NCAA Basketball Scores and Brackets Updates

NCAA Basketball Scores and Brackets Updates

The NCAA Basketball Tournament 2011 bracket scores have been updated for Friday with several key victories amid shocking top seed losses.  Louisville has been ousted from the tourney but several other squads like Pittsburgh and Kentucky made it on.

Clemson used the momentum from winning a play-in game over UAB on Tuesday to take a double-digit first half lead over West Virginia, but in the end the Mountaineers had fresher legs down the stretch and pulled away for an 84-76 victory in the 2011 NCAA basketball tournament.  Clemson was playing their second game in just over 36 hours, but West Virginia was the team that looked sluggish early on, falling behind by ten points with just over three minutes remaining the first half.  West Virginia went on a run from there to tie the game at the half and opened up a large second half lead behind five players in double figures.  Darryl Bryant led the Mountaineers with 19 points, Kevin Jones added 17, and Joe Mazzulla had 12 points and seven assists. Andre Young led the Tigers’ upset bid with 22 points, while Demontez Stitt added 16 points.

The Mountaineers advance to face Kentucky who scored a last second victory over Princeton on a layup by freshman Brandon Knight.  Knight had not made a basket yet in the game as he handled the ball with the game clock winding down, but he drove the lane for the biggest basket of his young career, giving Kentucky the 59-57 victory.  Knight wasn’t the only Wildcat freshman who struggled against the Princeton defense, as classmates Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb combined for just 17 points.  Kentucky’s upperclassmen picked up the slack with junior Darius Miller leading the team in scoring with 17 points, and senior Josh Harrellson contributing 15 points and ten rebounds.  Dan Mavraides led Princeton with 14 points as the Tigers stayed within striking distance throughout the game and managed to tie the score on a basket by Mavraides with 36 seconds.  Douglas Davis added 13 points for Princeton.


Morehead State rode tough inside play and clutch outside shooting to a shocking 62-61 upset of Louisville.  In a showdown between two Kentucky schools with very different traditions, thirteen seed Morehead State never backed down against its more well-known opponent and pulled off the biggest upset of the early tournament on a three-pointer by Demonte Harper in the final seconds.  Kenneth Faried, the NCAA’s all-time leading rebound finished with 12 points and 17 rebounds, while Terrance Hill had 23 points and eight rebounds.  Faried also registered the biggest defensive play of the game, blocking Mike Marra’s desperation shot at the buzzer.  Chris Smith led Louisville with 17 points, but he was the only Cardinal to crack double figures.  Louisville was limited by point guard Peyton Siva’s foul trouble and leading scorer Preston Knowles’ foot injury that knocked him out of the game with eight minutes to play.  That set the stage for Morehead State’s late rally, finalized by Harper’s pull up three-pointer from the top of the key.

Morehead State wasn’t the only team pulling off an upset in the first round, as Richmond scored a 69-66 knockout of fifth seed Vanderbilt.  While Morehead State’s victory was a true surprise, Richmond was a trendy upset pick after winning seven straight games including the Atlantic 10 Tournament championship.  The Spiders delivered behind a game high 25 points from Kevin Anderson.  Vanderbilt got 21 points each from Festus Ezeli and John Jenkins, but only 24 points from the rest of their roster.  The Commodores had a nine point second half lead before Anderson got hot from outside, hitting three consecutive three-pointers as part of a 12-0 Richmond run.  Justin Harper had 13 points for Richmond and Francis-Cedric Martel added 12.