SAN DIEGO — Jared Harper made a clutch 3-pointer with 1:17 to go — his only basket of the game — and Auburn held off No. 13 seed College of Charleston 62-58 in a Midwest Region thriller to avoid becoming the second No. 4 seed upset at Viejas Arena on Friday.

Michigan State avoided an upset loss as well, edging Bucknell by four points.

Auburn, playing under the cloud of a federal investigation into corruption in college basketball, overcame a horrible shooting performance to win in its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2003. But it survived in part because Charleston committed 21 turnovers.

Mustapha Heron scored 16 points for Auburn (26-7), which shot only 35.6 percent overall (21 of 59) and just 20.8 percent from 3-point range (5 of 24).

The biggest shot to go down for the Tigers was Harper’s deep 3 that gave them a 59-56 lead. He finished 1 of 7, including 1 of 4 from behind the arc.

The Cougars (26-8) pulled to 61-58 when Grant Riller made one of two free throws with 20.4 seconds left.

Auburn’s Davion Mitchell missed two free throws with 14 seconds to go, giving Charleston a chance. Riller launched a 3 with four seconds left that fell short. He appeared to get fouled but nothing was called.

Harper then made one of two free throws with 3.2 seconds left to seal it.

Earlier on Friday in the East Region bracket at Viejas, No. 4 seed Wichita State was beaten 81-75 by No. 13 Marshall. And on Thursday night, No. 4 seed Arizona was routed 89-68 by 13th-seeded Buffalo in the South Region bracket at Boise, Idaho.

Desean Murray scored 11 for Auburn, and Bryce Brown had 10.

Jarrell Brantley scored a game-high 24 points for Charleston, and Riller added 16.

Auburn assistant coach Chuck Person was indicted as part of a federal investigation that cost two of Auburn’s best players their eligibility. Person allegedly accepted bribes to steer players to a financial adviser once they turned pro and allegedly funneled money to the families of Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy. Neither played this season.

Head coach Bruce Pearl has yet to submit to a formal interview with a law firm conducting an internal review of his program. That will presumably come after the season. At that time, President Steven Leath and new athletic director Allen Greene could possibly determine his fate.

Michigan State 82, Bucknell 78

DETROIT — Miles Bridges outlasted Zach Thomas, scoring 29 points and grabbing nine rebounds to help third-seeded Michigan State hold on for an 82-78 win over Bucknell on Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Thomas fouled out on a technical with 6:06 left and finished with 27 points. He put on a show in the first half, scoring 20 points and making all three of his shots beyond the 3-point arc to keep the Bison close.

The Spartans (30-4) made the most of playing about 75 miles from campus in a packed arena with green-and-white clad fans in the stands. They roared when Bridges dunked, as he did once on a spectacular slam off an offensive rebound, and jeered when replays showed a foul called against their team.

Michigan State will play the winner of the Syracuse-TCU game on Sunday.

Leading by 15 points with 2 minutes left, Michigan State won by a slim margin after Bucknell (25-10) made a late flurry of long-range shots.

The Spartans didn’t start rusty, like some Big Ten teams after a long layoff, but found out quickly Thomas was as good if not better than they thought.

Thomas, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, made a 3-pointer to put the Patriot League champions ahead 28-27 with 5:24 left in the first half. Joshua Langford, who scored 15 of his 22 points in the first half, gave Michigan State the lead on the ensuing possession and it never lost it.

The Spartans, though, did have to make enough free throws in the final seconds to hold on.