Marquette up to Kentucky's challenge

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- After first-round flameouts in their last two NCAA Tournaments, the Marquette Golden Eagles vowed to stick around this time.

They're headed to the second round after defeating Kentucky 74-66 in the South regional's opening round on Thursday.

Jerel McNeal scored 20 points, and Wesley Matthews hit 8 free throws in the final 31 seconds to help the Golden Eagles survive a 35-point performance by Kentucky's Joe Crawford, who matched a career high before fouling out.

Sixth-seeded Marquette (25-9) earned its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2003, when it beat Kentucky in the regional final.

That Marquette team had Dwyane Wade. This one has a group of tested veterans who have learned to play under pressure.

"We've grown so much just since my first year here," said McNeal, a junior from Chicago who has started all 94 games of his college career. "We had spurts through those 40 minutes that weren't always the best Marquette team that we could put out there, but the most important thing, we just stayed with it. Nobody dropped their heads."

Crawford may have felt like dropping his head when he fouled out in the final seconds. But Marquette's Dominic James walked over and offered consolation.

"I mean, you saw the performance out there, and he put his heart out there on the floor," James said. "So out of respect for him and his teammates, I just told him to keep his head up and keep playing the game that he loves."

For Kentucky (18-13), the loss caps an uneven season. The Wildcats overcame a 7-9 start, including a loss to Gardner-Webb, and won 11 of their last 14 to slip into the bracket

"It was a tough loss for us," first-year coach Billy Gillispie said. "We came here intent on winning, like everybody else does."

Stanford 77, Cornell 53: Cornell couldn't see the basket through Stanford's tall trees, making the Cardinal's defensive strategy look downright genius in the brain game of the NCAA Tournament.

With the 7-foot Lopez twins altering shots inside and defenders in the face of Cornell's perimeter shooters, it didn't take an Ivy League degree to figure out the Big Red was in big trouble.

Kenny Brown scored 18 points, and third-seeded Stanford earned its first NCAA Tournament win since 2004, routing Cornell in a matchup of players as good with the books as they are with a basketball.

"We know to go anywhere in this tournament, we have to play defense," said Brown, a reserve who had one of his best games of the season.

Now Stanford (27-7) moves on to a second-round South regional game against No. 6 seed Marquette.

Lewis Dale, the Ivy League player of the year, scored 12 points, Adam Gore 11 and Alex Tyler 10 for 14th-seeded Cornell (22-6), which shot 16 percent in the first half.