ATLANTA REGION: Texas 66 – Princeton 49

DENVER – For awhile, Princeton looked as if it were up to its giant-killer tricks again last night. Princeton, a No.14 seed, had Texas, the No. 3 seed in the region, completely befuddled. The storyline was familiar for the Tigers, who have made a postseason living either scaring or defeating heavily favored opponents.

Last night, however, Princeton’s magic lasted only a half before Texas figured things out and rolled to a 66-49 win at the Pepsi Center, ending a nine-game Tigers’ winning streak. Texas (24-7) will play North Carolina in tomorrow’s second-round game.

“We had to dig deep and play our principles,” Texas guard and Queens native Royal Ivey (15 points) said.

Early in the game, Princeton (20-8) set the deliberate pace it wanted and Texas coach Rick Barnes feared. With 8:48 left in the first half, Texas had only six points and was trailing, 14-6. Three times in the first half, Princeton had leads of eight points en route to a 25-22 halftime lead.

Had it not been for reserve Brian Boddicker’s 11 first-half points on 3-of-3 three-point shooting (he finished with 14 points), who knows what kind of jam the Longhorns would have found themselves in?

“We would have been down by a lot,” Ivey said.

Will Venable led Princeton through the first 20 minutes with 11 points and five rebounds. But the Tigers’ 3-point shooting was abominable (5-of-26) and they were out-rebounded 43-23. Eventually, those sins caught up to the Tigers, as did Texas’ 11-of-15 3-point shooting.

The Longhorns’ Brandon Mouton, who led all scorers with 23 points and made 5-of-6 3-pointers, came out early in the second half suddenly looking liberated, going on a 24-8 run before cruising to victory.

“We don’t ever want to feel like this again,” Princeton’s Scott Greenman said. “It’s a terrible feeling.”

ATLANTA REGION

North Carolina 63, Air Force 52

In Denver, Sean May had 14 points and North Carolina (19-10) pulled away in the second half to beat the scrappy Falcons (22-7) in coach Roy Williams’ NCAA tournament debut with Carolina.

North Carolina, the sixth seed in the Atlanta Regional, didn’t get any breathing room until going on an 11-0 run midway through the second half. The Tar Heels shot just 32 percent in the first half, but went 12-for-22 in the second to move on to tomorrow’s second round against Texas.