The Rest of the Early Action in Mythical March Madness in Eugene and Philadelphia
Publisher's Note: This is our go at Mythical March Madness. The tournament and results are determined using all-time odds for each seed in the tournament for each round of advancement. The roll of dice with rolls of six or below representing the higher-seeded team and rolls of seven or greater representing the lower-seeded team determine results. If the game is written up as close then the roll of the dice went to the eighth, ninth, or tenth roll. If it is written up as a blowout then it was decided early.
#3-Oregon 84 #14-North Dakota State 58
Playing on their former home court and on their campus the Oregon Ducks seemed to enjoy moving back in time to play on McArthur Court. There were no cheerleaders, pep band,and the famed Oregon Duck mascot was missing too, but the offense and defense was not. Head coach Dana Altman had his team ready and Oregon polished off the green and gold of North Dakota State 84-58.
The team's two colors are virtually identical when Oregon wears their true green. The Ducks were in white with the Bison wearing green, so it looked like an intra-squad scrimmage. If that were the case then Oregon was the A-team. Leading scorer Payton Pritchard led the way with 30 points and he was a perfect nine-for-nine from the free throw line to push his season average to over 90 percent.
Chris Duarte added 18 points and he created a lot of offense with four steals in the contest.
The Ducks push their season mark to 25-7 and they will now face Oklahoma State in the second round. The Cowboys upset six-seed Michigan 70-64. North Dakota State finishes the season at 25-9 and they were led in scoring by Tyson Ward with 17 points.
#11-Wichita State 62 #6-West Virginia 59
One of the best games of the tournament so far was played in late afternoon in The Palestra, but the match-up between No. 6 seed West Virginia and No. 11 seed Wichita State should have been in prime time. It was a great coaching match-up with the Mountaineers Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins against the Shockers Gregg Marshall. Two teams that came out slugging it on the defensive end and in the end defense won it for Wichita State in a 62-59 upset.
The Shockers led at halftime 28-26. Things loosened up just a little in the second half and the Mountaineers enjoyed their best portion of the game as they came out from the second half as they have done several times this season and scored a quick 10 points in succession to lead 36-28, but the Shockers came back.
Jamarius Burton out of Charlotte, N.C. hit 38 percent from three-point range this season and he was four-of-five in the second half and scored a game high 16 points, all in the second half.
West Virginia, which has struggled scoring all season, was led by big man Oscar Tshiebwe with 11 points and he was the only Mountaineer in double figures.
West Virginia's season ends at 21-11 as they lost seven of their last 11 games. Wichita State continues to play Ohio State with a 24-8 mark.
#3-Ohio State 76 #14-Eastern Washington 75
The game of the afternoon in The Palestra was the battle between No. 3 seed Ohio State and No. 14 seed Eastern Washington. The Big Sky Conference Champions that traveled the furthest to get to Philly acted like they wanted to stay awhile as they led Ohio State from the first bucket made by 6-8 senior from Australia Mason Peatling until the last shot of the game. The Buckeyes 6-9 junior Kaleb Wesson tipped in a missed three by his brother Andre Wesson for the final points and Ohio State's first lead at 76-75 as the ancient buzzer sounded in The Palestra.
The Wessons combined for 33 points and Ohio State was led by Kaleb Wesson with 18 points. Eastern Washington was fueled by junior Jacob Davison and the Aussie Peatling as both players scored 19 points. One of the reasons the Hawks led for so long was a 42-31 edge on the boards.
Ohio State will now play Wichita State and the Buckeyes are 22-10. Eastern Washington flies home with a 23-9 record.
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