecutive first-round win dating back to the mid-1980s. x years.

The Tigers (21-12) hit 11 of 12 free throws in the last four minutes to lock in a second-round matchup with No. 1 seeded Houston or Northern Kentucky.

The crowd, clearly targeted at Auburn, was a two-hour drive from campus.

“They’ve been loud and rowdy all game,” Auburn defenseman Allen Flanigan said. “It was like a home game for us.”

Broome even made his ninth 3-pointer of the season, the first time he had extended the lead to double figures with 16 minutes left.

The Tigers seemed poised to take off in front of the bigoted orange and blue crowd, 17 points up with a 13-2 run midway through the second half, spurred on by Tre Donaldson’s three three-pointers off the bench.

Hawkeyes with the eighth seed climbed into it again, cutting it down to four twice, but didn’t come close.

“We knew they had another run,” Broome said. “We said, ‘Let’s stop and win this game.’

Auburn had six players hit double figures. Wendell Green Jr. had 15 points while Donaldson, Jaylene Williams and K.D. Johnson finished with 11 points each. Allen Flanigan scored 10 points.

Payton Sandford scored 21 points for Iowa. Chris Murray scored 15 points on 5 of 18 shots and 9 rebounds. Philip Rebraka scored 14 points.

“Hawkeyes” turned out to be in the role of an away game. But they refused to use that as an excuse.

“We’re used to playing in a hostile environment,” said Connor McCaffery. “Obviously if we had a choice we would have preferred it to be a little more neutral, but that’s not why we lost.

“We won at Rutgers, we won at IU (Indiana), and these places are 100 times louder than they are here today.”

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery, Connor’s father, echoed the sentiment after his team lost a third straight loss.

“Every game in our league is a hostile environment so that can’t be an excuse and we don’t want to make it that way,” he said. “We were right and you have to give credit to your opponent.”

Johnson had a scary moment in the last minute of the first half.

He got up trying to block a shot by Rebraka, who faked and sent Johnson somersaulting through the Iowa player.

The junior guard landed with a thud on his waist and buttocks, causing the crowd to fall into silence. Johnson paused briefly, writhing in pain, before heading to the bench to be examined. He played in the second half.

“I was just scared,” Johnson said. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t hurt myself in any other way. It was crazy.”

BIG PICTURE

Auburn: Made seven 3-pointers in the second half after starting 1-of-9.

Iowa: Just short of fifth consecutive 20-win season. Missed all nine 3-pointers in the first half and made 7 of 27 (25.9%) from deep. A team that averaged 80 points per game averaged 26 points in the first half.

“Our speed and quickness obviously made the difference in defense,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said.

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Auburn is 1-6 all-time against Houston, among the favorites to win it all.

Sacramento, California. Bou Buie scored 22 points and led the Northwest to a 75-67 win in the school’s second NCAA Tournament game over Boise State on Thursday.

The number seven (22-11) Wildcats previously competed in the Big Dance in 2017, and just like this time, they made sure they weren’t a throwaway.

Northwestern never fell behind in a game that was close for most of the journey and took the lead to play either UCLA or UNC at Asheville in the second round of the Western Region.

The No. 10 (24-10) Broncos are still looking for their first tournament win, losing their debut for the ninth time in as many tries. Max Rice scored 17 points to lead Boise State while Naje Smith added 14 points.

Chase Odidge added 20 points for the Wildcats, while Ty Berry added 13 points, including three three-pointers.

The Bulldogs were 10 points behind early, but bounced back to tie the game at 40 early in the second half when Rice hit his second 3-pointer of the half.

The game was tight most of the way before the Northwestern finally extended their lead to 10 thanks to a tip from Brooks Barnheiser with 3:15 left.

EXPERIENCE IT

Broncos defenseman Marcus Shaver Jr. had to be assisted off the court after he fell with an apparent leg injury late in the first half. He left the dressing room late after the break and returned to the game.

BIG PICTURE

Boise State: With four returning starters from last year’s tournament team, including three seniors, the Broncos were hoping this year’s team could finally break through. They fell to 0-4 in the tournament under coach Leon Rice.

Northwest: By finishing second in the Big Ten for the first time since the 1958–59 season, the Wildcats made sure this special season didn’t end early. Northwestern lost in the second round to Gonzaga in 2017 after defeating Vanderbilt in a debut tournament.

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Northwestern is looking for their first trip to Sweet 16.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jayla Everett hit the go-ahead with 0.3 seconds left as the St. Johns beat Purdue 66-64 Thursday night in a first-four game.

The St. Johns (23-8), the No. 11 seed and 11th-time NCAA Tournament player, advance to play sixth-seeded North Carolina in the first round on Saturday.

Everett veered off the screen and drowned a free-throw line jumper with 1:30 left to lead 64–62. But Red Storm turned him over on the next possession and Lasha Petri took a lane shot to tie the score at 64 – all with 30.3 to go.

After a timeout, Mimi Reed was running out of time before launching an attack with 10 seconds left. Everett drove on the right side…