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Indiana, Texas Southern win in First Four of NCAA Tournament

ASSOCIATED PRESS
                                Texas Southern’s Bryson Etienne shoots from 3-point range during the second half.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Texas Southern’s Bryson Etienne shoots from 3-point range during the second half.

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NCAA men’s basketball tournament gets underway with First Four

DAYTON, Ohio >> Trayce Jackson-Davis had 29 points and nine rebounds, Jordan Geromino scored a career-high 15 points and Indiana beat turnover-prone Wyoming 66-58 in a First Four game tonight.

Indiana (21-13) earned an at-large bid after a good showing in the Big Ten tournament, getting back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016 in its first season under coach Mike Woodson. The Hoosiers move on as the 12th seed in the East and will face fifth-seeded St. Mary’s on Thursday.

With the crowd at University of Dayton Arena heavily tilted — Bloomington, Indiana, is less than a three-hour drive away — the Hoosiers pulled to a 10-point lead with under two minutes left in the game.

Wyoming’s Drake Jeffries hit a pair of foul shots to get the Cowboys within six with 14 seconds left. But Jeffries had to foul Indiana’s Xavier Johnson, who hit a pair from the stripe to put it out of reach.

Hunter Maldonado paced the Cowboys (25-9) with 21 points but turned the ball over 10 times.

TEXAS SOUTHERN 76, TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI

DAYTON, Ohio >> Bryson Etienne scored 21 points and Texas Southern beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the First Four.

The Tigers earned their third NCAA Tournament win in five seasons and will play top-seeded Kansas in the Midwest first round. The First Four returned to the University of Dayton Arena for the first time in three seasons.

PJ Henry hit a go-ahead free throw to highlight a 7-0 run in which Texas Southern (19-12) took the lead and never surrendered. He finished with 14 points and shot 10 of 13 at the free throw line.

John Walker III added 16 points. Brison Gresham grabbed 13 rebounds and scored six points.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (23-12) led by as many as eight points in the opening period and four in the second half.

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