NCAA: Gary Williams has Maryland close to advancing to second round for second straight year

NCAA: Maryland leading Houston in final minutes

There may be no harder working coach on the sidelines than Gary Williams, who has Maryland close to advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the second straight year. It leads Houston 87-75 with about 2 minutes remaining.

Of course, this is when the trouble starts.

The Terps delivered Williams his signature victory when they won the 2002 national title, but they’ve made it through the second round only once since then.

Quite the three-headed monster that sent Cal to a 77-62 victory over Louisville and into a second-round game against top-seeded Duke on Sunday. Theo Robertson scored 21 points, Jerome Randle had 19 and Patrick Christopher had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Bears.

Most of the damage came at the beginning of the game and the end, a pair of 12-0 runs that left Louisville coach Rick Pitino sitting on the bench with his hands folded in exasperation.

Houston coach Tom Penders said he didn’t think his team would be tired from playing four games in four days to win the Conference USA tournament, but the legs look like they’re starting to go for the Cougars.

Maryland still leads 68-58 with under 10 minutes to go in Spokane, and Jordan Williams has been unstoppable. He has 19 points and 15 rebounds.

Max Zhang had a chance to give Cal its first bench points of the game — and bricked a free throw with 3:15 to go. Louisville raced down court and promptly turned it over.

Story of the game.

Louisville had a 30-0 edge in points off the bench, but 13 turnovers and sloppy play on defense doomed the Cardinals. Perhaps it eventually came too much for coach Rick Pitino, who was hit with a technical foul with 2:43 remaining, all but sealing the outcome.

Houston star Aubrey Coleman may have his tournament run end early, with the Terps beginning to pull away. If that’s the case, might as well answer the question now about that raised bump on the side of his neck.

Coleman has a family history of abscesses and one that required surgery resulted in a large scar that protrudes well away from his neck. In fact, the abscesses kept him off the court during his middle-school and early high school days.

Fifty years after winning the national title, the Buckeyes are one step closer to another.

They defeated UC-Santa Barbara 68-51 despite an off night from Evan Turner, getting 23 points from Jon Diebler and 16 from William Buford. Big man Dallas Lauderdale had 10 boards to go with eight blocked shots.

The Buckeyes will play Georgia Tech, which held on to beat Oklahoma State earlier Friday.

Either the game officials from the wild New Mexico State-Michigan State game didn’t want to talk about their rare call that helped the Spartans escape, or they were late for a dinner reservation in downtown Spokane on Friday night.

The three refs — including Ray Perone, who called New Mexico State’s Troy Gillenwater for stepping into the lane too early on a late Michigan State missed free throw — were gone from the arena within 20 minutes of game’s end. The Associated Press, as the pool outlet to provide official explanations on controversial rulings, tried in vain to ask Perone what he saw.

The lane violation is a did-he-or-didn’t-he call, much like offsides in football. And Gillenwater admitted he lost his balance and fell into the lane too early.

Still, New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies had to be restrained by his assistants from going after the officials after the frenetic ending.

Later, somewhat more calm and philosophical over how his team battled one of the nation’s elite programs to the final possession, Menzies said with a shrug: “You know, I wish it would have gone uncalled in this particular instance. In Ray’s opinion, he felt he should call it.

“We would have had a much different approach to the last few seconds. I think I would have had something designed to get us to the foul line (down 2, to tie), at least.”

Wes Johnson, the Big East player of the year, had 18 points and six rebounds as Syracuse routed Vermont 79-56 to set up a second-round game against Gonzaga on Sunday.

The Orange also got 14 points from Scoop Jardine off the bench, and Rick Jackson, Brandon Triche and Andy Rautins were also in double-figures scoring.

Maurice Joseph was 2 for 13 from the field for Vermont, which forced 16 turnovers but couldn’t take advantage of them. The Catamounts shot 34.8 percent from the field and went 5 of 22 from beyond the arc.

Mike Montgomery has been to the Final Four already, when he was roaming the sidelines for Stanford, but he’s also had a lot of NCAA tournament disappointments. His Cal team was bounced in the first round last year, and his last Cardinal team was 30-1 when it lost in the second round of the 2004 tournament.

This might be the best chance he has to make a run for a while, too. Patrick Christopher, Jerome Randle, Theo Robertson and Jamal Boykin are all seniors. They’ve combined for 50 points — all but a field goal by sophomore Jorge Gutierrez — as Cal leads Maryland 52-39.

UC-Santa Barbara probably figured it would have a chance if the Buckeyes’ Evan Turner went 1 for 12 from the field. Too bad they have guys such as Jon Diebler ready to fill it up.

The often-overlooked junior guard has hit 7 of 10 3-pointers for a season-high 23 points, or roughly double his average. Ohio State leads 59-46 with about 6 minutes left at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

Cal swingman Patrick Christopher set his season high of 28 points against Washington earlier this year, and he’s taking aim at it against Louisville. He already has 15 points to go with eight rebounds, and the Bears may need all he can muster.

They got out to a 22-4 run to start the game, but coach Rick Pitino’s scrappy Cardinals have whittled the lead to 43-36 with 17 minutes left.

Maryland looked like it was going to get the last shot of the first half, but Houston’s Aubrey Coleman managed to throw an outlet pass to Adam Brown, who hit an awkward-looking heave from just inside the midcourt line at the buzzer to make it 39-37 Terps at the break.

The referees reviewed the shot, which left Brown’s fingers with two-tenths left.

Coleman had 16 in the first half for Houston, while Maryland got 10 points and 10 rebounds from Jordan Williams but little from leading scorer Greivis Vasquez. He scored only four.

Mark Titus, Ohio State’s well-known walk-on who blogs, never plays and recently had shoulder surgery, has been filing updates before the NCAA tournament on his Twitter account.

His prep for the Buckeyes’ game against UC Santa Barbara? A lot of video games. He said he played Super Mario Kart and then sent out for one of his more than 13,500 followers to beat his time. That happened, too, a couple of hours later.

AP Sports Writer Rusty Miller profiled Titus in January.

He wrote, “Titus’ blog is about NOT being a superstar or being worshipped at the age of 20. It’s about losing, getting little or no respect, learning and having fun — sort of a microcosm of the college experience.”

Indeed.

So much for Vermont trying to stun Syracuse twice in the NCAA tournament.

The Orange are putting the crush on the Catamounts, leading 54-35 with about 12 minutes left. Syracuse has hit seven 3-pointers to build its big lead.

Syracuse had lost two straight coming into the tournament, at Louisville in the official finale at Freedom Hall, and to Georgetown at Madison Square Garden in the Big East tournament, but is having no problem for the second straight year in the NCAA’s first round.

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Aubrey Coleman is known for more than just his hot shooting in Houston. He was the player who, last season, was called for charging in a game against Arizona. As he walked over the Wildcats’ Chase Buddinger, he appeared to purposely stomp on Buddinger’s head.

Coleman apologized for the incident and said he never meant to step on Buddinger, even though the video — a YouTube sensation — seemed to indicate otherwise. Coleman wound up receiving a one-game suspension.

Houston hasn’t won an NCAA tournament game since 1984, the final year of the Phi Slama Jama era, when the Cougars lost to Patrick Ewing’s Georgetown team in the national title game. Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler were the stars on those squads, but even the most ardent hoops fans would be hard-pressed to name one player on this years’ edition of the Cougars.

That said, Aubrey Coleman is trying to spread his name. The dynamic senior averaged 25.6 points this season and has 11 in the first half against Maryland.

Houston is giving coach Tom Penders everything it can against Maryland, leading throughout much of the first half. Penders is in the NCAA tournament with his fourth team, but it’s been quite awhile since he won a game.

Penders led George Washington to the dance in 1999, but lost in the opening round. It was back in 1997, when he was at Texas, that Penders last won a game, reaching the round of 16 that year. He also took Rhode Island to the sweet land in 1988.

Louisville quietly went on a 12-0 run to get itself going against Cal, trimming what had been a 22-4 deficit to 32-24 with about 6 minutes to go in the half.

The Cardinals are trying to keep things going in the right direction for the Big East, which experienced a mild disaster on Thursday. West Virginia has already won on Day 2, and Syracuse is taking care of Vermont at halftime.

Maryland and Houston have nothing on the Jackson 5 when it comes to finding some rhythm.

The two teams are a combined 9 of 27 from the field, including 1 of 11 from beyond the arc, and the Terps have already turned it over four times with 12 minutes left. Greveis Vasquez has missed his first two attempts.

Syracuse built a 25-point lead with 6:39 left before halftime, but Vermont came alive at the end, using a 15-2 spurt to trail 37-25. It was a quick half in Buffalo, mainly because there were only 12 total fouls.

Wes Johnson, the Big East player of the year, is only 3 of 8 from the field for the Orange. Scoop Jardine has 11 points off the bench.

Jon Diebler is 4 of 6 from 3-point range and has 14 of Ohio State’s 27 points. After a brief run by UC Santa Barbara, the Buckeyes have gone on a 13-0 spurt and lead 27-13 with 3:22 left in the first half.

For all those Division III hopes fans out there, the national championship will be decided by Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Williams College on Saturday. Stevens Point beat Randolph-Macon 72-60 in the semifinals from Salem, Va., just after Williams beat Guilford College 97-88.

The Division II quarterfinals are Wednesday, with St. Cloud State playing Midwestern State, Indiana, Pa. against Valdosta State, St. Joseph’s, Ind. versus Cal Poly Pomona, and Bently against Augusta State.

Anybody want to put a hand in the face of Cal guard Patrick Christopher? Or anybody else wearing a Bears jersey, for that matter?

Christopher drained his first three 3-pointers, Cal opened the game 7 of 10 from the field, and Louisville called a timeout with the game already getting out of hand. The lowest-seeded team from the Big East is staring at a 22-4 hole.

Although there are a bunch of Ohio State fans at the Bradley Center, the crowd is clearly behind UC Santa Barbara. The loudest cheers of the night came as the Gauchos went on a 10-1 run to cut Ohio State’s lead to 14-13 with just over 8 minutes to play in the first half.

The Buckeyes’ Evan Turner missed three of his first four shots.

Louisville fans haven’t had much to cheer about, watching Cal get out to a 12-2 lead, but they spent the 15-minute delay caused by a broken shot clock getting warmed up for spring football. Their new coach, Charlie Strong, walked to his seat, prompting chants of “Charlie Strong, Charlie Strong.”

The Cardinals’ football team begins workouts Wednesday, with Strong leading the way after replacing the tremendously unsuccessful Steve Kragthorpe. Strong was the defensive coordinator at Florida, and has also coached at South Carolina, Notre Dame and Ole Miss.

Greivis Vasquez almost mirrors the fiery demeanor of Maryland coach Gary Williams, leading to frequent, explosive confrontations on the sideline. But it’s that me-against-the-world mentality that has allowed Vasquez to graduate from a rough Venezuelan neighborhood full of malandros — or drug dealers — to a starring role with the Terps.

He’s the first player in ACC history with at least 2,000 points, 750 assists and 600 rebounds, but the numbers aren’t as impressive as the story. He moved to the United States when he was 16, starred at Montrose Christian Academy and moved on to College Park.

Basketball isn’t that popular in Venezuela, dwarfed by baseball and soccer, and Vasquez is already better known than NBA part-timers Carl Herrera and Oscar Torres.

Cal and Louisville finally started after a broken shot clock delayed things in Jacksonville, Fla. It’s an important game for Cal and especially Patrick Christopher, who has designs on playing professionally but needs a good showing in the NCAA tournament.

Cal won its first Pac-10 title in 50 years to keep itself from sitting precariously on the bubble last Sunday. The Bears shoot well from beyond the 3-point line and are 20-1 when they are better from the field overall.

David Lighty has been through plenty of ups and downs for Ohio State.

He’s the only contributor left from the 2007 team led by Mike Conley and Greg Oden that reached the national championship game. The Buckeyes won the NIT the following year, then reached the first round of the NCAA tournament last year.

Behind star guard Evan Turner, the Buckeyes are a popular pick to make headlines in the NCAA tournament, and their path got a little bit easier when third-seeded Georgetown — a potential regional semifinal opponent — lost to Ohio.

Few teams succeed in the postseason without good point-guard play, and that includes teams that split the duty. Syracuse does just that with Brandon Triche and Scoop Jardine.

Then again, it worked out for the Orange the last time they had this kind of setup. That was in 2003, when they won the title.

Troy Gillenwater came in to hit a 3-pointer from the wing, getting New Mexico State within 68-67, and he was called for holding on the inbounds play with 18.6 seconds left.

Raymar Morgan, a 66-percent foul shooter, made the first of two free throws for the Spartans. The second rattled out, but Wendell McKines was whistled for a lane violation, giving Morgan another chance. He made it.

Jonathan Gibson and Hernst Laroche both missed potential tying 3-point shots, allowing the Spartans to squeak by, 70-67.

Trailing 68-64, New Mexico State used up nearly all the shot clock before Hernst Laroche missed a deep 3-point try. The ball bounced out of bounds to stay with the Aggies, but there is only 22.9 seconds left and it’s a two-possession game.

Nobody put a body on Raymar Morgan, whose putback jam gave the Spartans a four-point lead with under 2 minutes left. Wendell McKines went to the foul line, where he’s a poor shooter, and made one of two for New Mexico State.

The Spartans melted the clock, and Durrell Summers came up with a big offensive rebound to keep possession. Jahmar Young promptly fouled out — even though the Aggies didn’t need to foul with 51.8 seconds still on the clock.

Young fell to the court with what appeared to be cramps after giving up the foul.

Foul trouble could be a key in the closing minutes for Michigan State and New Mexico State. The Spartans’ Korie Lucious, Durrell Summers and Raymar Morgan all have four fouls, and the Aggies’ Jonathan Gibson and Jahmar Young have four each.

The Spartans lead 65-63 with 2:17 to go, and the Aggies have missed seven straight from the field.

The Spartans’ Chris Allen went to the bench with a right foot injury, his shoe off and a trainer looking at it while he held his head in his hands. He’d been just 1 of 4 from the field, but is a sure ball-handler who could come in handy in the closing minutes.

The game was tied 63-all with under 4 minutes to go, the teams swapping the lead half a dozen times over the past 7 minutes.

There’s a Vermont fan wearing a lime-green nylon suit and school sweatshirt, and it reads, “I wore this once, in 2005,” a reference to Vermont’s stunning overtime upset of Syracuse.

As if the Orange need any more reasons to be angry.

They were unceremoniously dumped in their first game of the Big East tournament, losing big man Arinze Onuaku to a quadriceps injury in the process. He’ll miss this game and possibly Sunday — assuming Syracuse wins — but could return for the round of 16.

James Anderson lost the ball in the lane with about 20 seconds to go and Oklahoma State trailing 62-59, and the Cowboys didn’t even get off a shot to tie the game. Anderson struggled all the way, going 3 for 11 from the field and missing all four of his 3-point tries.

Tech was 64 percent from the foul line this season, but was 24 of 25 in beating Oklahoma State 64-59. The only miss was by Iman Shumpert, who made the other seven, including two clutch free throws with under a minute to go.

The Yellow Jackets will play Ohio State or UC-Santa Barbara on Sunday.

The Yellow Jackets were forced to burn their final timeout with about a minute left and clinging to a 60-59 lead. Iman Shumpert then drove the lane and was tripped, falling to the floor in pain. He came to his feet and stepped to the stripe, where he made both to give Georgia Tech a 62-59 lead with 42.5 seconds remaining.

Tech is 22 of 23 from the foul line for the game, and Shumpert is 7 of 8.

Duke did precisely what it was expected to do, shutting down play-in winner Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a 73-44 rout. The Blue Devils will play the winner of Cal-Louisville on Sunday.

So much for basking in victory. Gonzaga was not even off the court after its win over Florida State when a huge cheer swept through HSBC Arena as Syracuse came onto the floor for the late game in Buffalo.

And anybody who thought Vermont would get some love playing reasonably close to home, that loud boo when the Catamounts took the floor ought to put an end to that.

Gonzaga is into the second round of the NCAA tournament for the second straight year, holding off a spirited Florida State rally for a 67-60 victory in the West Regional. The Bulldogs will try to make it two tournament wins for the first time since 1999 when they play the Syracuse-Vermont winner on Sunday.

Tom Izzo has been storming the Michigan State bench. Not only did New Mexico State to go on a 13-2 run to open the second half, but the referees called offensive goaltending on a 3-pointer by Korie Lucious that bounced high off the rim before landing back on the front of the rim and falling through the net.

A Michigan State player went up for a tip-in, but didn’t appear to touch the ball before it dropped. Izzo raised both arms in the arm pacing the bench and screaming at the referees.

Beware those No. 12 seeds. New Mexico State has surged ahead of Michigan State, 53-52 with about 11 minutes to go, its first lead since 2-0. Jonathan Gibson has led the way, but Troy Gillenwater has been huge off the bench for the Aggies. He has 11 points and eight boards.

Kalin Lucas is 6 for 8 from the floor for Michigan State, but the rest of his teammates are just 11 for 33.

Deividas Dulkys made one of the ugliest 3-pointers in NCAA tournament history to get Florida State within 59-55, but Michael Snaer missed both foul shots with 1:37 remaining and a chance to trim the lead to two.

Matt Bouldin went to the foul line for Gonzaga, where he’s a better than 86 percent shooter, and calmly drained both to make it a six-point game with just over a minute to go.

Gonzaga hanging to a 57-52 lead over Florida State with just 3 minutes to play. Syracuse assistant coach Mike Hopkins is scouting the game. HSBC Arena looks to be full, and lots of Orange on hand for Syracuse-Vermont later.

Florida State is trying to scratch its way back, getting within 51-44 after a 3-pointer from Luke Loucks and a slew of foul shots. But then Loucks blew an opportunity for a dunk — he didn’t even try to stuff it — and Robert Sacre went to the foul line at the other end.

Gonzaga leads 53-47 with 5 minutes left, but it hasn’t hit a field goal since Demetri Goodson’s layup with 9:07 to go.

Dash Harris only scored three points for Texas A&M in its 69-53 win over Utah State, but he had five assists for the Aggies in his first game back from a wrist injury that forced him to miss the Big 12 Tournament.

Harris said after the game that the injury still bothers him the most on the follow- through, but it keeps getting better everyday. He injured the wrist in a hard fall against Oklahoma in the Aggies’ final game of the regular season.

Give play-in winner Arkansas Pine-Bluff another NCAA tournament victory. No, the Golden Lions aren’t going to upset No. 1 seed Duke. But the school band has outperformed all others in Jacksonville, Fla., with members dancing and swaying in unison as they belt out tunes.

Duke has shown it can score this season, going over 100 points on four occasions, but the Blue Devils are proving they can win with defense, too. Arkansas-Pine Bluff has managed just 26 points with 13 minutes remaining in their first-round game.

The best the Blue Devils have done on D was against Gonzaga, when they won 76-41, while Pine Bluff failed to crack 50 twice — and needed OT do so twice more.

Gonzaga going with a zone defense, trying to clog the inside, where Florida State has been doing all the damage. It resulted in a poor shot and the Bulldogs got out and ran, getting a transition bucket by Demetri Goodson at the other end.

The lead is back to 51-38, and Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton called a timeout to settle his young team. There’s only 9:07 left.

Florida State is shooting 73 percent from the field in the second after a 23-percent clip over the first 20 minutes. The question is whether the Seminoles will have enough time to come all the way back, still trailing 48-38 with 11½ minutes to go.

Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State have been matching each other shot-for-shot all game, and if it comes down to the final minutes, Tech should have an advantage.

The Yellow Jackets won three straight by less than five points during the ACC tournament, before losing 65-61 to Duke in the final. They also won games against Clemson, North Carolina State and North Carolina by two points each.

Oklahoma State won its only game decided by one possession, beating Stanford 71-70 early in the season, although it lost 62-57 to Oklahoma in overtime.

Jaguars star running back Maurice Jones-Drew is on hand for the second half of Arkansas Pine-Bluff-Duke in Jacksonville, Fla., and surely will be rooting for Cal in the late game. Jones-Drew grew up in the Bay Area.

Florida State is just 1 for 11 from beyond the 3-point line, which only highlights the perimeter woes that have plagued the ‘Noles all season. They shoot just 33.6 percent from beyond the arc as a team.

They are finally starting to look inside, though, and are in the midst of a 13-5 spurt that has trimmed Gonzaga’s lead to 10 and forced coach Mark Few to call a timeout. Chris Singleton is leading the charge, with all five of his points in the game.

Iman Shumpert is struggling for Georgia Tech, going 1 for 6 from the field, as Oklahoma State continues to keep the Yellow Jackets at bay.

If the name sounds familiar, Preston Shumpert played for Syracuse a few years back. The two are not related.

Florida State hasn’t escaped the first round of the NCAA tournament since 1998, losing in the first round last year and headed that way this time around. Gonzaga leads 39-23 early in the second half.

Raymar Morgan has missed his only shot for Michigan State, and he’ll need to score if the Spartans want to make a deep run. He’s been hot lately, scoring at least 16 points in each of his last four games, but he’s also had games where he went scoreless.

The 6-foot-8 senior could take his game to the next level, and there’s no better stage for pro scouts than the NCAA tournament. But it’s hard to break a leg when you don’t show up.

New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies got hit with a technical foul, and the Aggies could use something — even a technical — to wake them up. They trail Michigan State 37-22.

The UCLA alum has done a nice job since taking over New Mexico State, which shouldn’t come as much surprise. He’s worked with or under Lon Kruger, Henry Bibby and Steve Fisher while earning his stripes.

Mike Krzyzewski looks like he’ll be adding to his win total of 71 in the NCAA tournament, with the Blue Devils comfortably ahead of Arkansas Pine-Bluff.

How does the Tobacco Road teacher fare against other coaching greats?

Former North Carolina coach Dean Smith has won 65 games in the tournament, and current Tar Heels coach Roy Williams has 55 wins. The Wizard of Westwood, John Wooden, had 45 at UCLA — although he also has 10 titles, and there were few teams in the tournament back then.

Williams still has his team alive — in the NIT.

Spokane is the only regional host with no break between afternoon and evening sessions. Arena workers cleared out the place in a hurry after the Texas A&M win, and many hadn’t gotten to their seats in time for the quick turnaround. That, and the Gonzaga-on-TV factor, resulted in a whole slew of empty seats.

One scalper outside the arena said he couldn’t get rid of two seats in the second deck for $40 each, about face value. Fans were holding out to get courtside seats for $65.

New Mexico State’s Jahmar Young was at the free-throw line when a fan yelled, “Lucas is your daddy!” Young has been in the media spotlight after saying that he hadn’t heard of Michigan State guard Kalin Lucas.

Young made both free throws to cut Michigan State’s lead to 24-16 with 9:13 left — but refrained from asking the fan, “Who’s YOUR daddy?”

Oklahoma State is 3 of 13 from 3-point range and 10 of 12 inside. That’s another reason the Cowboys are up 36-31 at halftime over Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets are 11 of 25 from the field, but decided not to go inside until the very end of the half when both Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal had short shots to cut the lead to three.

Obi Muonelo answered with a bank shot for the Cowboys just before the buzzer.

Oklahoma State leads Georgia Tech 36-31 at the break, thanks to its ability to hang onto the ball. The Cowboys committed just three first-half turnovers.

Georgia Tech has a huge size advantage, but when it takes open perimeter shots it had better start knocking them down. The Jackets were 1 for 6 from 3 in the first half.

Numbers don’t always tell the whole story, but the book sure is favoring Gonzaga in its game against Florida State. The Bulldogs shot 52 percent from the field in the first half and had a 22-12 rebounding advantage while taking a 35-19 lead into halftime.

The Seminoles shot just 6 of 28 from the floor (21 percent).

Spokane resident Jud Heathcote is in the fourth row behind the Michigan State bench. The 82-year-old who coached Magic Johnson to the NCAA championship in 1979 wasn’t planning to make his annual trip with the Spartans during the NCAA tournament because he didn’t feel up to it.

Then the selection committee brought the Spartans to him.

Heathcote was a longtime high school coach in Spokane and an assistant at Washington State. He retired to Spokane and has become a fixture at Gonzaga basketball, where he mentors coach Mark Few. He hosted some Michigan State boosters Thursday, and went out to dinner with the team on Wednesday night at a seafood joint overlooking Spokane Falls.

He and Spartans coach Tom Izzo talk all the time. Izzo said having Heathcote with the team here in Spokane is good for “chemistry,” joking the team needed more togetherness.

Even the New Mexico State mascot and cheerleaders were ready for the start of their team’s first-round game against Michigan State in Spokane. Guns — toy ones, we trust — were at the ready in a holster over the mustachioed cowboy’s hips.

The cheerleaders? They were grunting like football players while waiting in the arena’s tunnel to take the floor. Their male counterparts got fired up over that.

Oklahoma State leads Georgia Tech 9-0 in fastbreak points, and part of the problem is the Yellow Jackets turn the ball over quite a bit. Coach Paul Hewitt even joked Thursday that fans better keep their hands at the ready. So far the number of turnovers is seven with 3:13 to go in the half.

They’re still in the game thanks to some excellent shooting and a big rebounding advantage, which is to be expected given the size difference in the paint.

Duke’s mascot is wearing a headband made of tape that reads: “Played In, Blown Out.” The Blue Devils lead opening-round game winner Arkansas Pine-Bluff 24-10.

Jonathan Gibson hit his first three shots, keeping New Mexico State within striking distance of the Spartans. Two of them were 3-pointers. The senior averages 17.5 points and is shooting better than 40 percent beyond the arc.

With 15:26 left in the first half, about a quarter of the seats in the Spokane Arena are empty for the Michigan State-New Mexico State game. Most of the basketball fans in Spokane are busy watching Gonzaga take on Florida State, which is being played in Buffalo.

At least CBS will be happy with the TV ratings in the Northwest.

Elias Harris made four of his first five shots to help Gonzaga race to an early double-digit lead against Florida State. The 20-year-old freshman was born and raised in Germany, but he holds dual citizenship with the United States.

Harris played for Germany in the 2009 European Championships, losing to a France team led by former Gonzaga star Ronny Turiaf.

___Two of Georgia Tech’s first three baskets were in the paint. Since then, only Favors has scored down low. The result? Oklahoma State has taken a 26-21 lead and is actually winning the battle inside, 8-6, with under 8 minutes to play in the first half.

The two teams still have not missed a free throw, going 10 for 10.

Miami Heat president Pat Riley was on hand for Duke’s first-round game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. It was a good bet the Hall of Fame coach was checking out guard Jon Scheyer, forward Lance Thomas and center Brian Zoubek — all seniors.

Oklahoma State and Georgia Tech have combined to hit their first nine foul shots, a refreshing mark these days in college basketball. It figures that the two evenly matched teams are tied 19-all with about 10 minutes left before halftime.

Michigan State has just tipped off in Spokane, Wash. Keep an eye on Draymond Green, perhaps the Spartans’ most consistent player. Everybody likes to watch Raymar Morgan and Kalin Lucas, but Green can fill it up off the bench.

Gonzaga is showing no mercy to Florida State, a team that always seems on the cusp of big things late in the season, then doesn’t deliver. The Seminoles trail 24-9 just over midway through the first half, and are 4 of 15 from the field with five turnovers.

The Bulldogs are also outrebounding the ‘Noles 12-5.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff might have some of the best uniforms in the tournament: gold-on-black, simple striping down the sides, UAPB in block letters over the number. Classic.

Figured it was worth tossing out there, because it might be the only good thing to say about the Golden Lions. Duke is already up 11-5 with 3½ minutes gone, and the Blue Devils are coming into this tournament trying to make a statement.

The smallest guy on the floor for Oklahoma State, 5-foot-9 Keiton Page, has hit both of his 3-point attempts for Oklahoma State. Georgia Tech’s Derrick Favors, a potential lottery pick if he enters the NBA draft, has hit both of his shots inside as Georgia Tech takes a 15-13 lead.

For all the fans of Division III hoops, Williams College has defeated Guilford College 97-88 in a semifinal. Wisconsin-Stevens Point meets Randolph Macon in the other semifinal.

There are number of one-and-done candidates to keep on an eye on this year, guys that will probably being playing 82-game schedules come fall. John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins are both in that mix, but so is Derrick Favors from Georgia Tech.

Other players that might think about heading to the pros are Kansas star Xavier Henry, whose stock is on the rise, and Gonzaga’s Elias Harris. He’s averaging 14.7 points and at 6-foot-7, has the kind of perimeter size that makes NBA scouts salivate. Harris averages nearly 47 percent from 3-point range, even though he hasn’t shot many.

Gonzaga is up early on Florida State, which should put coach Mark Few at ease. His team went 0-2 against teams from the ACC during the regular season, losing to Wake Forest and Duke, the latter in a 76-41 rout.

Robert Sacre has been big late in the season for Gonzaga, finally using all 7-feet, 247 pounds to give the Bulldogs an inside presence. He scored 23 earlier in the season against Davidson but can disappear at times — hard to do for someone his size.

Here’s something for mid-majors everywhere to hang their hopes on: Seven one-bid conferences have won a game so far, the most since the same number in 2001.

Winners have come from the Colonial, Horizon, Ivy, Mid-American, Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley and Southwestern Athletic conferences.

Two teams can add to that total tonight, although it won’t be easy. Vermont takes on top-seeded Syracuse out of the America East, while UC-Santa Barbara (Big West) gets to tangle with Evan Turner and No. 2-seeded Ohio State in the Midwest Regional.

So what if Arkansas-Pine Bluff has to play Duke? It beat Winthrop 61-44 in the opening-round game and is brimming with confidence in its first NCAA tournament. Might as well try to knock off the top-seeded bluebloods.

The problem is it’s hard to upset veteran teams, and Duke is about as seasoned as it gets. Jon Scheyer, Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek are all seniors, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith are both juniors, and Seth Curry and Miles Plumlee are sophomores. It’s difficult to put a team like that together in an era of early entries for the NBA draft.

Tom Izzo is 31-11 in the NCAA tournament, a pretty tidy resume as he brings another Michigan State into the madness of March. But this edition has been spotty this season, playing phenomenal one night and struggling the next.

The Spartans will be dealing with a New Mexico State team that stunned a lot of people by winning the Western Athletic Conference tournament and earning the automatic bid.

Keep an eye on Oklahoma State’s James Anderson, one of the best players in the country that nobody talks about. He averaged just 13 points two years ago, but has ramped that up to better than 22 a game for the Cowboys.

Georgia Tech will try to counter with freshman Derrick Favors, who averages 12.5 points and 8.5 rebounds. The Yellow Jackets will have a huge height advantage.

Gonzaga is making its 12th straight trip to the NCAA tournament, quite a run for any team, much less a so-called mid-major. The Bulldogs made it as an at-large team this time after losing to St. Mary’s in the West Coast Conference tournament.

Their three losses early in the season came against Michigan State, Duke and Wake Forest.

Florida State has one of the nation’s best defenses, led by forwards Solomon Alabi and Chris Singleton. Alabi leads the team with 12.3 points per game and is second in rebounds (6.7). Singleton leads the team in rebounds (7.1).___

Texas A&M and Pittsburgh are the only teams with a first-round NCAA tournament win each of the last five seasons, after the Aggies knocked off Utah State 69-53. Pittsburgh easily beat Oakland earlier in the day.

Aggies coach Mark Turgeon has a nice personal run, too. The last five times he’s taken a team to the NCAA tournament — three with Texas A&M and twice with Wichita State — he has coached into the weekend. The Shockers missed the tournament entirely in his final season before leaving for College Station.

Texas A&M will take on Purdue on Sunday in a matchup of two teams that rely heavily on defense. The Boilermakers shut down Siena in the first round.

Texas A&M strings together eight straight points, beginning with a pair of free throws from David Loubeau and ending with B.J. Holmes’ 3-pointer, and the lead has swelled to 65-47 with under 4 minutes to go.

Utah State had a nice season, getting an at-large bid with 27 wins despite losing to New Mexico State in its league tournament. But it sure looks like the run is about to end. Utah State’s last loss was Jan. 4 against Louisiana Tech.

Texas A&M freshman Khris Middleton averages 7 points a game but had scored 15, 17 and 14 in his last three games. Middleton is using his size advantage against smaller Utah State and has a career-high 19 points.

Closing in on the evening slate of games, which kicks off with Florida State-Gonzaga from Buffalo in about 30 minutes. Georgia Tech takes on Oklahoma State in an intriguing first-round matchup between evenly matched teams, and Michigan State takes on New Mexico State in one of those 5-12 games.

Oh, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff makes its appearance against top-seeded Duke.