NCAA Tournament betting recap

Matchup; Open/Close; Score

Providence-Texas A&M; Aggies -4/-2.5; Texas A&M, 73-69

The Friars trailed by six and had the ball and a chance to earn a push for many bettors in the final seconds. But Providence settled for a layup by Tom Planek with seven seconds left and didn’t foul.

Cal State Fullerton-Purdue; Boilermakers -20.5/-20.5; Purdue, 74-48

Carsen Edwards and Vince Edwards scored 15 points apiece for Purdue, which pulled away in the second half, outscoring the Titans 44-27.

Marshall-Wichita State; Shockers -12/-13; Marshall, 81-75

Jon Elmore scored 27 points and hit several huge shots in the second half, and C.J. Burks had a steal and dunk to make the score 78-72 with 2:01 left.

Georgia State-Cincinnati; Bearcats -14.5/-14; Cincinnati, 68-53

The Bearcats finished the game on a 22-6 run, and Devin Mitchell missed a 3-point attempt for the Panthers in the final minute.

Lipscomb-North Carolina; Tar Heels -19/-22; North Carolina, 84-66

Andrew Fleming hit a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left to make it a 20-point game, and Brandon Huffman then missed a putback dunk for the Tar Heels.

Butler-Arkansas; Bulldogs -1/-2; Butler, 79-62

The Bulldogs blew a 21-2 lead before pulling away in the second half.

Murray State-West Virginia; Mountaineers -10.5/-10; West Virginia, 85-68

The Mountaineers led by nine at halftime and pulled away in the second half.

Texas-UNR; Pick/Pick; UNR, 87-83

The Wolf Pack erased a 14-point second-half deficit and tied the score at 68 on Jordan Caroline’s free throw with 3.8 seconds left in regulation. Caleb Martin made two huge 3-pointers in overtime as UNR erased an early five-point deficit.

Kansas State-Creighton; Bluejays -1/-2.5; Kansas State, 69-59

Barry Brown scored 18 points, and the Wildcats held the Bluejays to a season-low 59 points in posting a wire-to-wire win without leading scorer Dean Wade.

Bucknell-Michigan State; Spartans -14/-14.5; Michigan State, 82-78

The Spartans led by 16 with 2:03 left, but the Bison made five 3-pointers the rest of the way, including three by Stephen Brown in the final 17 seconds.

Texas Southern-Xavier; Musketeers -19/-19.5; Xavier, 102-83

Marquis Salmon made two free throws with 13 seconds left to cut the deficit to 19, which pushed or covered the spread for most Tigers bettors.

Charleston-Auburn; Auburn -10.5/-9; Auburn, 62-58

Jared Harper made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 1:18 left to put Auburn ahead to stay. The Tigers never led by more than seven points.

UMBC-Virginia; Cavaliers -22.5/-20.5; UMBC, 74-54

The Retrievers, who were 20-1 to 25-1 underdogs on the money line, outscored Virginia 53-33 in the second half in becoming the first No. 16 seed ever to beat a No. 1 seed.

Syracuse-TCU; Horned Frogs -4/-4.5; Syracuse, 57-52

Tyus Battle and Frank Howard made consecutive jumpers to put the Orange ahead with 1:31 left.

Florida State-Missouri; Seminoles +1/-1; Florida State, 67-54

The Seminoles built a 42-20 halftime lead and held off the Tigers in the second half.

New Mexico State-Clemson; Tigers -5/-3.5; Clemson, 79-68

The Tigers led by 12 at halftime and held off the Aggies down the stretch to complete a rare sweep by No. 5 seeds over No. 12 seeds.

Todd Dewey Review-Journal