The Associated Press

Seeded low and lightly regarded, Hampton, Georgia State and Utah State rocked the NCAA tournament.

Friday, March 16, 2001

Seeded low and lightly regarded, Hampton, Georgia State and Utah State rocked the NCAA tournament.

Upsets and close calls filled the first half of the tournament’s opening round Thursday, with 15th-seeded Hampton punctuating a wild four-game set in Boise, Idaho, in West Regional games.

Last year, three teams seeded 10th or lower won first-round games. With just half the first round completed, five double-digit seeds have advanced to the second round.

Hampton beat second-seeded Iowa State 58-57. No. 11 Georgia State beat sixth-seeded Wisconsin 50-49, and 10th-seeded Georgetown stopped No. 7 Arkansas 63-61. Third-seeded Maryland avoided an upset, holding on for a 83-80 win over George Mason.

The combined seven-point margin of victory in the Boise subregional shattered the previous record for the closest four-game regional. The four games at the 1998 East Regional in Washington, D.C., were decided by 17 points, as was the 1986 Midwest Regional in Minneapolis.

East

Kentucky 72, Holy Cross 68

Consecutive 3-pointers by Tayshaun Prince broke a second-half tie as Kentucky held off Holy Cross.

Prince scored 12 of his team’s final 14 points and finished with 27 points, while Keith Bogans added 17 for Kentucky (23-9). Jared Curry led Holy Cross (22-8) with 16 points.

Iowa 69, Creighton 56

Reggie Evans scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half to help Iowa (23-11) to its fifth straight victory.

Evans was 13-of-15 from the foul line, including 12-of-13 in the final 10 minutes. Duez Henderson added 16 points and Dean Oliver had 15. Ben Walker and Livan Pyfrom scored 11 points apiece for Creighton (24-8).

Boston College 68, S. Utah 65

Troy Bell scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half as Boston College outlasted 14th-seeded Southern Utah.

Xavier Singletary added 15 points to help Boston College (27-4) to its eighth straight victory.

Jeff Monaco scored 26 points for the Thunderbirds (25-6). Southern Utah had a chance to tie it at the buzzer, but Justin Sant’s 3-point attempt hit the front of the rim.

Southern Cal 69, Oklahoma St. 54

Sam Clancy had 22 points and 13 rebounds, and Jeff Trepagnier added 17 points for Southern California

The Trojans (22-9) led 48-19 at the half. The Cowboys (20-10) made just nine of 26 shots and missed nine of 10 free throws in the opening 20 minutes.

UCLA 61, Hofstra 48

UCLA (22-8) closed with a 24-5 run to snap the nation’s longest Division I winning streak at 18 games.

Earl Watson scored 13 of his 15 points for the Bruins in the first half. Dan Gadzuric scored eight of his 14 points during the final run and added 13 rebounds. Billy Knight led the Bruins with 17 points.

Rick Apodaca led the Pride (26-5) with 16 points.

Duke 95, Monmouth 52

Jason Williams scored 20 of his 22 points in the first half and Shane Battier added 21 points and 10 rebounds.

Duke (30-4) tied a school record with 18 3-pointers to help coach Mike Krzyzewski improve to 51-14 in the NCAA tournament. Rahsaan Johnson had 11 points for Monmouth (21-10).

Missouri 70, Georgia 68

Clarence Gilbert hit a 15-foot jumper with 0.9 seconds to play as Missouri held off a furious Georgia rally.

Georgia overcame an 11-point deficit with just over two minutes to play to tie it on Rashad Wright’s 3-pointer with 22 seconds left.

Arthur Johnson led Missouri (20-12) with 15 points. Robb Dryden led Georgia (16-15) with a season-high 18 points.

West

Georgetown 63, Arkansas 61

Georgetown’s Nathaniel Burton hit a driving layup at the buzzer that survived an official’s instant-replay review.

With the score tied at 61, Georgetown took possession with 35.8 seconds left. The Hoyas ran down the 35-second clock, with Burton holding the ball until there were only a few seconds to play.

He began his drive down the left side of the lane and flipped up a shot almost simultaneous with the shot-clock horn. After about a minute, an announcement was made that the basket counted.

Kevin Braswell led the 10th-seeded Hoyas (24-7) with 12 points. Joe Johnson scored 14 points for Arkansas (20-11).

St. Joseph’s 66, Georgia Tech 62

Marvin O’Connor scored 13 of his 21 points in the second half for St. Joseph’s.

St. Joe’s (26-6) saw its 18-point lead dwindle to three twice in the final 1:43. But the Yellow Jackets (17-13) came up short on two easy scoring chances. Tony Akins led Tech with 16 points.

Stanford 89, N.C. Greensboro 60

Seven-footer Jason Collins scored 20 of his 25 points in the first half as top-seeded Stanford built a 23-point lead.

Sophomore All-American Casey Jacobsen added 14 points, giving him 1,003 for his career.

Stanford (29-2) won its opening game for the seventh straight year. The 29-point margin was the biggest for the Cardinal in the NCAA tournament. Greensboro finished 19-12.

Kent St. 77, Indiana 73

Trevor Huffman scored 24 points, including 11 of Kent State’s last 15, as the Golden Flashes (24-9) sent Indiana to its second straight first-round loss and fifth in seven years.

Kirk Haston scored 29 points for the Hoosiers (21-4), whose No. 4 seed was their highest since 1993.