Nevada moves past Creighton

Paying too much attention to Nick Fazekas is a gamble when trying to stop Nevada.

Marcelus Kemp, Ramon Sessions and Kyle Shiloh gave the Wolf Pack just enough balance to overcome a strong performance from Creighton and lift Nevada to a 77-71 overtime victory in a first-round matchup Friday at New Orleans.

With Fazekas off his game, Kemp capped a 27-point performance with nine points in overtime, sparing Nevada (29-4) another early exit in the NCAA tournament.

Fazekas, the Western Athletic Conference player of the year, had his second-worst shooting performance of the season and fouled out with 3:06 left in overtime. The senior still finished with 17 points, but he made only five of 13 shots and wasn’t his usual dominant self.

Sessions scored 16 and Shiloh 10 for the seventh-seeded Wolf Pack, which also outrebounded Creighton, 48-31.

Nate Funk led Creighton (22-11) with 23 points, but he lost the handle on the ball as he missed a jump shot in the final seconds of regulation that might have won the game.

Memphis 73, North Texas 58 -- The second-seeded Tigers (31-3) were hardly tested at Chicago on the way to their national-best 23rd consecutive victory. Backup guard Andre Allen played a career-high 36 minutes, scoring 14 points. He was the driving force in a 14-4 run midway through the second half that ended any hopes the 15th-seeded Mean Green (23-11) had of an upset.

Virginia 84, Albany 57 -- The fourth-seeded Cavaliers (21-10), led by guard J.R. Reynolds’ 28 points, routed the 13th-seeded Great Danes (23-10) at Columbus, Ohio, for their first tournament victory since 1995, when they reached the final eight. It was their most lopsided win in 37 NCAA tournament games.