Kentucky blows out ETSU...Washington drops Marquette
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Ishmael Smith's pull-up jumper from 17 feet with just 1.3 left in overtime gave ninth-seeded Wake Forest an 81-80 win over Texas in the first round of the NCAA East Regional.
The Demon Deacons blew two double-digit leads in regulation, but managed a rally of their own in OT. They were down as much as 8 points and still trailed by four in the final minute, before Ari Stewart sank a 3-pointer to pull within one and set up Smith's heroics.
The blowout of the day goes to Kentucky.
The top-seeded Wildcats dominated throughout their 100-71 victory over East Tennessee State. Eric Bledsoe shot eight 3-pointers and scored 29 points in all, breaking Tony Delk's school record for most 3s in an NCAA tournament game.
Kentucky will play Wake Forest on Saturday.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Quincy Pondexter became Washington's hero, driving for a tiebreaking bank shot with 1.7 seconds left, and 11th-seeded Washington opened its NCAA tournament run with an 80-78 victory over Marquette.
The Huskies rallied from a 15-point second half deficit.
They face third-seeded New Mexico at the Shark Tank in San Jose, Calif. on Saturday.
Roman Martinez had 19 points to lead New Mexico to a 62-57 victory over Montana. Darington Hobson added 11 points, 11 rebounds and six assists while playing with a sprained left wrist for the Lobos.
