COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA TOURNAMENT : EAST REGIONAL : Richmond Shocks Syracuse

Richmond, which made some noise by beating Indiana in the 1988 NCAA tournament, raised its postseason mystique to a record-setting level Thursday night.

“This is another great feather in our bonnet,” Richmond Coach Dick Tarrant said after his Spiders shocked No. 7 Syracuse, 73-69, in the opening round of the East Regional.

It marked the first time a 15th-seeded team knocked off a second-seeded team since the NCAA adopted a 64-team format in 1985.

“I said we had to play almost flawless basketball,” Tarrant said, “and obviously, we did. It was fantastic.”

Curtis Blair had 18 points and six assists for the Spiders (22-9), who never trailed in winning for the 16th time in 18 games. They moved into Saturday’s second round of regional play against Temple.

Syracuse (26-6) made 46% of its field goal attempts and had 13 turnovers in losing its second consecutive game.

“I had heard Richmond was capable of upsetting some people, and I guess they proved it,” Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim said.

Richmond was hoping for a repeat of the 1988 East Regional opener, when the 13th-seeded Spiders knocked off Indiana and Georgia Tech to make the round of 16.

Down the stretch, it looked as if Syracuse would complete a comeback from a 10-point deficit with less than nine minutes left. The Orangemen cut it to 70-69 on a one-handed, running jumper by Billy Owens with 32 seconds remaining.

Richmond’s Eugene Burroughs, fouled with 21 seconds to play, winked at his father in the stands before making both free throws to give the Spiders a three-point lead.

Syracuse missed two three-point shots in the closing seconds, the first by Owens and the second by Michael Edwards.

North Carolina State 114, No. 25 Southern Mississippi 85--Rodney Monroe and Chris Corchiani each scored 25 points as the Wolfpack won in their return to the tournament after a one-year absence because of rules violations.

North Carolina State (20-110) will play Oklahoma State Saturday in a second-round game.

Darrin Chancellor scored 24 points for Southern Mississippi, which finished 21-8.

Oklahoma State 67, New Mexico 54--Byron Houston scored 21 points and had 17 rebounds as the Cowboys overcame 34% shooting to beat the Lobos.

Oklahoma State (23-7) made only 21 of 62 shots and committed 17 turnovers but won its first NCAA tournament game since 1965.

Luc Longley scored 16 points for New Mexico, which finished 20-10.

Temple 80, Purdue 63--Mik Kilgore scored 25 points and the Owls finished with a 12-0 run to pull away from the Boilermakers.

Mark Macon had 19 points and Vic Carstarphen added 18 for Temple (22-9).

The Owls still needed a late surge to finally dispatch the Boilermakers (17-12).