Nashville, Tenn. • Caleb Martin scored 18 points and made two huge 3-pointers in overtime Friday as Nevada rallied to beat Texas 87-83 for its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2007.
Nevada (28-7) erased a 14-point, second-half deficit and tied it at 68 when Jordan Caroline hit one of two free throws with 3.8 seconds left in regulation. The Wolf Pack came back again after trailing by four early in an overtime session that featured 34 combined points.
The Wolf Pack, seeded seventh in the South Region, advanced to a Sunday matchup with No. 2 seed Cincinnati (31-4). The Bearcats beat Georgia State 68-53.
Martin’s 3-pointer with 2:26 left in overtime gave Nevada its first lead since opening the game on a 5-0 run. Texas’ Matt Coleman took a jumper that went around and out, and Martin hit another 3 that extended Nevada’s lead to 81-77 with 1:36 left.
After Coleman cut Nevada’s margin to 81-79, Martin passed to twin brother Cody for a layup that made it 83-79 with 53 seconds remaining. Tenth-seeded Texas later got within two on a 3-pointer by Kerwin Roach II with 15.5 seconds left, but that’s as close as the Longhorns got.
Caleb Martin also had 10 rebounds and five assists. Cody Martin had 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Nevada’s Kendall Stephens had a team-high 22 points.
Roach had a career-high 26 points for Texas (19-15) and shot 6 of 10 from 3-point range. Coleman had a career-best 25 points.
After trailing 40-26 early in the second half, Nevada tied it on Caroline’s foul shot. That came after the fifth foul on Texas’ Mohamed Bamba, who finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Texas’ Dylan Osetkowski then threw an inbounds pass half the length of the court to Jericho Sims, who knocked the ball out of bounds. That turnover gave Nevada the ball about 20 feet from Texas’ basket with 1.6 seconds left.
Caleb Martin missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. But he was right on the mark with the game on the line in overtime.
Cincinnati 68, Georgia State 53 • In Nashville, Tenn., Jarron Cumberland had 27 points and 11 rebounds to set career highs in both categories Friday as Cincinnati recovered after blowing a 10-point lead in the second half to beat pesky Georgia State 68-53 in the NCAA Tournament.
Cincinnati, the No. 2 seed in the South Region, won its eighth game in a row and advanced to a Sunday matchup against either seventh-seeded Nevada or 10th seed Texas.
After trailing 42-32 early in the second half, Georgia State (24-11) rallied to take a pair of one-point leads, its last one coming on a driving bank shot from D’Marcus Simonds with 9:30 left.
Cincinnati (31-4) answered by reeling off 10 straight points.
Gary Clark, the American Athletic Conference player of the year, put Cincinnati back in front by sinking a 3-pointer with 9:02 left. Kyle Washington added two straights baskets before Jacob Evans III provided the exclamation point by sinking a baseline 3-pointer that gave the Bearcats a 56-47 edge with 6:19 remaining.
Cincinnati’s lead didn’t drop below seven the rest of the way.
Kansas State 69, Creighton 59 • In Charlotte, N.C., Barry Brown scored 18 points and ninth-seeded Kansas State posted a wire-to-wire victory over No. 8 Creighton despite playing without leading scorer Dean Wade.
Mike McGuirl added 17 points and Kamau Stokes had 11 as the Wildcats won a first-round NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 2012.
Wade had been expected to play after suffering a stress fracture in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament, but never got on the floor. His teammates picked him up, particularly on defense.
Creighton came into the game ranked 10th in scoring in Division I at 84.3 points per game, but the Wildcats (23-11) limited the Bluejays to 59 points, tying their season low. Creighton (21-12) shot just 33.8 percent from the field, including 26 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.
Leading scoring Marcus Foster was held scoreless in the first 28 1/2 minutes and finished with five points on 2-of-11 shooting against his former team.
Foster was booted off the Kansas State team after the 2015 season for multiple violations of team rules, but said earlier this week this game was more about advancing than any type of revenge. He took responsibility for his mistakes, saying it was something that he needed to go through to grow up.
But Foster was never found his rhythm. He didn’t score until making a driving baseline layup with 10:30 left in the game.
The Wildcats jumped out to 10-2 lead behind Kamau Stokes, who scored the game’s first seven points. They never trailed.