Notre Dame triumphs; DePaul snaps skid

Tory Jackson scored all 12 of his points in the second half to lead Notre Dame to a 61-50 victory over Rutgers last night in the opening round of the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden.

Kyle McAlarney added 11 points for the 10th-seeded Fighting Irish (18-13), who will play seventh-seeded West Virginia in the second round today.

Hamady Ndiaye had 14 points for the 15th-seeded Scarlet Knights (11-21), who lost 18 of their last 20 games.

Notre Dame, which likely would have to run the table to gain the NCAA Tournament, managed a 28-19 lead after a sluggish first half that saw the Irish shoot just 33 percent (9 for 27).

Also in the Big East opening round, Will Walker and Dar Tucker scored 17 points apiece and DePaul ended its 18-game losing streak with a 67-57 victory over Cincinnati.

Paris Horne scored 23 points and St. John's beat Georgetown, 64-59, the Red Storm's first win in the tournament since 2003.

Jeremy Hazell scored 23 points to lead Seton Hall (17-14) to a 68-54 victory over South Florida, snapping the Pirates' five-game losing streak in the tournament.

Horizon final - Cedric Jackson scored 19 points and Cleveland State used a flurry of 3-pointers to beat No. 16 Butler, 57-54, at Indianapolis, to earn its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1986. Six of Cleveland State's first seven field goals in the second half were 3-pointers, helping the Vikings (25-10) erase an 8-point lead by the Bulldogs (26-5). Butler's last lead was 48-47 midway through the period, then Jackson hit a 3-pointer and a floater in the lane to put the Vikings in front for good.

Summit final - At Sioux Falls, S.D., Ben Woodside made a jumper with three seconds left to give North Dakota State a 66-64 win over Oakland University and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. The No. 1 seeded Bison (26-6) trailed through much of the game - by 14 points in the first half - and needed a rally in the final five minutes to win.

Sun Belt final - A.J. Slaughter scored 18 points, and Western Kentucky beat South Alabama, 64-56, as the Hilltoppers (24-8) earned their 21st NCAA Tournament berth.

Big Sky semifinals - Braden Johnson made four 3-pointers while scoring 16 points as Montana State (14-16) upset top-seeded Weber State, 70-61, at Ogden, Utah . . . Andre Murray scored 21 points and Portland State survived a shaky second half and held off Idaho State, 61-53.

Mid-American first round - Michael Allen's layup put Ohio (15-16) up for good with 1:28 to play as the Bobcats beat Western Michigan, 62-55, in Cleveland. . . . Brett McKnight's lay-in with less than a second left gave Akron (20-12) a 93-92 overtime win over Toledo. Anthony Hitchens, who tied the game on a 3-pointer at the end of regulation, threw a lob pass to McKnight under the basket, who scored with .05 seconds left . . . Al Fisher scored 25 points as Kent State rallied to beat Northern Illinois, 64-61. . . . Marcus Van scored 17 points to lead Central Michigan to a 62-49 win over Eastern Michigan.

Mid-Eastern Athletic first round - Darrion Pellum scored 12 points and Hampton held Delaware State to a season-low point total in a 51-32 victory in Winston-Salem, N.C. . . . Lamar Twitty scored 20 points and Dale Hughes added 16, helping Florida A&M beat Howard, 71-58. The eighth-seeded Rattlers (10-20) will play top seed Morgan State.

Western Athletic first round - Dwight O'Neil hit a go-ahead jumper with 21.7 seconds left and Fresno State held on to beat Hawaii, 62-58, in Reno. Sylvester Seay scored 16 points and O'Neil had 14 to lead the ninth-seeded Bulldogs (13-20).