Syracuse became the second No. 1 seed to suffer an early exit when unheralded Butler pulled off a 63-59 upset triumph at the NCAA Basketball Tournament Thursday. The fifth-seeded underdogs trailed 54-50 with 5:23 remaining but reeled off 11 straight points before holding off a late rally to advance to the West Region final. “We've said this word over and over again and that's ‘resolve',” Butler coach Brad Stevens told the Indianapolis Star. “These guys have resolve. Hard to measure, but they got it.” Gordon Hayward led the way with 17 points and Shelvin Mack added 14 for Butler, which will take on Kansas State in the Elite Eight after it prevailed in a thrilling double-overtime 101-96 victory over Xavier. In other action, Kentucky became the last of the four top seeds to survive with a 62-45 victory over 12th-seed Cornell, the Wildcats earning a spot in the East Region final against West Virginia, who eased to a 69-56 win over No. 11 Washington. Syracuse had entered the round having put together two impressive blowout victories over Vermont and Gonzaga but came out flat in the Sweet 16 affair. The Orange of Syracuse trailed by 10 at halftime and did not take its first lead until an 8-0 spurt gave it a 40-39 edge midway through the second half. Wes Johnson had 17 and Andy Rautins added 15 for Syracuse, which trailed by one with under three minutes remaining before Willie Veasley scored five straight points to give Butler a winning cushion. Second seeded Kansas State was driven on by 28 points and a go-ahead three-pointer in the second overtime period from Jacob Pullen, helping him upstage a 32-point effort from Xavier's Jordan Crawford. Kentucky was never challenged as it dominated inside with 16 points from DeMarcus Cousins along with nine points and 12 rebounds from Patrick Patterson. The Wildcats out-rebounded Cornell 37-26 and ended the first half with a dominating 16-2 run to set the tone for victory. Louis Dale had 17 for the Big Red of Cornell, who could get no closer than eight points down in the second half.
