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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Duke’s done.

Eric Maynor hit a 15-foot jumper with 1.8 seconds left to give Virginia Commonwealth a 79-77 upset victory over the Blue Devils in the first round of the NCAA tournament Thursday night. Maynor finished with 22 points, six in the final 1:24.

Duke lost a first-round game for the first time since 1996. The loss also ended the Blue Devils’ string of Sweet 16 appearances at nine.

Fittingly, it was VCU (28-6) that knocked off George Mason – the tournament’s surprise team last year – in the Colonial Athletic Association championship game. Maynor sealed that 65-59 win by scoring nine of his 20 points in the final 2 minutes.

Greg Paulus scored a career-high 25 points for Duke, seeded sixth in the West Regional. Josh McRoberts added a career-high 22 points and had 12 rebounds.

Jesse Pellot-Rosa’s 16-foot jumper gave VCU a 72-71 lead with 2:03 remaining. The Blue Devils (22-11) tied it three times, the last time at 77 when DeMarcus Nelson went coast-to-coast to hit a layup with 10.3 seconds left.

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Maynor took the ensuing inbound pass and carried the ball across center court. Driving to the paint, he pulled up and hit a perfect jumper from just above the foul line.

The Blue Devils’ chance to pull off a last-second victory failed when Paulus’ wild attempt from midcourt hit wide of the basket and off the backboard.

VCU will face Pittsburgh in the second round.

Pittsburgh 79, Wright State 58

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – No first-round exit this time for Pittsburgh.

The Panthers, ousted in the first round seven times in 18 previous appearances in the NCAA tournament, used their long-range marksmanship instead of their considerable brawn, hitting 10 of 21 3-pointers, and beat Wright State.

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Ronald Ramon hit four 3s and finished with 14 points, and Sam Young had 13 to lead the Panthers, who never trailed. Pittsburgh (28-7), the third seed in the West Regional, will meet 11th-seeded Virginia Commonwealth (28-6) in the second round on Saturday. VCU upset Duke 79-77 just moments before the Panthers and Raiders took the floor at HSBC Arena.

Pittsburgh built 13-point leads three times in the first half against Wright State (23-10), hitting seven of 12 3-pointers and forging a 43-30 at the break. And when the Panthers began the second half with an 11-3 spurt, the Raiders couldn’t recover.

UCLA 70, Weber St. 42

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Arron Afflalo put an awful game behind him in UCLA’s impressive NCAA tournament opener.

Shaking off a terrible performance in last week’s Pac-10 tournament, Afflalo had 22 points and eight rebounds against Weber State (20-12).

Darren Collison had 14 points and eight assists while playing on a sprained ankle for the second-seeded Bruins (27-5).

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Dezmon Harris led Weber State with 10 points.

UCLA will face Indiana in the second round.

Indiana 70, Gonzaga 57

Roderick Wilmont scored 22 points and hit six of his team’s nine 3-pointers, and the Hoosiers avenged a loss to Gonzaga last March.

Wilmont shot 8-for-16 and also added seven rebounds, three assists and a steal to extend his senior season for seventh-seeded Indiana (21-10), which was eliminated by the Zags 90-80 in a second-round meeting a year ago.

David Pendergraft had 12 points and five rebounds and Sean Mallon 11 points and six boards for 10th-seeded Gonzaga (23-11).

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Midwest Regional

Maryland 82, Davidson 70

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Mike Jones scored 17, D.J. Strawberry added 12 points and Maryland overcame Stephen Curry’s 30 points for Davidson.

Reserve forward Bambale Osby added 11 points and played a key role in sparking an 11-4 run that put the Terps ahead 69-63 with 7:27 remaining.

Maryland (25-8) overcame an eight-point second-half deficit and outscored the Wildcats 24-11 over the final 10 minutes to advance to the second round for the 20th time in school history.

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Jason Richards scored 11 points for Davidson (29-5). Curry fouled

Maryland will face No. 5 seed Butler on Saturday, with the winner advancing to St. Louis.

Butler 57, Old Dominion 46

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – When Butler needed a spark, Pete Campbell delivered.

Campbell hit three 3-pointers, his only baskets of the game, to spark a 17-0 run and help the Bulldogs get the win in the first round.

Fifth-seeded Butler (28-6), tournament-tested with six appearances in 11 years, set a school record for victories in a season.

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Brandon Johnson scored 11 points for Old Dominion (24-9), which had won 12 of 13 games.

A.J. Graves led Butler with 18 points.

South Regional

Ohio State 78, Cent. Connecticut 57

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) – Greg Oden had 19 points and 10 rebounds in his first NCAA tournament game, and Jamar Butler scored 17 for top-seeded Ohio State.

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Oden earned his 12th double-double of the season. Ron Lewis added 13 as the Buckeyes (31-3) quickly dispatched the game but ultimately overmatched the Blue Devils (22-12).

Javier Mojica led Central Connecticut with 19 points.

Ohio State will play Xavier in the second round.

Xavier 79, Brigham Young 77

Drew Lavender, a 5-foot-7 transfer from Oklahoma, made two floaters in the lane, then grabbed a crucial rebound and sank two free throws with 11 seconds left to help the ninth-seeded Musketeers beat eighth-seeded Brigham Young.

Justin Doellman scored 23 points and Lavender finished with 17 to help Xavier (25-8) advance beyond the first round for the fourth time in its last five NCAA appearances. The Atlantic 10 co-regular season champions will face Ohio State and former Musketeers coach Thad Matta in the second round.

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Xavier trailed by as many as nine before Lavender, Doellman and B.J. Raymond hit 3-pointers during a 16-3 run that turned a 52-44 deficit into a 60-55 lead. BYU (25-9) battled back to take a 73-71 lead with 2:10 to go, but couldn’t stop Lavender down the stretch.

Louisville 78, Stanford 58

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) – Louisville did just fine in its odd Kentucky home. Stanford seemed all too eager to flee back to the West Coast.

Playing at Rupp Arena – home to archrival Kentucky – Louisville got 16 points from both Edgar Sosa and David Padgett. Sixth-seeded Louisville bolted to a 41-13 lead in front of a highly partisan crowd.

Earl Clark and Derrick Caracter each had 12 points for Louisville (24-9), which was playing less than 80 miles from its campus.

Brook Lopez led 11th-seeded Stanford (18-13) with 18 points.

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The Cardinals will meet Texas A&M in the second round.

Texas A&M 68, Penn 52

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) – Acie Law scored 20 points and the third-seeded Aggies got two key dunks from Joseph Jones and a game-clinching 3-pointer from Dominique Kirk to advance past upset-minded Penn.

Jones tied the game at 39 with a thundering dunk at the 11-minute mark, then added another dunk less than a minute later to give Texas A&M (26-6) the lead for good.

Penn opened the second half with a 21-6 run. Ibrahim Jaaber had a three-point play to tie the game at 37, then made a short jumper to give Penn its first and only lead.

Mark Zoller had 19 points for the Quakers (22-9).

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East Regional

Georgetown 80, Belmont 55

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) – Jessie Sapp scored a career-high 20 points and Jeff Green added 15 to help second-seeded Georgetown get the win.

Sapp made a career-high four 3-pointers for the Hoyas (27-6), who advanced to the second round for the second straight year and will renew a one-time Big East rivalry Saturday when they face seventh-seeded Boston College.

Roy Hibbert added 10 points and 13 rebounds for Georgetown, which won its 16th in 17 games by snapping Belmont’s seven-game winning streak and dealing the Bruins their second straight lopsided loss in the tournament.

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Andrew Preston had 14 points for Belmont (23-10).

Boston College 84, Texas Tech 75

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) – Sean Marshall scored 21 points and Boston College rallied to knock Bob Knight and Texas Tech out of the NCAA tournament.

Marshall had 15 points in the second half. Tyrese Rice added 26 points for the seventh-seeded Eagles (21-11). Jared Dudley had 19 points, helping BC win its tournament opener for the fourth straight season.

Martin Zeno scored 21 points for the Red Raiders (21-13).

The loss ended a season of highs and lows for Texas Tech, which had beaten Kansas and Texas A&M this year but also had some puzzling losses along the way. The Red Raiders made Knight the winningest coach in Division I men’s history in January, but also had a five-game losing streak later that month that put their tournament hopes in jeopardy.

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North Carolina 86, Eastern Kentucky 65

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) – North Carolina spent the early minutes of its NCAA tournament opener looking like a top seed determined to beat down an overmatched opponent.

The Tar Heels then needed almost the rest of the game to do it.

Tyler Hansbrough had 21 points and 10 rebounds to help the Tar Heels beat Eastern Kentucky, giving coach Roy Williams an NCAA-record 18 straight years with at least one tournament victory.

Reyshawn Terry added 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting for the Tar Heels (29-6), who advanced to face Michigan State in the second round of the East Regional on Saturday.

Darnell Dialls scored 17 points to lead Eastern Kentucky (16-12).

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Michigan State 61, Marquette 49

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) – Raymar Morgan scored eight of his 14 points during a dominating first half, and Michigan State’s suffocating defense was too much for Marquette.

Drew Neitzel and Marquise Gray added 12 points apiece for the ninth-seeded Spartans (23-11), who shot nearly 54 percent and never trailed in advancing to face North Carolina.

The nation’s fourth-best scoring defense held Marquette scoreless for almost 10 minutes to start the game and sent the Golden Eagles – coached by Spartans coach Tom Izzo’s longtime friend, Tom Crean – to less than 32 percent shooting in one of their worst performances of the season.

Dominic James scored 18 points for Marquette (24-10).

Washington State 70, Oral Roberts 54

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Kyle Weaver stole an inbounds pass beneath his own basket and dunked to barely beat the halftime buzzer – and what a momentum swing for Washington State.

Reserve Ivory Clark scored 19 points and Weaver had 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists, and third-seeded Washington State (26-7) won its first NCAA game in 24 years. The Cougars will play Vanderbilt in the second round.

Ken Tutt scored 10 of his 19 points in the first half for Oral Roberts (23-11).

Vanderbilt 77, George Washington 44

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Shan Foster scored 18 points and led Vanderbilt’s impressive defensive effort in the first round of the East Regional.

George Washington (23-9) missed its first six shots and didn’t get a field goal for nearly 61/2 minutes. The 11th-seeded Colonials then endured another 111/2-minute stretch without a basket, falling behind by 29 late in the first half.

Derrick Byars scored 12 points for the Commodores (21-11).

George Washington committed 20 turnovers.

AP-ES-03-16-07 0019EDT

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