Wisconsin overcomes slow start, routs American

Saul Phillips ran over to the fans in green and yellow, threw his arms in the air and screamed at the top of his lungs.

No one could hear the excitable North Dakota State coach. There was too much noise from the Bison celebrating the biggest win in school history.

Lawrence Alexander hit a three-pointer with 11 seconds left to force overtime and freshman Carlin Dupree scored four points in the final 75 seconds as No. 12 seed North Dakota State knocked off Oklahoma, 80-75, yesterday in the second round of the West Regional in Spokane, Wash.

The Bison (26-6) picked up its first NCAA Tournament win by rallying in the final minute and then outlasting the No. 5 seed Sooners in the extra session. Alexander finished with a career-high 28 points, but it'll be his falling-down, fist-pumping celebration after the tying three-pointer that will be replayed in Fargo for years.

Dupree came on in the closing seconds of overtime after Taylor Braun fouled out. He hit two free throws and scored on a difficult baseline leaner with 41 seconds left.

Cameron Clark led Oklahoma (23-10) with 25 points.

Wisconsin 75, American 35:Playing the first two tournament games close to home was a goal all year, and Wisconsin players fed off the energy to extinguish any upset hopes of 15th-seeded American.

Ben Brust scored 17 points and the No. 2 seed destroyed the Eagles with a 22-5 run to close the first half in Milwaukee, barely 90 minutes from their campus in Madison.

Wisconsin (27-7) recovered from a brief first-half rut as the Eagles (20-13), champions of the Patriot League, built a 17-10 lead with their Princeton-style offense.

"It was good to get the building loud," Brust said. "I said, 'Hey, they're up. We better wake up.' "

Wisconsin hit 57 percent of its shots in the second half on the way to its largest margin of victory in the school's 44 NCAA postseason games.

John Schoof and Tony Wroblicky each had 11 points for American.

Oregon 87, BYU 68:Backed by a vocal group of family and friends in Milwaukee, Elgin Cook scored a career-high 23 points to power the seventh-seeded Ducks (24-9). Tyler Haws scored 19 points for BYU (23-12).

-- AP