McArthur Lifts Santa Barbara to 70-66 Victory

Eric McArthur scored three of his 20 points in the final 59 seconds today, lifting UC Santa Barbara to a 70-66 victory over Houston in the first round of the NCAA tournament’s Southeast Regional at Knoxville, Tenn.

McArthur, who also grabbed 11 rebounds for the Gauchos (21-8), hit on a follow shot with 59 seconds left, giving Santa Barbara a 67-66 lead. He connected on a free throw with 28 seconds left for a 68-66 Gauchos’ edge.

Santa Barbara’s Paul Johnson sealed the victory with two free throws with two seconds left.

Houston (25-7) had led only once in the second half, 47-46, before scoring six straight points for a 66-65 lead. Craig Upchurch’s follow-up with 1:17 remaining put the Cougars ahead.

Houston had several chances to regain the lead after falling behind again, but Byron Smith, who finished with 18 points, missed a jumper with 24 seconds left and McArthur stole a pass by Houston’s Kason Jackson with 10 seconds to play, setting up Johnson’s free throws.

Santa Barbara broke from a 32-32 halftime tie behind McArthur, who scored six of the Gauchos’ first 10 points as they took a 44-37 lead.

Gary Gray had 15 points and Carrick DeHart scored 11 for Santa Barbara.

DeHart, Santa Barbara’s career scoring leader, had seven points in the first three minutes, but managed only four in the final 37 minutes.

Carl Herrera topped Houston with 19 points. Upchurch finished with 11.

Oklahoma 77

Towson State 68

Top-ranked Oklahoma, fighting for its tournament life against No. 16 seed Towson State, survived a sluggish effort for a 77-68 victory over the Tigers in the opening game of the NCAA Midwest Regional at Austin, Tex.

Jackie Jones scored 19 points for the Sooners (27-4), who advance to Saturday’s second round against the winner of today’s North Carolina and Southwest Missouri State game. Towson State, winner of the East Coast Conference tournament, ended its season 18-13.

The Sooners never trailed, but there were some anxious moments.

Trailing by 12 at halftime, Towson State outscored the Sooners 6-2 to move within 47-39. Later, a three-minute scoring drought by Oklahoma allowed the Tigers to come within 58-54 with 8:14 left.

Kurk Lee, who finished with 30 points, scored 14 of the Tigers’ first 25 points after halftime, including six in a row as they climbed to 60-58 with 6:45 remaining.

But 3-pointers by Terry Evans and Smokey McCovery widened the Sooners’ lead to 66-60 with 5:21 left, and Evans added another 3-pointer with 1:41 left that made the score 73-67. Towson State got no closer than five after that.

This was the first appearance in the NCAA tournament for Towson State. Oklahoma is making its eighth straight tournament appearance, a Big Eight Conference record.

Oklahoma led 45-33 after a first half that saw the Sooners commit 11 turnovers and miss 12-of-18 free throws. Towson State shot 34% and was assessed two technicals--one against Lee for hanging on the rim after missing a dunk and one against Coach Terry Truax for arguing a charging call.

That call erased a dunk by Chuck Lightening that would have brought the Tigers within eight points with four minutes left in the half.

Oklahoma looked early as though it would roll over Towson State, taking a 12-2 lead in the first 3 minutes, 30 seconds. But the Tigers settled down and scored the next nine points.

An 19-6 run by the Sooners during the next seven minutes, however, gave them a 31-17 lead. The run could have been greater, but Oklahoma missed six straight free throws.

Clemson 49

Brigham Young 47

Kirkland Howling scored his only points on two 3-point shots in the final 2:32, including the winning basket with 31 seconds left, as 17th-ranked Clemson edged Brigham Young 49-47 in the first round of the NCAA East Regional at Hartford, Conn.

A free throw by Andy Toolson with 2:42 left gave the Cougars a 47-40 lead, and they didn’t score again.

The Tigers (25-8) had just five field goals in the second half but closed to 47-43 on Howling’s first basket with 2:32 to go. Clemson, which made only 14 of its 30 foul shots, got two from Marion Cash that cut the margin to 47-45 with 1:26 remaining.

Toolson led Brigham Young (21-9) with 15 points but missed a 3-pointer with 41 seconds to go and five seconds on the shot clock. The taller Tigers got the rebound and worked the ball to Howling, to the left of the foul circle, for the go-ahead basket.

With eight seconds remaining, BYU guard Marty Haws just missed an alley-oop layup attempt and Clemson got the ball.

Ricky Jones made a free throw for Clemson with five seconds to play but missed the second, and Todd Crow rebounded for the Cougars. They rushed up court, but center Steve Schreiner missed a long desperation jumper at the buzzer.

Clemson was led by Elden Campbell with 15 points. Haws had 11 for Brigham Young. Clemson held a 49-32 rebounding advantage while each team made just 33 percent of its shots.

Clemson, the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season champion for the first time, won for the second time in five games. BYU, which shared the Western Athletic Conference regular-season title with Colorado State, suffered its third straight loss.

In Saturday’s second round, Clemson plays the winner of today’s game between 12th-ranked La Salle and Southern Mississippi.

Clemson led 28-23 at halftime but was outscored 14-5 in the first 9:14 of the second half and fell behind 37-33. Cash hit a 3-pointer for the Tigers’ third field goal of the half with 10:26 to go. But a 10-4 run by BYU opened the lead to 47-40.

Clemson got off to a slow start but finished the first half strongly. Brigham Young took a 9-2 lead on Haws’ layup with 14:48 left, then trailed briefly before a 3-point shot by Toolson gave the Cougars a 23-20 lead with 33:05 remaining.

They didn’t score again in the half as Clemson ran off the last eight points on a short hook by Wayne Buckingham, a jumper by Jones and layups by Dale Davis and Derrick Forrest.

Ball State 54

Oregon State 53

Paris McCurdy converted a three-point play with no time remaining to give Ball State a 54-53 victory over Oregon State in the first round of the NCAA West Regional at Salt Lake City.

McCurdy was fouled by Karl Anderson while hitting a five-footer on the baseline as time expired and sank the free throw to give 12th-seeded Ball State the win.

Oregon State, seeded fifth, took the lead when Teo Alibegovic hit a turnaround jumper with three seconds left to give the Beavers a 53-51 lead.

But a court-length pass went out of bounds off an OSU player, and Ball State retained possession under its own basket with two seconds remaining. McCurdy, who finished with eight points, took the inbounds pass on the baseline and was fouled by Anderson.