CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dalton Knecht poured in 23 points and Tennessee blew out Saint Peter’s 83-49 in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region first-round game Thursday night, preventing the development of another Cinderella postseason for the Peacocks. Jonas Aidoo posted 15 points and Zakai Zeigler provided 11 points and 10 assists for the Volunteers, who built a 29-point lead in the first half. Second-seeded Tennessee (25-8) takes on seventh-seeded Texas (21-12), which eliminated 10th-seeded Colorado State

Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 26 points, Dain Dainja had 17 of his 21 points after halftime and Marcus Domask notched a triple-double to lift Illinois past Morehead State 85-69 on Thursday in an NCAA Tournament East Region first-round game in Omaha, Neb. Third-seeded Illinois (27-8) pulled away from the No. 14 Eagles behind a 20-3 run midway through the second half to go ahead 68-51. Dainja scored 10 points during the surge and finished 9

CHARLOTTE — RJ Davis scored 22 points and Armando Bacot had a double-double in the first half as North Carolina began the NCAA Tournament by whipping Wagner 90-62 in the West Region’s first round Thursday afternoon. Bacot finished with 20 points and 15 points, Jae’Lyn Withers notched 16 points and 10 rebounds off the bench and Cormac Ryan posted 13 points for the top-seeded Tar Heels, who shot 55 percent from the field. “I just

Arizona took control with a 17-2 run over the first four minutes of the second half and cruised to an 85-65 NCAA Tournament first-round win over Long Beach State on Thursday afternoon in Salt Lake City. The game — the first of the day in the West region — marked the end of No. 15 seed Beach head coach Dan Monson’s tenure after he’d been fired prior to his team winning the Big West conference

PITTSBURGH — Ryan Kalkbrenner racked up 23 points and eight rebounds, Baylor Scheierman added 15 points and 13 boards and hot-shooting Creighton took care of Akron 77-60 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon. The third-seeded Bluejays (24-9) shot 56.5 percent from the floor and a season-high 58.8 percent from 3-point range (10 of 17) to advance out of the first round for the fourth straight tournament. They will face No.

Dae Dae Grant scored 19 points and Duquesne picked up its first NCAA Tournament victory since 1969 by knocking off BYU 71-67 on Thursday afternoon in East Region first-round play at Omaha, Neb. Jakub Necas added 12 points, six assists and three blocked shots and Jimmy Clark III tallied five of his 11 points in the final 88 seconds as the 11th-seeded Dukes (25-11) won their ninth consecutive game. The contest was Duquesne’s first in

CHARLOTTE –Tyson Walker scored 19 points and Michigan State never trailed in claiming a 69-51 victory against Mississippi State in the NCAA West Region’s first round Thursday afternoon. The Spartans mostly did it with their defense, but six different players made at least one 3-point shot to boost the offense. Jaden Akins racked up 15 points, joining Walker with three 3-pointers, and Malik Hall added 10 points.. Ninth-seeded Michigan State (20-14) meets top-seeded North Carolina

Joe Bamisile had a team-high 17 points and Max Shulga scored key late-game baskets to help visiting VCU upset top-seeded Villanova 70-61 in the opening round of the NIT on Wednesday. The Rams (22-13) advance to play South Florida in the second round on Sunday. Eric Dixon paced the Wildcats (18-16) with 21 points, 13 rebounds and three steals. TJ Bamba had 12 points, and Mark Armstrong added 10 points and five assists, though he

DAYTON, Ohio — Tristan da Silva sparked a second-half rally with a key 3-pointer and finished with a game-high 20 points to lead Colorado to a 60-53 win over Boise State on Wednesday in an NCAA Tournament First Four game. It was the ninth win in 10 games for Colorado, which had won eight straight before dropping the Pac-12 tournament final to Oregon. The Buffaloes (25-10) advance as a No. 10 seed to oppose seventh-seeded