NCAA Tournament 2015: 1st-Round Wednesday Scores, Updated Bracket and Schedule

Survive and advance: That's the name of the game in March. Dayton and Robert Morris did just that on Wednesday, advancing past their First Four opponents to earn a spot in the round of 64.

For both teams, it was all about overcoming adversity.

Robert Morris was down as many as 14 points in the second half against North Florida before coming back thanks to an outpouring of offensive production. Lucky Jones scored a team-high 21 points off the bench, Rodney Pryor added 20 and Marcquise Reed had 19, each helping push the Colonials to a 52-point second half. 

"At halftime, we let [the players] be for about five or six minutes, and I think they figured it out," coach Andy Toole told The Associated Press, per ESPN.com. "As we came in as coaches in the locker room, you know they looked like they understood what they needed to do."

Robert Morris was able to consistently create opportunities for itself by forcing 19 North Florida turnovers. Beau Beech, who scored a game-high 28 points and single-handedly propped up his team's offense at times, and Dallas Moore led the way with five cough-ups apiece.

Those mistakes helped send the Ospreys home despite the team shooting a higher percentage from the field than the Colonials, making more than double their three-pointers and out-rebounding them 42-31.

Skip Peterson/Associated Press

"They kind of switched to a matchup zone, kind of a man-to-man," Beech said. "It limited my three-point attempts. But we had clean looks the whole second half. It was turnovers that killed us the most."

Robert Morris moves on to play Duke Friday, when it'll attempt to become the first No. 16 seed to ever take down a No. 1.

Toole had previously led his team to back-to-back NIT berths, each time taking down a higher-ranked opponent before losing in the second round. In its last NCAA tournament berth, a 15th-seeded Robert Morris took No. 2 Villanova to overtime before losing by three points.

All Your Bracket Essentials

• Download the Printable Bracket
• Play the Free Bracket Challenge

Dayton, meanwhile, got well-acquainted with close calls Thursday night. Playing before what amounted to a home crowd in their own arena, the Flyers appeared to be dead in the water for most of the game. They scored just 20 first-half points and spent most of the second half three or four possessions down.

But Dayton held Boise State without a field goal for the final four-plus minutes and went on a 10-2 run to close out its 56-55 victory.

"They were electrifying," senior guard Jordan Sibert told The Associated Press, per ESPN.com, of the home crowd. "I don't think we would have won that game without them."

Of course, Boise State probably believes that the game should have gone in the other direction.

Derrick Marks, who scored a game-high 23 points, took the Broncos' final shot and appeared to draw contact when a Dayton player stepped into him on a shot fake. No call was made, Marks' shot fell way off and the final whistle sounded.

"It's going to be really hard to take this jersey off," Marks, a senior, said after the game, per the Boise State men's basketball Twitter account. "These past four years have been the best experience of my life."

Before that last shot, Marks went out in style, shooting 10-of-21 from the field as one of two Boise State players in double figures. Montigo Alford (11 points), who knocked down three three-pointers, was the other double-digit scorer. 

Skip Peterson/Associated Press

Dayton's scoring effort was led by Kendall Pollard's 17 points and six rebounds. Sibert (13 points) and Scoochie Smith (11 points) also helped keep things afloat as Dayton's bench provided just three points.

The Flyers' offensive prowess largely came down to efficiently getting the job done when they had possession, as they attempted 13 fewer field goals and grabbed eight fewer rebounds than the Broncos. An extra three-pointer and a four-point swing at the free-throw line was just enough to get it done.

The Flyers move on to play sixth-seeded Providence, a team that is far from invulnerable. The Friars have dropped two of their last three games, and though those were respectable losses to Butler and Villanova, they've shown a propensity for inconsistency all season. 

Providence should open as a slight favorite, but this was a team many were pointing to as a potential one-and-done. Given the fortitude shown by Dayton on Wednesday, that might not be such a half-bad bet.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.