No. 2 seed Iowa State pulls away from No. 7 Wazzu

OMAHA, Neb.>> Tamin Lipsey scored 15 points, Iowa State cranked up the second-half pressure against Washington State, and the No. 2 seed Cyclones marched into their seventh Sweet 16 with a 67-56 victory over the seventh-seeded Cougars in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night.

Curtis Jones added 14 points and Keshon Gilbert and Milan Momcilovic had 10 apiece for the Cyclones (29-7), who made it to the second weekend of the tourney for the second time in three years. They will play third-seeded Illinois or No. 11 seed Duquesne in the East Region semifinals on Thursday night at TD Garden in Boston.

Jaylen Wells scored 20 points and Myles Rice had 13 for the Cougars (25-10), who were sent back to the Palouse still searching for their first Sweet 16 appearance since Tony Bennett was on the sideline in 2008.

Iowa State spent most of the first half in shambles thanks to what current Cougars coach Kyle Smith calls “the shawmbles,” a suffocating style of defense named for associated head coach and defensive whiz Jim Shaw. The Cougars aggressively jumped passing lanes, harried the Cyclones’ shooters on the perimeter and crashed the boards with abandon.

MIDWEST REGION

No. 5 Gonzaga 89, No. 4 Kansas 68>> And to think, some folks said they might not make it to March Madness.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs laughed that off as easily as they swatted away an exhausted Kansas team Saturday, rolling past the Jayhawks 89-68 to return to the Sweet 16 for the nation-leading ninth straight time.

Led by Anton Watson’s 21 points, fifth-seeded Gonzaga was nearly as good over the second half of this game as it has been over the second half of the season. The Zags scored 15 straight points early in the half to turn this one into a runaway on an afternoon when basically everyone in a navy jersey was a star.They improved to 16-2 since Jan. 18, with the only two losses coming to Saint Mary’s, the team that beat Gonzaga for the West Coast Conference title but was dismissed from the tournament Friday night.

“Late December, it was looking like maybe it wasn’t going to happen,” said Mark Few, his hair still damp from the dousing he received in the postgame locker room. “But I’ll give credit. These guys stayed coachable. We figured it out.”

Once Few dries off, he and the Zags, who are in their 25th straight NCAA Tournament, will load up for their routine trip to the second weekend to play the winner of Sunday’s game between Purdue and Utah State.

No. 2 Tennessee 62, No. 7 Texas 58>> The Tennessee Volunteers are back in the Sweet 16 under coach Rick Barnes. Now the question becomes if they can advance beyond this point.

Dalton Knecht scored 18 points and made four free throws in the final 8.8 seconds as the Volunteers topped Texas 62-58 on Saturday to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year.

Second-seeded Tennessee will play the winner of the game between No. 11 Oregon and No. 3 Creighton.

Tennessee has reached the Sweet 16 twice before, but lost both times. This time, however, they have an Associated Press All-American in Knecht on their side, which Texas coach Rodney Terry said can be the difference in making a deep run in the tournament.

EAST REGION

No. 3 Illinois 89, No. 11 Duquesne 633>> Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 30 points, Marcus Domask added 22 and No. 3 seed Illinois made fast work of 11th-seeded Duquesne in an 89-63 victory Saturday night to reach the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 for the first time since 2005.

Illinois (28-8) hadn’t made it through the first weekend of the tournament in eight previous appearances, a maddening run of frustration the Illini ended in resounding fashion.

The Illini will play No. 2 seed Iowa State in an East Region semifinal in Boston on Thursday night. The Cyclones advanced with a 67-56 victory over seventh-seeded Washington State.

Duquesne (25-12), which came in on a nine-game win streak, had its first tournament appearance since 1977 end with its worst loss of the season that sent 65-year-old coach Keith Dambrot into retirement.

Jimmy Clark III scored 14 points and Fousseyni Drame had 13 for Duquesne.

The Dukes, who had scored fewer than 70 points in 21 of their previous 36 games, had said they would have to slow down an Illinois team averaging better than 84 per game to have a chance.

How did that go? Illinois was off and running in transition on Duquesne misses. The Illini led 50-26 at the half and by 32 points midway through the second half.

Not that the Illini needed it, but they also got a couple friendly bounces. Like when Marcus Domask’s first 3-pointer went high off the front and back of the rim before it dropped through — a basket he celebrated with a chef’s kiss and three fingers in the air. Or when Hawkins tried to draw a foul as he awkwardly put up a 3 and the ball banged off the backboard without drawing iron and he chased it down for an easy putback.

— The Associated Press