UCLA rolls past UNC Asheville 86-53 in March Madness 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 Roach leads Duke in rout of Oral Roberts in NCAA opener Everett hits shot with 0.3 left, St. John’s women edge Purdue

Sacramento, California. Jaime Jaques Jr. scored 17 points and UCLA got off to a fast start and never looked back at an 86-53 victory over UNC Asheville in the first round of Thursday night’s NCAA Tournament.

The Bruins, who finished in second place (30-5), scored the first 14 points of the game and rolled out of there. Amari Bailey also scored 17 points and David Singleton scored 11 as UCLA bounced back from a close loss to Arizona in the Pac-12 title game.

“We don’t take losses very well at UCLA,” coach Mick Cronin said. “We say merrily, WIN. We lost our last game. These guys took it personally. You saw them come out tonight. I think our defensive intensity and our early game dodges really blew them away. They never really settled in.”

UCLA came out to play the seventh-seeded Northwestern in the second round of the Western Region. Earlier in the day, the Wildcats beat Boise State 75–67.

Drew Pember scored 13 points for the Bulldogs in 15th place (27-8). The University of North Carolina at Asheville, which has won regular season and Big South tournament titles, has lost all five times the school has reached the Round of 16.

“I give them credit,” coach Mike Morrell said. “They were the aggressors before, and they attributed it to us. You have to give them credit for that, because they weren’t going to be caught sleeping. I thought they were really good defensively. They just pushed us all over the place.”

The Bruins apparently took note of what happened earlier in the day at that spot, when fellow Pac-12 seed #2 from Arizona was edged out by Princeton 59-55.

UCLA made sure this game was never in doubt by taking the first five shots and taking a 14-0 lead thanks to Singleton’s 3-pointer with just 3:06 to go.

“It’s like day one and already so many frustrations,” point guard Tiger Campbell said. “It just makes us lock up more because we know it’s possible. Especially earlier today, Princeton and Arizona. I think it made us go out and just realize that every team in this tournament can play.”

Jacques scored from overseas to give the Bruins their biggest lead of the first half, 34–11, and they took the lead from there.

The Bruins dominated the paint thanks in part to Kenneth Nwube and Mac Etienne, who teamed up to go 9-of-9 off the floor against the smaller Bulldogs.

“That’s what you have to do in games like this,” Cronin said. “If not, if your size and athleticism don’t matter, then it doesn’t matter if you’re a high major or a medium major. You have to make them major, and tonight we did it physically.”

BIG PICTURE

UNC Asheville: The Bulldogs entered the game with a nine-game winning streak and a school-record 27 wins, but once again lost to a big contender. Four of their five losses in the first round of the tournament were at least 20 points, and their only close game was a 72–65 loss to Syracuse in 2012.

UCLA: The injuries sustained by the Bruins in the Pac-12 didn’t hurt them this game. Quarterback Jaylen Clark (Achilles) was out for the season, and freshman Adem Bona missed a second straight game with a shoulder injury. Bona has a good chance of returning to the second round on Saturday.

NEXT

With Saturday’s win, the Bruins will advance to the Sweet 16 for the third straight season, the first time since the 2006-08 season, when they made it to the Final Four every year.

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.

NEXT

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.

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