Greenville, S.C. ? Trevor Huffman doesn’t consider Kent State’s victory over Oklahoma State a stunning victory even if everyone else does.

Demetric Shaw scored 21 points, and Huffman had 18 as the 10th-seeded Golden Flashes beat the No. 7 Cowboys 69-61 Thursday , registering the NCAA tournament’s first surprise in its very first game.

Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton, right, covers his eyes in the first half. The Cowboys were sent home by Kent State, 69-61, in a first-round game at the NCAA South Regional on Thursday at the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville, S.C. Assistant head coach Sean Sutton is at left.

“I don’t think anyone actually believed we were going to do it except us,” Huffman said. “We’re a special team.”

Kent State (28-5) has won 19 straight games.

Huffman said the team’s first-round victory over Indiana last year gave the Golden Flashes reason to believe they rate better than a 10th seeding.

They looked good from the start Thursday, leading 30-15 with about 512 minutes left in the first half and holding off several second-half rallies by the Cowboys (23-9).

“Our experience at the NCAAs helped us here,” Shaw said. “We kind of don’t worry about the things that everybody else is worrying about.”

The closest Oklahoma State came down the stretch was 64-60, on Ivan McFarlin’s layup with 1:02 left. The Cowboys had the chance to cut it further, but Kent State’s Eric Thomas stole a pass from Cheyne Gadson with 45 seconds left.

“They came at us, and we just had to fight them off,” said first-year Kent State coach Stan Heath. “We weren’t perfect, but we showed the resiliency.”

Kent State was the lone Mid-American Conference team in the NCAA tournament, because Bowling Green (24-8) and Ball State (20-11) were passed over. Huffman said the Golden Flashes wanted to give the NCAA selection committee something to think about.

Alabama 86,

Florida Atlantic 78

Greenville, S.C. Alabama, the Southeastern Conference regular-season champions scored 10 straight points to pull away from a 64-64 tie, then held on. Freshman guard Mo Williams scored a career-high 33 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and had six assists to pace the Crimson Tide (27-7), who advanced to a second-round matchup against Kent State. Florida Atlantic, trying to become just the fifth No. 15 seed to knock off a No. 2, matched the heavily favored Crimson Tide basket for basket for nearly 33 minutes. Earnest Crumbley led FAU (19-12) with 18 points.

Notre Dame 82, Charlotte 63

Greenville, S.C. Notre Dame reached the NCAA tournament’s second round for the second straight year, and ended Charlotte’s run of opening-game successes. Matt Carroll and Ryan Humphrey scored 20 points each, and David Graves added 19 as eighth-seeded Notre Dame defeated Charlotte. With Charlotte star Jobey Thomas slowed by a stomach virus, the 49ers couldn’t last against the more physical Irish (22-10). Charlotte (18-12) had had won four straight first-round tournament games since 1997.

Duke 84, Winthrop 37

Greenville, S.C. Duke, matching the fifth biggest blowout in tournament history, made 12 of its first 13 shots to blow past Winthrop just hours after the day’s other No. 1 seed Kansas struggled with Holy Cross. Carlos Boozer and Jason Williams scored 19 points each, and Mike Dunleavy added 18 as the defending national champions (30-3) won their seventh straight NCAA game by double digits and gave coach Mike Krzyzewski his seventh 30-win season.