WEST

(11) VCU 79, (6) DUKE 77 —Duke’s done.

Eric Maynor hit a 15-foot jumper with 1.8 seconds left to give Vir ginia Commonwealth a 79–77 up set victory over the Blue Devils in the first round of the NCAA tour nament Thursday night. Maynor finished with 22 points, six of them in the final 1:24.

Duke lost a first-round game for the first time since 1996. The loss also ended the Blue Devils’ string of Sweet 16 appearances at nine. It was the longest active streak and second-longest behind North Car olina’s 13-year run.

Fittingly, it was VCU that knocked off George Mason — the tournament’s surprise team last year — in the Colonial Athletic Association championship game. Maynor sealed that 65-59 win by scoring nine of his 20 points in the final 2 minutes.

Greg Paulus scored a career-high 25 points for Duke, seeded sixth in the West Regional. Josh McRoberts added a career-high 22 points and had 12 rebounds.

(2) UCLA 70, (15) WEBER ST. 42

Arron Afflalo put an awful game behind him in UCLA’s impressive NCAA tournament opener.

Shaking off a terrible performance in last week’s Pac-10 tournament, Afflalo had 22 points and eight rebounds to lead the Bruins to a 70–42 victory over Weber State last night in the West Regional.

Darren Collison had 14 points and eight assists while playing on a sprained ankle, and Josh Shipp added 12 for coach Ben Howland’s second-seeded Bruins (27–5), who reached last season’s national championship game before falling short of their 12th NCAA title.

SOUTH

(6) LOUISVILLE 78, (11) STANFORD 58

Playing the kind of relentless style that’s become a Rick Pitino trademark, Louisville crushed Stanford 78–58 yesterday.

Louisville (24–9) dominated from the opening tip in front of a highly partisan crowd that temporarily turned normally blue Rupp Arena into a sea of red. The Cardinals will play Texas A&M in the second round on Saturday.

3) TEXAS A&M 68, (14) PENNSYLVANIA 52

Acie Law, arguably the nation’s best point guard, needed plenty of help from Joseph Jones and others to push the third-seeded Aggies past upset-minded Penn 68–52 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

EAST

(2) GEORGETOWN 80, (15) BELMONT 55

Coach John Thompson III preaches patience at Georgetown. Jessie Sapp is a believer.

The sophomore guard scored a career-high 20 points to break a shooting slump and lead the second-seeded Hoyas to an 80–55 rout over 15th-seeded Belmont in the first round of the East Regional yesterday.

Sapp had been 12–for–42 in his previous six games and had failed to reach double figures.

(3) WASHINGTON ST. 70, (14) ORAL ROBERTS 54

Reserve Ivory Clark scored 19 points and Kyle Weaver had 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists to help the third-seeded Cougars win their first NCAA game in 24 years with a 70–54 victory over 14th-seeded Oral Roberts on Thursday in the East Regional.

The Cougars will face sixth-seeded Vanderbilt in the second round Saturday after the Commodores defeated George Washington 77–44 in the second game Thursday at Arco Arena.

(6) VANDERBILT 77, (11) GEO. WASHINGTON 44

Shan Foster blocked Maureece Rice’s jump shot with a leaping flourish, yet still had time to outrun George Washington’s top player downcourt and hit a 3-pointer for Vanderbilt.

Derrick Byars hit another 3-pointer in the Commodores’ firsthalf barrage a moment later, and Foster couldn’t hide his glee as he ran upcourt with a 20-point lead and an all-but-certain ticket to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

(7) BOSTON COLL. 84, (10) TEXAS TECH 75

Sean Marshall scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half to help the Eagles rally for an 84–75 win yesterday that knocked Knight and his Red Raiders out of the NCAA tournament.

The victory sent BC to play former Big East Conference rival and second-seeded Georgetown in Saturday’s second round.

(9) MICHIGAN ST. 61, (8) MARQUETTE 49

Raymar Morgan scored eight of his 14 points during a dominating first half, and ninth-seeded Michigan State clamped down on eighth-seeded Marquette in a 61–49 win in the first round of the East Regional last night.