OKLAHOMA SPORTS NEWS

Last Update on March 19, 2010 01:31 EDT

NCAA-GEORGIA TECH-OKLAHOMA ST

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- For the last four days, all Matt Pilgrim has heard about is Derrick Favors.

Pilgrim's coaches have raved about Georgia Tech's star freshman, who has scored in double figures the last nine games and leads the country in field-goal percentage at 61.2 percent. The media back in Stillwater, Okla., gave Pilgrim scouting reports.

James Anderson might be the guy that makes seventh-seeded Oklahoma State go. But it's Pilgrim the Cowboys will be counting on to stop Favors and the 10th-seeded Yellow Jackets on Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament. If Oklahoma State is to get out of the first round for a second straight year, the team best known for its guards and outside shooting will have to shut down Georgia Tech inside.

OKLAHOMA TWO-STEP

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- In a scheduling rarity, first- and second-round games in both the NCAA men's and women's tournaments are in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in the coming days.

First-round men's games began Thursday at the Ford Center in downtown Oklahoma City with second-round games on Saturday.

On Sunday, 20 miles south in Norman, the University of Oklahoma will host a pair of first-round games in the women's tournament with the winners meeting on Tuesday.

Organizers say the two events are completely separate and even with 11 teams and their fans, no problems with hotel space are anticipated.

Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau president Mike Carrier says there are 22,000 hotel rooms in the metro.

NCAA-LEHIGH-KANSAS

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Marcus Morris scored 26 points, Sherron Collins added 18 and No. 1 overall seed Kansas survived a 90-74 win over scrappy Lehigh in the Midwest Regional on Thursday night.

Kansas fell into its season-long pattern of playing in spurts, giving No. 16 seed Lehigh hope of making college basketball history.

The Jayhawks led by just six in the first half and didn't pull away until midway through the second to keep from becoming the greatest Goliath to be crossed off the brackets on a wild opening day of the NCAA tournament.

Tyrel added four big 3-pointers for Kansas as it moves on to face gritty Northern Iowa in a second-round game that suddenly seems much more daunting.

Lehigh made its fourth NCAA appearance a memorable one, putting a scare into the nation's No. 1 team.

NCAA-NORTH TEXAS-KANSAS ST

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Denis Clemente had 17 points and six assists, helping No. 2 seed Kansas State open the NCAA tournament with an 82-62 rout of North Texas on Thursday.

Kansas State gathered itself after a shaky start, riding its defense into the second round for the second time in three years. The Wildcats held the Mean Green to 31 percent shooting and stymied Josh White's forays into the lane, holding North Texas' leading scorer to three points.

Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly added 15 points each, and Kansas State had a 46-21 advantage inside to avoid joining the list of opening-day upset victims.

Next up is No. 7 seed BYU and sharpshooter Jimmer Fredette in the second round of the West Regional. The Wildcats should have an advantage, too; while they cruised in the first round, BYU needed two overtimes to beat Florida.

NCAA-NORTHERN IOWA-UNLV

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Ali Farokhmanesh hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 4.9 seconds left to lift ninth-seeded Northern Iowa over UNLV 69-66 on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Farokhmanesh found himself open after Kwadzo Ahelegbe had chewed up the majority of the clock following Oscar Bellfield's tying 3-pointer for UNLV with 35 seconds remaining. Johnny Moran reversed the ball to Farokhmanesh, who drained the jumper with the shot clock running down.

The Runnin' Rebels got one last chance to tie it, but Tre'Von Willis didn't get his 3-pointer off before the final buzzer and it was off-target anyway.

Farokhmanesh finished with 17 points, including three 3-pointers in the second half, and Ahelegbe added 13 points as the Panthers snapped a 20-year drought in the NCAA tournament.

NCAA-FLORIDA-BYU

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Jimmer Fredette scored 37 points, including two 3-pointers in double overtime, to seal BYU's thrilling 99-92 win over 10th-seeded Florida on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Fredette, the nation's 12th-leading scorer, made a 3 from the top of the key to put the seventh-seeded Cougars ahead 90-83 with 2:42 left, then added another with just over a minute remaining to put the game away.

Michael Loyd Jr. added a career-high 26 points, pushing BYU to a lead it would hold until a late second-half rally by Florida. Loyd scored all the Cougars' points in the first overtime.

Kenny Boynton scored 27 points, and rallied the Gators from a 13-point second-half deficit in their first NCAA tournament game since winning back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007.

BYU snapped a streak of seven straight first-round losses in the tournament.

NCAA-OKLAHOMA-BRACKET

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- Oklahoma women's basketball coach Sherri Coale and her Sooners think the NCAA women's tournament bracket sets up nicely for them.

The Sooners postseason run starts at home and could continue in familiar environs against familiar foes.

Third-seeded Oklahoma will host No. 14 seed South Dakota State in a first-round game Sunday in Norman. Win that, and the Sooners next could play Georgia Tech, a team they routed in last year's NCAA tournament.

Two wins in Norman would send Oklahoma to the regional in Kansas City, Mo., where OU in recent days made a run to the Big 12 Conference tournament final. If the seeds hold, the Sooners could play Notre Dame and Nebraska, teams they've already played this season.