No. 15 Princeton stuns No. 2 Arizona in NCAAs; No. 13 Furman beats No. 4 Virginia

Tosan Evbuomwan and Princeton used a late-game run to earn the school’s first NCAA tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55 on Thursday.

The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points to finish the upset, holding the Pac-12 tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:21.

Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton’s first tournament victory since beating Nevada Las Vegas in 1998 when current coach Mitch Henderson was a player for the Tigers.

Princeton advanced to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region. The Tigers beat Utah State 76-65.

Azuolas Tubelis scored 21 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven’t won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.

No. 13 Furman 68, No. 4 Virginia 67

Furman forward Tyrese Hughey (15) and forward Alex Williams, right, celebrate their win against Virginia during a first-round NCAA tournament game on Thursday in Orlando, Fla.

(Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press)

ORLANDO, Fla. — JP Pegues made a three-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining, and No. 13 seed Furman completed a rally from a 12-point second-half deficit to hand fourth-seeded Virginia another first-round NCAA tournament loss 68-67.

Making their first trip to the tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will play either San Diego State or Charleston on Saturday.

Kihei Clark, who starred as a freshman on Virginia’s 2019 national title-winning team, threw a bad pass that Garrett Hein intercepted at midcourt with seven seconds to go, setting up Pegues’ go-ahead basket.

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Reece Beekman’s deep three-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim and Virginia (25-8) was eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team for the third time in its past four NCAA tournaments — most notably its loss as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2018.

Also on Thursday morning, Maryland overcame a sluggish start and a final heave at the buzzer by Kedrian Johnson, topping West Virginia 67-65 in a first-round game.