Oklahoma St. Pulls Away Down Stretch

Ninth-seeded Oklahoma State used a 12-4 run to turn a 57-57 tie with 2:51 left into a 69-61 victory over eighth-seeded Syracuse in the first round of the South Regional at the RCA Dome.

The Cowboys, who led the entire game except for that one deadlock, advanced behind 28 points from Desmond Mason and 21 from Adrian Peterson and 11 assists from Tustin High product Doug Gottlieb. But it was the only basket of the game from Joe Adkins, a three-pointer with 2:25 left, that put them back ahead to stay.

Oklahoma State’s Eddie Sutton tied Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim for 10th place on the all-time tournament coaching win list with 29. The Cowboys (23-10) are 7-0 in first-round games under Sutton.

Syracuse finished 21-12.

Auburn 80, Winthrop 41--The No. 1-seeded Tigers (28-3) shot only 37.8% and had as many turnovers as assists, but still overwhelmed the Big South Conference champions, refusing to back off of their full-court press down the stretch for good measure.

This was Auburn’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 1988.

“You could tell this was a team that hadn’t been in the tournament,” said Auburn Coach Cliff Ellis. “I thought we were a little shy with regards to our play. Our defense picked it up and I was very satisfied at about the 10-minute mark.”

Winthrop finished 21-8, after going 7-20 last season and being picked by many to finish last in its conference. The Eagles shot 25.5%.

Auburn plays Oklahoma State Saturday.

Ohio State 72, Murray State 58--Sophomore guard Michael Redd scored a game-high 27 points to lead the No. 3-seeded Buckeyes (24-8) to their first tournament win since 1992.

Ohio State overcame 21-of-35 free-throw shooting to advance against Detroit Saturday.

No. 14-seeded Murray State (27-6) shot a pitiful 27.3%, with leading scorer Aubrey Reese (26 points) going only six for 15.

Staff Writer Chris Dufresne contributed to this story.