Southeast Roundup : Tar Heels and Irish Advance

Brad Daugherty and Joe Wolf led a second-half surge that carried North Carolina to a 76-57 victory over a stubborn Middle Tennessee State team Thursday night in a first-round NCAA Southeast Regional game at South Bend, Ind.

Daugherty scored 25 points and Wolf 18--16 in the second half--to help the Tar Heels improve to 25-8. The Blue Raiders, who led for most of the first half, ended up 17-14.

North Carolina went to Daugherty and Wolf more in the second half and emerged with a 44-39 lead with 14:37 remaining. But the Blue Raiders came back to score six straight points, including a dunk by Lonnie Thompson, to regain the lead, 45-44, with 11:32 to go.

North Carolina reeled off six straight points to open up a 50-45 lead with 10 minutes remaining and was not headed again.

The North Carolina victory was marred by a second-half injury to starting guard Steve Hale. Smith said Hale suffered a shoulder separation and would be out for the remainder of the tournament.

North Carolina will meet Notre Dame, and Auburn will face Kansas in Saturday’s second round.

Notre Dame 79, Oregon State 70--David Rivers scored 10 of his 21 points in the last six minutes to help the Irish (21-8) hold off a late rally by the Beavers (22-9).

The Beavers were down, 55-45, with 9:41 left, but Tyrone Miller had two breakaways as Oregon State scored 11 of the next 12 points for a 56-56 tie with 6:33 left.

Rivers then scored 8 of Notre Dame’s next 12 points, including two straight field goals to give the Irish a 68-61 lead with 2:41 left.

The Beavers’ A.C. Green finished with 26 points.

Kansas 49, Ohio University 38--The Jayhawks (26-7) advanced to Saturday’s second round as their defense forced Ohio (22-8) into several scoring droughts. Ron Kellogg and Greg Dreiling each scored 10 points, while Danny Manning added nine for the Jayhawks.

Kansas, hitting 8 of 12 shots in the first half, saw its 18-15 halftime lead erased when Ohio tied the score on a basket by Vic Alexander, who finished with 15 points, with 16:53 left.

The Bobcats trailed, 32-27, midway through the second half when they went nearly 4 1/2 minutes without a basket. Kansas took advantage of the cold spell, expanding its lead to 38-27 with 5:53 remaining.

Auburn 59, Purdue 58--The Boilermakers had a chance to win, but James Bullock’s eight-foot turn-around jumper with three seconds left was no good. Auburn held on for its 21st win against 11 losses.