ere trying to build a team here, too. Were tryin

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Xavier Thames dropped in 3s from deep, finessed floaters in the lane and carried San Diego State the way he did all season as the Mountain West player of the year. Thames would not let North Dakota State become this years version of Florida Gulf Coast by sending the Aztecs home in the third round of the NCAA tournament. Thames scored 30 points, and fourth-seeded San Diego State reached the round of 16 for the second time in school history, ending the run of No. 12 seed North Dakota State 63-44 on Saturday. The Aztecs (31-4) now get to make the short drive up the interstate to Anaheim, Calif., where they will face either No. 1 seed Arizona or eighth-seeded Gonzaga in the West Regional semifinals on Thursday. Thames, who was 9 of 19 from the field, had five assists and ended the comeback hopes of the Bison with a six-point spurt late in the second half that pushed the Aztecs lead to 12. He finished one shy of his career-high in points. Dwayne Polee II was the only other San Diego State player in double figures with 15, but the Aztecs didnt need a ton of scoring with Thames carrying the load and another defensive performance that suffocated the best shooting team in the country. Kory Brown led the Bison (26-7) with 13 points, but it was the struggles of leading scorer Taylor Braun that had North Dakota State trying to play catch up. Braun missed nine straight shots during one stretch. Sometimes he was guarded by Thames. Other times it was J.J. OBrien taking a turn on the Summit League player of the year. Braun finished 2-of-14 shooting and just seven points. North Dakota State shot 50.9 per cent for the season to lead the country, but could only make 31.9 per cent against the Aztecs. The 44 points were a season-low for the Bison, the previous low being 56 in a win over Western Illinois. North Dakota State was one of three No. 12 seeds to help create another manic March by upsetting No. 5 seed Oklahoma 80-75 in overtime in the second round on Thursday. They had the players and the personality to become this years version of FGCU -- just minus all those dunks. Thames wasnt going to allow that to happen. The memories were still fresh of the flight home last year after San Diego State become one of those teams FGCU dunked all over on its way to an unforgettable March run. Thames did it all for the Aztecs in the first half. He was responsible for 23 of San Diego States 30 points, scoring 16 and assisting on another three baskets. He started the second half with a floater in the lane, a shot he repeated minutes later. He then found Polee on the wing for a 3 and the Aztecs lead was back to 40-30 after a quick North Dakota State spurt had trimmed the deficit to five. Braun finally got a shot to fall when he spun in a reverse layup with 12:11 left, his first field goal in nearly 27 minutes of game time. By that point, the Bison were down eight and could never get much closer. Braun finished the first half 1-of-10 shooting and equally quiet was Lawrence Alexander. The guard who hit all the big shots against Oklahoma finished with three points after scoring 28 against the Sooners. San Francisco Giants Shirts . -- Jerome Williams glanced at Philadelphias schedule and realized he would be facing the Oakland Athletics yet again, with another new team. Cheap Giants Jerseys . The mood in Seattle was electrified as the parade featuring the NFL champions began near the Space Needle and made its way to CenturyLink Field, the home of the team. At a ceremony inside the stadium, the team thanked its loyal followers -- the 12th Man -- capping a day of boisterous celebration that drew an estimated 700,000 revelers to Seattle. https://www.cheapjerseysgiants.us/ . -- Alex Anthopoulos spoke volumes with what he didnt say on right-hander Ervin Santana. Custom San Francisco Giants Jerseys . Lawrie was hit on the hand by Cincinnati pitcher Johnny Cueto in the second inning of Sundays 4-3 loss to the Reds. Giants Jerseys China .com) - The San Antonio Spurs will try to even their series with the Dallas Mavericks Monday night when the two teams collide at American Airlines Arena for Game 4.SOCHI, Russia -- Jonathan Toews pushed Matt Duchene into the centre of the ice as Team Canada started to stretch before practice. After sitting out as the 14th forward against Latvia, Duchene is back in the game following an injury to John Tavares. Duchene will replace Tavares in Canadas lineup for the Olympic semifinal showdown with the United States on Friday after the star centre suffered a tournament-ending knee injury. Its also a season-ending injury, as the New York Islanders confirmed their franchise player tore the medial collateral ligament and meniscus in his left knee on a hit from Latvias Arturs Kulda. The team said he would remain in Sochi with Team Canada for the rest of the Olympics before returning home for further evaluation. In the meantime, Canada must go on without him, and that means Duchene stepping into his spot centring the fourth line between Patrick Sharp and Rick Nash. "Johnnys been playing great for us, and hopefully he has a speedy recovery," Duchene said. "But its a big opportunity for myself now, chance to play centre, to play where Im comfortable. Theres been a lot of unfamiliars in this tournament, and when you get a short chance at it, sometimes can be tough, so this is going to be much more familiar." This is where Canadas best-in-the-world depth at centre provides a big advantage. Duchene goes from being a healthy scratch in two of the first four games and playing left wing in the other two back to the middle where he plays for the Colorado Avalanche. Duchene called speed his biggest asset, and its undoubtedly one reason coach Mike Babcock plugged him in where Tavares had been playing. "Thats why were set up (with so many centres)," Babcock said. "Duchhys a real good centreman with great speed, so were not concerned about him that way.dddddddddddd." Another reason might be that it meant not having to mess with the other three lines. Again in practice Thursday, Sidney Crosby centred Chris Kunitz and Patrice Bergeron, Ryan Getzlaf centred Jamie Benn and Corey Perry, and Toews centred Patrick Marleau and Jeff Carter. If those lines stay together against the U.S., aside from Tavares out because of injury, itll mark the first time Canada had consistent lines two games in a row. Thats not any accident. "We like what we got going," Babcock said. "Were trying to build a team here, too. Were trying to make everybody important. We knew there was going to be some lineup changes." In some places, there are no changes. Carey Price will start in goal for the third straight game and fourth time at these Olympics, and the same defensive pairs of Duncan Keith with Shea Weber, Marc-Edouard Vlasic with Drew Doughty and Jay Bouwmeester with Alex Pietrangelo are expected to stick together. Given that the forwards have scored only six of Canadas 13 goals through four games, there might be some benefits to building chemistry from game to game. "That can add a little bit of comfort going into the next game if youre playing with the same guys and you kind of get that rhythm together," Getzlaf said. "But ... that can change with the drop of the puck, so youve just got to be prepared for everything and be prepared to go out and work that system no matter who youre playing with." Kunitz took Tavares spot on the power play with Crosby, Carter, Sharp and Keith. The other unit of Toews, Getzlaf, Perry, Weber and Doughty remained the same. ' ' '