OKLAHOMA CITY, Sporting Alert – The following are the latest results from the 2016 NCAA Tournament – March Madness – which took place on Sunday, March 20. Teams now move into Sweet 16 matchups.
In action in the West Regional, the two top seeds, Oregon and Oklahoma both booked places into the Sweet 16 with close single digit wins.
No. 1 seed Oregon (30-6) defeated Saint Joseph’s Hawks 69-64, with Dillon Brooks scoring 25 points in the second round game.
Elgin Cook added 18 points, four rebounds and four assists, with Tyler Dorsey, who made big shots in the closing minutes, adding 14 points and seven rebounds in the win for the Ducks, who will take on fourth-seeded Duke in the Sweet 16.
“I play with so much emotion, so much heart, it translates to everybody else on the team,” Brooks said.
“Everybody else is getting hyped. And they want to win so bad, as I do.”
Oregon won its 10th straight game, despite shooting 6 of 24 from 3-point range for 25 percent.
DeAndre Bembry led the eighth-seeded Hawks (28-8) with 16 points and 12 rebounds while Lamarr Kimble scored 11 points and Shavar Newkirk and Aaron Brown each had 10 points in the defeat.
Meanwhile, West Regional second-seeded Oklahoma collected a tight 85-81 victory over VCU, with leading contributor Buddy Hield, who bounced off a frustrating start, scoring 19 of his 36 points in the final eight minutes of the contest.
“This is the big stage,” said Hield, who made 9 of 12 shots in a very busy second half. “It’s win or go home.
“It’s my senior year. NCAA tournament. Everybody is watching.
“You don’t get these moments very often, so you go out there, you’ve got to bring it.”
The Sooners (27-7) led 44-31 at halftime, but the Rams started the second half strongly to pull within four points with 16:45 to play in the game.
Oklahoma then went on another run to build a double-digit lead, but VCU rallied again to even the scores at 59-59 with 11:02 left.
The Sooners, though, never gave up the advantage throughout the battle and managed to hold on for the win.
Jordan Woodard added 17 points and Isaiah Cousins finished with 15 for Oklahoma, which advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second straight year and will take on Texas A&M, which defeated Northern Illinois, 92-88 in 2 OT in their game.
Melvin Johnson scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half to lead the way for the Rams (25-11), who collected 22 points and nine assists from JeQuan Lewis scored 22 points and 12 points and eight rebounds from Michael Gilmore off the bench.
NCAA Tournament – March Madness Results
Scoreboard
EAST REGION
No. 6 NOTRE DAME 76, No. 14 STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 75
No. 7 WISCONSIN 66, No. 2 XAVIER 63
SOUTH REGION
No. 2 VILLANOVA 87, No. 7 IOWA 68
No. 5 MARYLAND 73, No. 13 HAWAII 60
MIDWEST REGION
No. 10 SYRACUSE 75, No. 15 MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE 50
WEST REGION
No. 2 OKLAHOMA 85, No. 10 VCU 81
No. 3 TEXAS A&M 92, No. 11 NORTHERN IOWA 88, 2 OT
No. 1 OREGON 69, No. 8 SAINT JOSEPH’S 64
