Penn puts up fight vs. Texas

Memphis beat Oral Roberts, 94-78, and Bucknell nipped Arkansas, 59-55.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS (AP) -- Texas was supposed to have an easier time in the first round of the NCAA tournament, especially playing near home with LaMarcus Aldridge and P.J. Tucker in the lineup.
Penn made things difficult, but the second-seeded Longhorns escaped with a 60-52 victory Friday night.
The Ivy League champion Quakers (20-9) were only down a point and had the ball when coach Fran Dunphy called timeout with 5:53 left. But Eric Osmundson then missed a 3-pointer, Tucker grabbed the rebound, and Daniel Gibson drove for the first of consecutive layups -- with Brad Buckman's blocked shot rebounded by Aldridge in between -- to put Texas up 45-40.
Still, it was Aldridge and Tucker who bailed out Texas (28-6). They got little help, including the Texas guards who were held scoreless before halftime when Penn led 23-22.
Aldridge finished his first NCAA tourney game with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Tucker, the Big 12 player of the year, had 17 points and 12 rebounds.
The Longhorns will play North Carolina State in the second round of the Atlanta Regional on Sunday in Dallas.
Memphis 94, Oral Roberts 78
Andre Allen isn't the Memphis player opposing teams consider a serious threat. He's a 5-foot-10 guard who comes off the bench and doesn't make a lot of shots, especially from long range.
In the first round of the NCAA tournament, Miller had quite a 2 1/2-minute spurt late in the first half, providing the spark the top-seeded Tigers needed to finally push ahead of feisty Oral Roberts.
"There's a star born in all of these games and today it seemed to be Andre Allen," Memphis coach John Calipari said.
Allen matched his season high, scoring all 11 of his points with three 3-pointers in that quick burst after Oral Roberts took a 33-29 lead. He had made 15 3s all season, with only three the previous 16 games, two of them coming in the same game a month ago.
"We thought he was a driver mostly," Oral Roberts' Ken Tutt said. "He stepped up and hit the shots. We didn't adjust early enough."
Oral Roberts (21-12) still led by a point before Allen hit a 3-pointer from the left side. After a miss by the Golden Eagles, Allen hit a long-range shot from the right side, and added another 3 with 2:58 left to put the Tigers up 44-35.
"My job is usually to help the team by playing defense and leading the club," Allen said. "But they were giving me shots, so I had to take them. We all have the green light if we're open."
Conference USA player of the year Rodney Carney had 19 points to lead five players in double figures for Memphis (31-3), which played its first game as a No. 1 seed. The Tigers tied a team record for wins, matching the 1984-85 team that went to the Final Four.
Bucknell 59, Arkansas 55
Kansas last year, Arkansas this year. The Bucknell Bison sure are taking down some historic programs on their way to making a name for themselves.
The Patriot League champions moved to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the second straight year Friday, this time taking the unusual route of making more 3-pointers than 2s in a 59-55 victory over the Razorbacks.
Charles Lee and Kevin Bettencourt combined for 42 points and nine of Bucknell's season-high 11 3s, many of them fired when the shot clock was nearly running out. The Bison (27-6) made only six shots inside the arc, going more than 15 minutes between them at one point.
"Wow," Lee said, marveling at the bizarre box score. "We were just feeling it today."
Bucknell usually doesn't play that way. Then again, in their academic-oriented conference, the Bison usually don't face teams as big and quick as Arkansas (22-10).
"Hey, we held them to 37 percent shooting -- that's great defense," Razorbacks coach Stan Heath said. "You can say we didn't defend the 3, but about four were with 1 second, 2 seconds, left on the shot clock, guys on them and they get it off, and it goes in."
N.C. State 58, California 52
North Carolina State's video crew is going to have to get back to work. That season highlight film they made this week needs to be updated.
Refocused by that reminder of how good they can be, the 10th-seeded Wolfpack snapped a four-game losing streak.
Editors can go straight to the final 3 minutes of this one for a pair of memorable tie-breaking baskets by Cameron Bennerman.
First, the senior swingman made a tough 15-footer off the right side of the foul line. Then he faked a defender to get an open 3-pointer with 32.3 seconds left, helping N.C. State (22-9) avenge a first-round tourney loss to the Golden Bears three years ago. Cal won that won on a 3 with 3.9 seconds left.