Big and brawny Oklahoma muscled its way past Niagara and all the good karma the Purple Eagles had going for them in the NCAA tournament.
Drew Lavender led six Sooners in double figures with 17 points in third-seeded Oklahoma's 84-67 victory Thursday in an Austin Regional game at Arizona's McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.
The Sooners (25-7), who didn't make the tourney last year, struggled with 46 percent field goal shooting, but were helped out by solid defense that harassed the Eagles into 16 turnovers. They next play Utah in the second round Saturday.
"We had to dig in and hang in with our defense," Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said. "Our offense kind of came and went, but we scored when we needed to."
Juan Mendez led the 14th-seeded Eagles (20-10) with 22 points and 15 rebounds. But he missed his first 11 shots in the second half and finally made a basket with just over a minute left in his final college game. Fellow senior David Brooks added 16 points before fouling out.
After trailing by three at halftime, the Eagles got within one on a basket by Alvin Cruz. But then they went cold, going nearly 12 minutes without a field goal as Oklahoma built a 19-point lead.
"We went out there and played hard, with a chip on our shoulder," Oklahoma's Taj Gray said. "That's what increased our level of intensity on defense. We feel like we have a lot of things to prove, like an underdog."
All of Niagara's current players were a decade or more from being born when the Eagles last appeared in the NCAA tournament in 1970. Back then, future NBA Hall of Famer Calvin Murphy helped the Eagles to a 1-2 record under the tournament's old format.
The 3,548-student school in upstate New York qualified as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament champions.
KENTUCKY 72, EASTERN KENTUCKY 64: At Indianapolis, Kelenna Azubuike and Chuck Hayes each scored 16 points and second-seeded Kentucky dominated the middle to hold off state rival Eastern Kentucky. Kentucky (26-5) extended its record for NCAA tournament victories to 94 and improved to 37-9 in NCAA tournament openers. The Wildcats will face Cincinnati in the second round.
CINCINNATI 76, IOWA 64: At Indianapolis, Jason Maxiell had 22 points, nine rebounds, six blocked shots and a pair of steals to help seventh-seeded Cincinnati (25-7) advance. With the 6-foot-7 Maxiell repeatedly swatting away shots under the basket and Iowa unable to hit from the outside, the Bearcats limited the Hawkeyes to just one field goal and three free throws in the first 11 minutes.