PITTSBURGH — Zach Auguste scored 25 points, Jerian Grant added 17, and Notre Dame dodged a scare with a 69-65 victory Thursday over 14th-seeded Northeastern.
“I told them in the locker room, we weren’t going to beat them by 15,” coach Mike Brey said. “So don’t anybody walk out of here feeling we should have won by 15.”
The Huskies (23-12) finally collapsed with sloppy play over the final minutes that ended the upset bid.
Auguste, who made 10-of-14 shots, sealed the victory for Notre Dame (30-5) with two free throws.
“The clutchest free throws of his career,” Notre Dame forward Pat Connaughton said.
Northeastern missed 8-of-11 3-pointers.
Cincinnati 66, Purdue 65, OT•LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Troy Caupain got Cincinnati to overtime with his buzzer-beating layup, then Coreontae DeBerry helped the Bearcats get past the Boilermakers (21-13).
The Bearcats (23-10) trailed by seven with 48.5 seconds left in regulation and forced overtime with a 10-3 run. Caupain’s driving layup banked off the glass, rolled around and hit the glass again — staying on the back rim for a moment — before falling through. That sent the Bearcats celebrating while officials reviewed the play to make sure Caupain did beat the buzzer.
In overtime, DeBerry scored four of his 13 points helping Cincinnati take a lead it wouldn’t lose again as the Bearcats outscored Purdue 7-6 in the extra time.
Butler 56, Texas 48•PITTSBURGH — Kellen Dunham scored 20 points, including a pivotal 3-pointer with 1:18 to play for the sixth-seeded Bulldogs (23-10) advanced despite going more than 10 minutes without making a shot and draining all of five field goals in the second half.
“We just fight and grind them out,” Butler forward Kameron Woods said. “We knew it was going to be a grind and that’s what we tried to make this game.”
The Longhorns (20-14) shot just 34 percent from the field and turned it over 15 times while failing to make it beyond the first weekend of the NCAAs for the seventh year in a row.
“I’m disappointed because I’d like to see us, obviously, dancing in this tournament,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said.
Kentucky 79, Hampton 56•LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and 11 rebounds, and the Wildcats (35-0) led by as many as 35.
