TULSA, Okla. — Ohio State went from barely making the NCAA Tournament to a spot in the second round with a 62-59 upset of sixth-seeded Iowa State in the Midwest Region on Friday night.

Kaleb Wesson had 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead the 11th-seeded Buckeyes (20-14).

Keyshawn Woods added 19 points for Ohio State, which will play No. 3 seed Houston on Sunday for a spot in the round of 16. Musa Jallow added 11 points for Ohio State.

Iowa State (23-12) led just once in the second half but had a chance to send the game into overtime when Nick Weiler-Babb had an open attempt at a game-tying 3.

His shot missed and ended the season for the Cyclones, who won the Big 12 Tournament to earn a spot in the NCAAs. Marial Shayok scored 23 points and Lindell Wigginton added 14 for Iowa State.

Ohio State led 26-24 at halftime and started to gain momentum in the early minutes of the second half. Woods threw up a lob to Jallow for a dunk that put the Buckeyes up 38-32 with 14 minutes to play.

Iowa State caught a much-needed break when Wigginton was fouled on a 3-pointer.

He made the free throw to cut Ohio State’s lead to 44-42.

Shayok’s mid-range jumper finally put Iowa State up 54-53, but Ohio State answered quickly. Woods’ corner three put the Buckeyes up 58-54. Wesson missed a free throw with Ohio State up three and 10 seconds remaining to set up the final sequence.

BIG PICTURE

Ohio State: The Buckeyes slowed the game down and turned it into a Big Ten-style bruise fest.

The officials were lenient, which played into the hands of Ohio State’s 6-foot-9, 270-pound Wesson.

Iowa State: The Cyclones fell back into some of their inconsistency — they entered the tournament having won just three of their previous six games.

UP NEXT

Ohio State plays Houston on Sunday.

Duke 85, North Dakota State 62 — Zion Williamson had an explosive NCAA Tournament debut with 25 points to lead top-seeded Duke to a win over North Dakota State on Friday night.

RJ Barrett led Duke (31-5) with 26 points and 14 rebounds and combined with Williamson for a prolific showing for the

freshman stars. But it was Williamson who could not be contained in the second half, and he turned a tight early contest into a Duke runaway in the first round of the East Region.

Vinnie Shahid led the Bison with 20 points.

LIBERTY 80, MISSISSIPPI STATE 76 — Caleb Homesley scored 22 of his 30 points in the second half and Lovell Cabbil hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:16 to play to send 12th-seeded Liberty to the first NCAA Tournament win in school history.

The Flames (29-6) had lost twice as a No. 16 seed and once in the play-in game.

Cabbil finished with 18 points and Myo Baxter-Bell added 13.

Homesley helped rally Liberty from a 10-point deficit in the second half by scoring 14 points in a span of less than five minutes. Cabbil’s 3 gave the Flames the lead for good, 72-70, and Liberty did the rest at the foul line to spoil the first tournament trip for Mississippi State (23-11) in a decade.

Quinndary Weatherspoon scored 27 points to lead the Bulldogs.

OREGON 72, WISCONSIN 54 — Payton Pritchard scored 19 points, Kenny Wooten protected the rim with four blocks, and 12th-seeded Oregon extended its surprising March run with a victory in the first round.

The Ducks (24-12) won four games in four days to win the Pac-12 tournament last week just to make the NCAAs then followed it with an impressive victory over a higher-seeded opponent. Oregon advanced to play No. 13 seed UC Irvine (31-5) on Sunday in the second round of the South Region.

Louis King added 17 points, Paul White scored all 14 points of his points in the second half and Wooten had nine points, six rebounds and the tone-setting blocks to give the Ducks their ninth straight win.

Ethan Happ and Khalil Iverson each scored 14 points to lead the Badgers (23-11).

VIRGINIA 71, GARDNER-WEBB 56 — No. 1 seed Virginia rallied from 14 points down to beat No. 16 seed Gardner-Webb and avert another first-round exit as a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Cavaliers trailed 30-16 with 6:42 left in the first half of the South Region opener but rallied and cut the Runnin’ Bulldogs (23-12) lead to six at halftime.

Virginia (30-3) then opened the second half with a 25-5 run to put to rest any thoughts of an upset. The Cavaliers used their trademark stifling defense to force 11 Gardner-Webb turnovers in the first 12 minutes after the break.

De’Andre Hunter led the Cavaliers with 23 points and Mamadi Diakite added 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting and nine rebounds.

Jose Perez scored 19 points for Gardner-Webb, which was playing in its first NCAA Tournament.

Last year the Cavaliers were the top seed in the tournament and lost by 20 to No. 16 seed Maryland Baltimore County.

TENNESSEE 77, COLGATE 70 — Admiral Schofield had 19 points and No. 2 seed Tennessee held off a second-half rally by No. 15 seed Colgate in the opening round.

Jordan Bone added 16 and Jordan Bowden 14 for Tennessee (30-5).

The Raiders (24-11) erased most of Tennessee’s 42-30 halftime lead with an 11-2 run, tied the score midway through the second half, and kept the game close after that.

Schofield hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Tennessee a cushion with 45 seconds left.

Jordan Burns had 32 points for Colgate, which played much of the game without leading scorer Rapolas Ivanauskas because of eye problems.

BUFFALO 91, ARIZONA STATE 74 — Jeremy Harris and Nick Perkins each scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds to help lead No. 6 seed Buffalo past No. 11 Arizona State in the West Region.

CJ Massinburg had 18 points and six rebounds for Buffalo (32-3), which won its 13th straight game.

Zylan Cheatham scored 22 points and had eight rebounds before fouling out with 2:06 remaining for Arizona State (23-11). Romello White and Luguentz Dort each added 12 points.

Arizona State trailed 44-31 at halftime and pulled within nine early in the second half before Buffalo’s 7-0 run pushed its lead to 16 with 16:13 remaining. The Bulls’ advantage never fell below 14 the rest of the way.