DAYTON, Ohio – Sam Young scored 32 points and DeJuan Blair added another double-double as top-seeded Pittsburgh advanced to the round of 16 for the fifth time in eight years with an 84-76 win over Oklahoma State on Sunday.

Pitt (30-4) will play Xavier in the East Regional semifinals in Boston on Thursday.

Obi Muonelo scored 19 points for the eighth-seeded Cowboys (23-12), who gave the Panthers all they could handle before losing their touch in the final minutes. Oklahoma State made 10 3-pointers in the first half but made only two of 12 from long range after halftime.

The Panthers, who played poorly and barely escaped a first-round upset against No. 16 seed East Tennessee State, showed a champion’s poise down the stretch.

The Cowboys tied it at 74 with 2:42 left on an inside shot by Marshall Moses.

But Pitt’s pudgy point guard Levance Fields drove for a layup, and after OSU’s James Anderson missed a 3-pointer, Fields dropped a 3 from up top to make it 79-74 with 1:27 left.

Xavier 60, Wisconsin 49

BOISE, Idaho – B.J. Raymond scored 15 points and Xavier finally broke through Wisconsin’s defense midway through the second half.

The Musketeers (27-7) struggled as the Badgers controlled the pace for the first 30 minutes. Xavier pulled away with a 13-4 run and hung onto the lead from the foul line.

Derrick Brown added 15 points and C.J. Anderson had eight rebounds for fourth-seeded Xavier.

Marcus Landry scored 18 and Trevon Hughes had 17 points for the 12th-seeded Badgers. Wisconsin shot only 29 percent, including 3-for-20 on 3-point tries.

Kansas 60, Dayton 43

MINNEAPOLIS – Cole Aldrich posted a triple-double with 13 points, 20 rebounds and 10 blocked shots to lead defending champion Kansas past 11th-seeded Dayton.

The 6-foot-11 Jayhawks sophomore nearly matched the NCAA tournament record for blocks in a game of 11 set by Shaquille O’Neal for LSU in 1992. Shawn Bradley had 10 in 1991 for BYU.

Sherron Collins had 25 points to pace the third-seeded Jayhawks (27-7).

Chris Wright had 10 points for Dayton (27-8). The Flyers shot a woeful 22.2 percent in their lowest-scoring game of the season.

Syracuse 78, Arizona State 67

MIAMI – Eric Devendorf hit a pair of 3-pointers less than a minute apart to halt a big Arizona State rally, and the third-seeded Orange held on to advance.

Devendorf finished with 21 points and Andy Rautins added 17 for Syracuse (28-9), which moves on to play second-seeded Oklahoma (29-5) in Memphis on Friday.

Rihards Kuksiks scored a career-high 20 points, and Ty Abbott also finished with 20 for the sixth-seeded Sun Devils (25-10). James Harden, the Pac-10 player of the year, was held to 10 points – all in the second half – on 2-for-10 shooting.


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