The hardcourt matchups in the First Game produced several SU (straight up) nailbiters: West Virginia upset Kansas 65-64 when the Jayhawks' Lagerald Vick missed a layup after the Mountaineers' Jermaine Hayley made one. Tennessee escaped against Alabama 71-68, Lamonte Turner hitting a pair of clutch free throws. RJ Barrett had 30 points as Duke edged previously undefeated Virginia 72-70. And Kentucky beat Auburn 82-80 when Jared Harper's driving layup rimmed out.
The NBA also provided plenty of fireworks. Jimmy Butler scored after a clutch steal to give the 76ers the lead over the Thunder with six seconds left, but Paul George drained a 26-footer just a second later and completed the 4-point play to lift the Thunder 117-115. The Lakers squandered a twenty point lead in the third quarter against the Rockets, surrendered a game-tying 3-pointer to Eric Gordon with two seconds left, and ultimately lost in overtime 138-134. However, ATS (against the spread), the Lakers (+5) came out on top and that made GridCard winners of Ace (42) and CraigW (42).
The Lakers @ Rockets also decided the ProGrid Tour. Heart of a Hooligan (37) won the money when 87% FT-shooter James Hardin missed two free throws in OT-- costing Teunesto (34) the PGT. KMac (30) and dkropf (29) posted the only other Qualifying Scores.