Texas-San Antonio wins date with Ohio State

DAYTON, OHIO - Melvin Johnson III insists he's in a deep shooting slump.

Oh, really?

The smooth guard with "SWISH" scrawled on the side of each orange shoe scored a career-high 29 points Wednesday night, putting on the most scintillating show so far in the NCAA tournament while leading Texas-San Antonio to a 70-61 victory over Alabama State in the "First Four" round.

"It seems like the last four or five games, I can't make a shot," Johnson said. "I have 'SWISH' on the side of my shoes because I used to make shots. I might have to black it out for now."

No need to edit the footwear, not after that NCAA tournament debut.

The Roadrunners (20-13) and their smooth guard head to Cleveland for a game Friday against top-seeded Ohio State.

San Antonio had never won an NCAA tournament game of any sort before Wednesday.

Virginia Commonwealth 59, USC 46: Jamie Skeen scored 16 points and the Rams more than held their own inside against the bigger and stronger Trojans.

The 11th-seeded teams traded elbows and punishing defense all night, with the Rams (24-11) pulling away down the stretch to set up a game against sixth-seeded Georgetown (21-10) on Friday in Chicago.

Joey Rodriguez had eight points and five assists for VCU.

Jio Fontan had 14 points and Nikola Vucevic 11 for USC (19-15), which had just one basket over the final 9 minutes.