Tampa, Fla. ? Tiny Tim Smith and East Tennessee State nearly won one for the little guys. Josh Howard and his athletic Wake Forest teammates made sure bigger was barely better.

Howard, the ACC player of the year, made two key free throws and finished with 12 points Friday to help the second-seeded Demon Deacons survive a major scare from No. 15 ETSU in a 76-73 victory.

The Buccaneers (20-11) will go home with a loss in their first tournament appearance in 11 years, but the consolation that they, not Wake Forest, were the real show.

With his 22-point performance and frenetic floor game, Smith got most of the credit for ETSU’s scintillating effort. During an unbelievable 65-second stretch late, he almost took the Bucs to the second round on his own.

The 5-foot-9 freshman made a three-pointer and a pair of free throws to cut a 72-64 deficit to three with 47 seconds left. On the ensuing inbounds pass, he practically dove in front of a Wake Forest player for the steal, then after his teammates rebounded two misses, he hit a three-pointer from the left side to tie the game.

After Howard made two free throws with 21 seconds to go, ETSU’s Zakee Wadood (20 points, 14 rebounds) had a chance to tie it. But Wake Forest called timeout to ice him, and Wadood missed the second of two free throws.

Freshman center Eric Williams led the Demon Deacons with 20 points.

Butler 47, Miss. State 46

Birmingham, Ala. — Brandon Miller hit a runner with 6.2 seconds left, lifting the 12th-seeded Bulldogs (26-5). Butler will meet Rick Pitino and fourth-seeded Louisville Sunday.

Miller had 14 points, and Duane Lightfoot added 13 for Butler, which received an at-large berth for the first time since 1962. Mario Austin had 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Louisville 86, Austin Peay 64

Birmingham, Ala. — Pitino returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997 and did it in style.

Luke Whitehead had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and star Reece Gaines scored 18 for the fourth-seeded Cardinals (25-6).

Josh Lewis scored 20 points, and Adrian Henning had 17 for Austin Peay (23-8).

Syracuse 76, Manhattan 65

Boston — Carmelo Anthony scored 10 of his 17 points after halftime and became much more aggressive slashing to the basket, leading Syracuse (25-5).

Jared Johnson scored 22 points, and Luis Flores added 20 to lead the 14th-seeded Jaspers (23-7).

Auburn 65, St. Joe’s 63, OT

Tampa, Fla. — Proving his team does belong in the NCAA Tournament, Marquis Daniels scored five of his 25 points in overtime, and the Tigers (21-11) withstood a brilliant second-half by Saint Joseph’s star Jameer Nelson.

Nelson finished with 32 points and nine rebounds for the Hawks (23-7).