South Carolina falls again; Cincinnati survives scare

This time, third-seeded South Carolina was the victim, falling to the 14th-seeded Spiders 62-61 in an East Regional opener in Washington.

Jarod Stevenson scored 24 points for Richmond, which sent South Carolina to its second straight embarrassing opening-round loss. Last season, the Gamecocks lost as a No. 2 seed to 15th-seeded Coppin State.

Opening-round upsets have become almost routine for Richmond. In 1988, the Spiders, seeded 13th, knocked out fourth-seeded defending national champion Indiana. In 1991, as a 15th seed, they beat second-seeded Syracuse. And in 1984, they knocked out an Auburn team led by Charles Barkley.

"Every time we come into an arena, we just take the attitude that the team we're playing doesn't know we're good," Richmond forward Nick Patrick said.

Cincinnati 65, Northern Arizona 62

Cincinnati's D'Juan Baker was 4-for-14 from the field before sinking a jumper as the Bearcats (27-5) avoided becoming only the fourth No. 2 to lose to a No. 15 seed.

After Baker's shot, Kawika Akina, the quick Hawaiian point guard who had seven steals, tossed up a desperate 3-pointer at the buzzer that bounced off the front of the rim.

Ross Land and Casey Frank had 13 apiece for the Lumberjacks (21-8).

North Carolina 88, Navy 52

At Hartford, the top-ranked Tar Heels (31-3) broke open the game with a 19-2 second-half run against the Midshipmen (19-11). All-American Antawn Jamison led North Carolina with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

AP PHOTO Richmond center Eric Poole hugs teammate Carlos Cueto after defeating South Carolina in NCAA East Regional action yesterday. The loss marked the second first-round loss in as many years for the Gamecocks.

It was the Tar Heels' first tournament game since 1959 without Dean Smith, who retired as coach before the season.

UNC-Charlotte 77, Illinois- Chicago 62

DeMarco Johnson had 30 points and 10 rebounds and Sean Colson added 18 points and 13 assists for UNCC (20-10), which gets its first-ever shot at North Carolina on Sunday.

Anthony Coomes scored 19 points for ninth-seeded UIC (22-6).

Washington 69, Xavier 68

At Washington, Deon Luton's 17-foot jumper with 11.2 seconds to play gave the Huskies their first NCAA Tournament victory since 1984.

Luton, who missed two free throws when Washington (19-9) led 67-66 with 53.2 seconds left, hit his game-winner after Gary Lumpkin's two free throws had given Xavier (22-8) the lead with 42.5 remaining.

West Virginia 82, Temple 52

The 10th-seeded Mountaineers (23-8) started with a 9-0 run and Temple never got close in a matchup of teams that were regular Atlantic 10 rivals before West Virginia moved to the Big East.

Jarrod West scored 15 for West Virginia and Brent Solheim added 13. Pepe Sanchez led the Owls (21-9) with 15 points.

Illinois 64, South Alabama 51

At Sacramento, Calif., the Fighting Illini used 12 steals and tenacious inside defense to force 19 turnovers.

Kevin Turner had 18 points and Matt Heldman added 15 as Illinois earned a second-round game against Maryland.

Toby Madison had 19 points to lead South Alabama (21-7).

Princeton 69, UNLV 57

Princeton started the postseason by playing the same way it did in putting up the country's best record in the regular season.

The fifth-seeded and eighth-ranked Tigers used the 3-pointer, a few backdoor cuts and some pretty good defense to beat UNLV 69-57 last night in the opening round of the East Regional.

Princeton (27-1) extended the nation's longest winning streak to 20 games by overcoming some early shooting problems and closing the first half with a 20-2 run for a 35-22 lead.

The Runnin' Rebels (20-13) cut the lead to 54-49 with 8:10 left with an 8-0 run, but as they've done for years, the Tigers went backdoor to end it.

03-13-98