No. 12 seed McNeese holds off Clemson to earn first March Madness victory

By Canadian Press on March 20, 2025.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — McNeese coach Will Wade and his boombox-toting manager are moving on in March Madness after the 12th-seeded Cowboys held off late-charging No. 5 seed Clemson 69-67 on Friday in the first bracket buster of the NCAA Tournament.

Brando Murray scored 14 of his 21 points in a stifling first half, when the Southland Conference school from Lake Charles, Louisiana, held Clemson to 13 points. After falling behind by as many as 24, the Tigers rallied, erasing most of a 12-point deficit in the final minute before running out of time.

With its first NCAA Tournament victory, McNeese earned a second-round matchup on Saturday with fourth-seeded Purdue, a 75-63 winner over High Point.

Chris Shumate added 13 points and 11 rebounds for McNeese, which has been best-known this March for its viral, rapping manager and a renegade coach who has reportedly already lined up his next job — at NC State.

PURDUE 75, HIGH POINT 63

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Trey Kaufman-Renn had 21 points and eight rebounds, and fourth-seeded Purdue held off High Point for a victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Big Ten player of the year Braden Smith added 20 points and six assists as Purdue (23-11) avoided a first-round exit after reaching the championship game last season. The Boilermakers will meet the winner of Clemson and McNeese State in the second round of the Midwest Region on Saturday.

D’Maurian Williams had 12 points for No. 13 seed High Point (29-6), which had won 14 straight. Trae Benham added 11 points.

HOUSTON 78, SIU-EDWARDSVILLE 40

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Milos Uzan scored 16 points, LJ Cryer added 15 and No. 1 seed Houston was able to rest up for the rest of the NCAA Tournament while romping past No. 16 seed SIU Edwardsville in the first round of the Midwest Region.

Ja’Vier Francis added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Big 12 champs, who will carry a 14-game winning streak into a second-round matchup with eighth-seeded Gonzaga or No. 9 seed Georgia. Houston (31-4) has won 26 of its last 27 overall.

Ray’Sean Taylor had 10 points for SIUE (22-12), which was just 2 of 24 from the 3-point arc in its first NCAA appearance.

GONZAGA 89, GEORGIA 68

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Khalif Battle scored 24 points, Nolan Hickman had 18 and eighth-seeded Gonzaga routed Georgia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Braden Huff added 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting as Gonzaga (26-8) advanced to an intriguing second-round matchup with top-seeded Houston. The Cougars rolled to a 78-40 victory over SIU Edwardsville.

The Zags used a sharp, focused performance to move into the second round for the 22nd time since Mark Few took over as coach in 1999. They went 12 for 20 from 3-point range and shot 55% from the field overall.

EAST REGION

WISCONSIN 85, MONTANA 66

DENVER (AP) — Wisconsin grinded its way back into the March Madness win column, getting 19 points from John Blackwell and double-digit scoring from four others on the way to a victory over Montana.

The third-seeded Badgers won in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022. Last year, they were a first-round upset victim to James Madison.

Next, coach Greg Gard’s team will try to make the Sweet 16 for the first time in eight years with a game against either VCU or BYU in the East Region.

BYU 80, VCU 71

DENVER (AP) — Igor Demin and Richie Saunders led BYU to an victory over VCU in the NCAA Tournament, giving first-year Cougars coach Kevin Young a better memory of Ball Arena than his last one.

The former Suns assistant watched the Denver Nuggets bounce Phoenix from the playoffs at this arena in 2023, leading Young to say this week that he still has nightmares of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.

It was Saunders (16 points) and Demin (15) who haunted VCU and propelled the sixth-seeded Cougars (25-9) into a Saturday showdown against third-seeded Wisconsin, which handled Montana 85-66 earlier in the day in the East Region.

Zeb Jackson scored a season-high 23 points for the Rams (28-7), who reached the NCAA Tournament for the third time in five years but still haven’t had any March Madness success since 2016.

SOUTH REGION

AUBURN 83, ALABAMA ST. 63

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Mike Kelly made seven 3-pointers and scored 23 points, All-American Johni Broome added 14 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 1 seed Auburn beat 16th-seeded Alabama State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Bruce Pearl’s Tigers (29-5) lasted one game in 2024, losing to Yale days after winning the Southeastern Conference Tournament. This time, Auburn came in having lost three of four inside the power-packed SEC with a resume still strong enough to earn the top overall seed among the four No. 1 teams.

Auburn will play No. 9 seed Creighton, an 89-75 winner over eighth-seeded Louisville, in the second round of the South Region on Saturday for a trip to the Sweet 16 in Atlanta.

CREIGHTON 89, LOUISVILLE 75

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Jamiya Neal scored a career-high 29 points and had 12 rebounds, Steven Ashworth connected from well beyond the arc on the way to 22 points, and ninth-seeded Creighton beat No. 8 seed Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Greg McDermott’s Bluejays (25-10) won their fifth consecutive March Madness opener and beat a team ranked in the top 10 for the second time this season. Louisville (27-8), despite its unimpressive seeding, entered at No. 10 in the AP Top 25.

Seeking its fourth Sweet 16 appearance in five years, Creighton will play either No. 1 overall seed Auburn or 16th-seeded Alabama State in the second round of the South Region on Saturday.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

The Associated Press

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