NCAA tournament, first round: No. 2 Villanova barely averts upset bid by No. 15 Robert Morris

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Scottie Reynolds responded to his benching with a solid performance at the foul line, and second-seeded Villanova survived a scare from Robert Morris in a 73-70 overtime win Thursday in the NCAA tournament at Providence, R.I.

Coach Jay Wright benched his senior star to make a “teaching point.” Reynolds missed 13 of 15 shots from the floor, but he made seven of eight free throws in the final 3:06 of regulation to send the game into overtime.

Reynolds finished with 20 points for the Wildcats (25-7), who hung on as they try to make the Final Four for the second straight season.

Karon Abraham scored 23 for Robert Morris (23-13), which appeared on the brink of becoming only the fifth No. 15 seed to beat a No. 1 and the first since 2001. Abraham let fly a 25-footer in OT that cut it to 71-70 with 10.2 seconds left, but an off-balance 3 at the buzzer was no good.

The Colonials left the court to a standing ovation.

-- Associated Press