Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. ó After overcoming heartbreak and tragedy just to get to the NCAA tournament, the Matadors of Cal State-Northridge could not get past the greatest game of Roburt Sallie’s life.
Sallie, averaging 4.5 points all year for Memphis, scored 35 and the second-seeded Tigers beat the plucky Matadors 81-70 Thursday, dodging what would have been one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.
Sallie kept Cal State-Northridge at bay during a lackluster first half for Memphis (32-3) and wound up hitting 10 of 15 3-pointers, a first-round tournament record.
The Matadors (17-14), took advantage of miserable shooting by most of the Tigers, Northridge led much of the second half and went up by six points with 10:08 to play.
Connecticut 103, Chattanooga 47
PHILADELPHIA ó With their coach in the hospital, A.J. Price and Hasheem Thabeet scored 20 points apiece to lead top-seeded Connecticut to its first postseason win in three years.
Associate head coach George Blaney coached the Huskies (28-4) in Calhoun’s absence. Stanley Robinson topped the Huskies with 24 points.
Texas A&M 79, BYU 66
PHILADELPHIA ó Bryan Davis scored 21, Donald Sloan had 14 and the ninth-seeded Aggies handed the Cougars their seventh straight opening-round loss in a rematch from last year. Both teams drew the same seeds last March when A&M won 67-62.
The Aggies (24-9) will meet No. 1 seed Connecticut on Saturday.
Jimmer Fredette scored 18 and Lee Cummard added 17 for BYU (25-8).
Washington 71, Mississippi State 58
PORTLAND, Ore. ó Quincy Pondexter scored a season-high 23 points and fourth-seeded Washington took advantage of early foul trouble to Mississippi State’s menacing Jarvis Varnado.
Jon Brockman had 14 rebounds and 10 points for the Huskies (26-8).
Barry Stewart had 11 points but was able to get off just five shots for Mississippi State (23-13).
Purdue 61, Northern Iowa 56
PORTLAND, Ore. ó E’Twaun Moore had 17 points and fifth-seeded Purdue held off a late charge to advance.
JaJuan Johnson added 14 points for the Boilermakers (26-9), who led by as many as 14.