SPOKANE, Wash. – Emeka Okafor scored 20 points and blocked seven shots to lead the fifth-seeded Huskies over the No. 12 seed Cougars.

The loss by BYU (23-9) avoids a potentially embarrassing situation for the NCAA, which mistakenly put the Cougars in the South, where the Mormon-owned school would have had to play the fourth round on a Sunday.

Because BYU does not play on Sundays, the NCAA would have had to reshuffle the brackets if the Cougars make it to the third round, sending them to the Midwest.

UConn (22-9) made it moot and now will play the winner of the San Diego-Stanford game in Saturday’s second round. Ben Gordon added 14 points for the Huskies, who are 11-0 in first-round games under coach Jim Calhoun.

Stanford 77, San Diego 69

SPOKANE, Wash. – Matt Lottich scored 17 points and hit a big 3-pointer with 49.7 seconds remaining, lifting fourth-seeded Stanford in the first round of the South Regional.

The Cardinal (24-8), making their ninth straight NCAA appearance, came within a whisker of a first-round exit for the first time since 1992.

Josh Childress scored 22 points and Julius Barnes had 18 for Stanford, which blew a 19-point first-half lead but rallied after No. 13 seed San Diego (18-12) went ahead 66-63 on a bank shot by Roy Morris with 3:42 to go.

California 76,

North Carolina State 74

OKLAHOMA CITY – Richard Midgley hit a 3-pointer from the left side of the arc with 3.9 seconds left in overtime, sending the Golden Bears to the second round for the second straight year.

North Carolina State took a 74-73 lead after Scooter Sherrill hit a 3 with 12.8 seconds left. California quickly moved the ball up the court and Joe Shipp made a move to the basket before tossing it back out to Midgley, whose third 3-pointer of the game swished through.

Ninth-seeded North Carolina State (18-13) had a chance to win the game, but Sherrill missed from the top-of the key as time expired.

Oklahoma 71,

South Carolina State 54

OKLAHOMA CITY – Even though Hollis Price was clearly bothered by a strained left groin and played only 11 minutes, the top-seeded Sooners still advanced.

Price, who got hurt in the closing seconds of the Big 12 tournament title game Sunday, has another day to rest before Oklahoma (25-6) plays eighth-seeded California on Saturday. Cal (22-8) beat North Carolina State 76-74 in overtime.

De’Angelo Alexander scored 16, Blake Johnston had a career-high 15 and Jabahri Brown had 12 points and nine rebounds for the Sooners, who are seeking their second straight trip to the Final Four.

Midwest

Marquette 72, Holy Cross 68

INDIANAPOLIS – Travis Diener scored a career-high 29 points and Dwyane Wade added 15 as Marquette won an opening-round game for the first time since 1996.

Holy Cross, seeded 14th, hasn’t won an NCAA game since 1953, but for the third straight year it almost pulled off an upset of a higher-ranked team. The Crusaders lost to Kentucky in 2001 by four points and to Kansas last year by 11.

Diener, a 6-foot-1 guard who scored 17 points in the first half, gave No. 3 seed Marquette (24-5) the lead for good when he made a 3-pointer with 4:30 remaining.

Tim Szatko led the Crusaders (26-5) with 16 points, Nate Lufkin had 13 and Patrick Whearty 12.

Missouri 72,

Southern Illinois 71

INDIANAPOLIS – Rickey Paulding made one of two free throws with 4.1 seconds remaining as No. 6 seed Missouri survived an upset scare.

Kent Williams’ potential game-winner from the left wing glanced off the side of the rim at the buzzer.

The Salukis (24-7) tied it at 71 on Jermaine Dearman’s layup with 25.2 seconds left. But Dearman was called for a blocking foul on Paulding, a call the Salukis believed was questionable.

Williams, the school’s No. 2 all-time scorer, finished with 16 points – 12 in the second half. Arthur Johnson had 24 points and 11 rebounds as the Tigers (22-10) advanced to the second round for the second straight season.

Wisconsin 81,

Weber State 74

SPOKANE, Wash. – Kirk Penney scored 21 points to lead fifth-seeded Wisconsin over No. 12 Weber State.

Wisconsin’s stifling defense gets most of the credit for the team’s success this season, and the Badgers held the Wildcats (26-6) in check until the final minutes.

But it was sharp shooting that got the regular-season champions of the Big Ten out to a quick start. The Badgers shot 57 percent to take a 15-point halftime lead and finished at 53 percent.

West

Gonzaga 74, Cincinnati 69

SALT LAKE CITY – Ronny Turiaf had 22 points, including a school record-tying 16 free throws, and 10 rebounds as ninth-seeded Gonzaga won its NCAA tournament opener for the fourth time in five years.

Gonzaga – which made surprising runs from low seedings to the round of eight in 1999 and round of 16 the next two years – has just one first-round loss in the past five tournaments.

Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins, who had a heart attack in September, was ejected with about 16 minutes left for arguing a traveling call on Jason Maxiell. Cory Violette scored 14 points, and Winston Brooks added 11 for the Bulldogs (24-8). Taron Barker scored 16 points, and Armein Kirkland added 10 for Cincinnati (17-12).

Central Michigan 79, Creighton 73

SALT LAKE CITY – Mike Manciel scored a season-high 29 points as 11th-seeded Central Michigan pulled off a mild upset of Creighton despite nearly blowing a 26-point lead.

The Chippewas (25-6) allowed the lead to dwindle to two before sealing the victory by shooting 5-of-6 from the free-throw line down the stretch.

It was the Chippewas’ second first-round win in four NCAA trips.

It marks the fourth time in five years that a Mid-American Conference team has reached the second round of the tournament.

Arizona State 84,

Memphis 71

OKLAHOMA CITY – Ike Diogu scored 22 points, including 10 in a key second-half run, as Arizona State won in its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1995.

Diogu did it all against seventh-seeded Memphis, shooting 9-of-11 from the floor with a variety of post moves and even stepped out to hit a pair of 3-pointers in a 13-0 second-half run that opened up a 10-point lead for the 10th-seeded Sun Devils (20-11). His two-handed dunk with 2:41 left made it 70-59, squelching any late rally. Chris Massie scored 20 points and had 13 rebounds for seventh-seeded Memphis (23-7).

Illinois 65,

Western Kentucky 60

INDIANAPOLIS – James Augustine, Deron Williams and Dee Brown combined for 37 points, 16 rebounds and 13 assists, and Brown hit two free throws with 22.8 seconds left to seal the win for Illinois.

Big Ten player of the year Brian Cook, a senior, had his typical game with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

No. 4 seed Illinois (25-6) was the third higher-seeded team in Indianapolis to struggle Thursday, but like Marquette and Missouri in the Midwest Regional, the Illini escaped narrowly at the end.

Kansas 64, Utah St. 61

OKLAHOMA CITY – Apparently, it takes Kansas a while to get going in the NCAA tournament.

One year after surviving a scare against 16th-seeded Holy Cross, Kansas held on to beat No. 15 seed Utah State 64-61 Thursday night at the West Regional.

The second-seeded Jayhawks (28-7) questioned their seeding after winning the Big 12 regular-season title, but got more than just a tuneup from Utah State (24-9).

Notre Dame 70,

UW-Milwaukee 69

INDIANAPOLIS – Notre Dame won this one for The Clipper.

A day after shaving the heads of his Fighting Irish teammates as a show of team unity, Chris Thomas scored 27 points to lead them to a 70-69 win over Milwaukee-Wisconsin in the first round of the West Regional on Thursday night.

The 12th-seeded Panthers had a great chance to pull off the upset, but Dylan Page missed a layup just before the buzzer after getting a terrific pass from Clay Tucker. The fifth-seeded Irish (23-9) are in the second round for the third straight year, though they haven’t advanced to the round of the 16.

during that stretch. They’ll play Illinois on Saturday.

The Panthers (24-8) were making their first appearance in the NCAA tournament in their 107-year history – and first postseason appearance since the 1989 Division II tournament.

They were in no hurry to head home and played like tournament veterans down the stretch.

They led 69-68 after Jason Frederick’s 3-pointer with 2:28 left and forced an airball on Notre Dame’s next possession.

The Irish had the possession arrow and got the ball back on a tie up. After two looks at the basket, Torin Francis grabbed a loose ball in the lane and scored the winning points on a putback with 32.8 seconds to go.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee did not call timeout and Tucker, who scored 18 points, held the ball as the clock ticked down. He drove the lane and dished to Page right under the basket, but his layup rolled off the front of the rim as the buzzer sounded.