SACRAMENTO — 'Iolani School graduate Derrick Low is going where only one other college basketball player from Hawai'i has gone before: to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Low, a 6-foot-2 junior guard for Washington State, had 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and one steal yesterday to help the No. 13-ranked Cougars rally past Oral Roberts, 70-54, in an NCAA first-round game at ARCO Arena.

Washington State, seeded No. 3 in the East Region, improved to 26-7 and will play No. 6 seed Vanderbilt (21-11) at 11:40 a.m. (Hawai'i time) tomorrow.

In 1988, Kalaheo graduate Keoni Ball was a reserve member of the Loyola Marymount team that defeated Wyoming, 119-115, in the NCAA tournament first round. No other player from Hawai'i is believed to have advanced to the second round, until Low did it yesterday.

"That was a lot of fun," Low said in the locker room afterward. "We're glad to be here, but we're even happier to move on to the next game."

No. 14 seed Oral Roberts (23-11) put a scare into the Cougars in the first half, building a 28-22 lead with 41 seconds remaining after Caleb Green's putback. But Washington State seized momentum in the closing seconds when sophomore guard Taylor Rochestie sank a double-pump, fadeaway 8-foot banker with four ticks left and Kyle Weaver stole the ensuing inbounds pass and slammed it home to close it to 28-26 at the buzzer.

"That was a big-time sequence," Low said. "It gave us momentum that carried over into the second half."

Low scored early on a steal and layup and later on a 12-foot baseline jumper, but he was called for his second foul with 7:07 left in the half and sat out the remainder of the period.

But Low quickly re-established his presence in the second half, draining two 3-pointers to spark a 12-2 run for the Cougars, the second one giving them a 38-30 lead with 15:52 left. Low had 10 points at that point, but was soon whistled for his third foul and was sent to the bench again.

"I wasn't worried," Low said. "The way the five guys in there were playing, there didn't seem to be any dropoff."

Low returned with 11:58 remaining and promptly stuck a 15-foot baseline jumper to put Washington State up, 51-42. The Golden Eagles closed to 51-45 on Marchello Vealy's layup with 9:23 left, but that was as close as they would get as the Cougars used a 7-0 run to expand the lead to 60-47 with 4:30 remaining.

Senior forward Ivory Clark came off the bench to lead Washington State with 19 points, Rochestie added 15 points and Weaver contributed 10 points and eight rebounds for the Cougars, who shot 59 percent (16 of 27) from the field in the second half.

"We just had to move a little more in the second half," said Low, who finished 5 of 7 from the field. "I think we were nervous in the first half and our offense was stagnant. But we've been down before, and we finally started to get defensive stops and once we hit our first couple shots in the second half, we got into a good rhythm and it got contagious."

It was Washington State's first NCAA Tournament victory since 1983, but Low said the Cougars are not done yet. Ball's 1988 Loyola Marymount team lost in the second round to North Carolina, 123-97.

"We're still gonna play to win," Low said. "We're gonna try and take this as far as we can."

Further than any Hawai'i player ever has.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.