Thursday's NCAA Tournament: Saint Peter's shocks No. 2 seed Kentucky 85-79 in OT
Indianapolis — Tiny Saint Peter’s took down basketball royalty on Thursday night, getting 27 points from Daryl Banks III in an 85-79 overtime victory over second-seeded Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Peacocks became the 10th No. 15 seed to win a first-round game since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 and handed Kentucky its first opening-round loss under coach John Calipari.
Saint Peter’s, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion, kept it close throughout and Banks’ two free throws with 1:45 left in overtime gave the Peacocks the lead for good. Doug Edert’s layup with 24 seconds left in regulation sent the game to overtime. He also made the final two game-sealing free throws for the Peacocks and finished with 20 points.
Saint Peter’s (20-11) moves on to face either Murray State or San Francisco in Saturday’s second round in the East Region.
Not bad for a private Jesuit school in Jersey City, New Jersey, that’s made half as many NCAA Tournament appearances (four) as Kentucky has national titles (eight).
Oscar Tshiebwe had 30 points and 16 rebounds for Kentucky (26-8) but his pair of missed free throws early in overtime was costly, and the Wildcats lacked a reliable secondary scorer. TyTy Washington Jr. was held to five points on 2-of-10 shooting.
Baylor 85, Norfolk State 49: Matthew Mayer scored a career-high 22 points and defending national champion Baylor beat Norfolk State.
Freshman standout Jeremy Sochan added 15 points and seven rebounds for the top-seeded Bears (27-6), who will play eighth-seeded North Carolina on Saturday.
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference player of the year Joe Bryant had 15 points for 16th-seeded Norfolk State (24-7).
The Spartans were one of the biggest underdogs in first-round games this year, at 20 1/2 points, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Despite some size up front, they couldn’t keep up with the Bears and never came close to an upset.
Flo Thamba scored 14 points and Adam Flagler had 11 points for the Bears after some early foul trouble.
North Carolina 95, Marquette 63: Brady Manek scored 28 points, Caleb Love had 21 of his 23 before halftime and North Carolina routed Marquette.
Love made six 3-pointers, all in the first 19 minutes, to tie Carolina’s single-game tournament record as the Tar Heels (25-9) built a 28-point lead.
Manek, who also had 11 rebounds, finished with five 3s as he and Love combined to go 11 of 24 from long range. Armando Bacot grabbed 10 rebounds on his way to the school season record (422).
RJ Davis had a career-high 12 assists for Carolina.
Olivier-Maxence Prosper scored 16 points for the No. 9 seed Golden Eagles (19-13), who lost their third consecutive first-round game.
Saint Mary's 82, Indiana 53: Logan Johnson scored 20 points and fifth-seeded Saint Mary’s took advantage of No. 12 seed Indiana’s grueling recent schedule.
Tommy Kuhse added 19 points and six assists for the Gaels (26-7), who will play either UCLA or Akron in the second round.
Trayce Jackson-Davis had 12 points for Indiana (21-14), which arrived in Portland on Wednesday morning after an all-nighter because of flight delays from Dayton following its First Four victory over Wyoming.
Thursday’s game was Indiana’s fifth in seven days. Saint Mary’s came in fresh from a 10-day layoff.
Saint Mary’s pulled away late in the first half and led by as many as 34 points — and the overtaxed Hoosiers couldn’t catch up.
MIDWEST REGION
Creighton 72, San Diego State 69, OT: Trey Alexander converted a go-ahead, three-point play late in overtime, and Creighton rallied past San Diego State.
The Bluejays hadn’t led since the first five minutes of the game when Alexander, who also had the tying bucket late in regulation, drove right and was fouled on the layup. The free throw put Creighton ahead 71-69 with 1:08 remaining.
Down by two, the Aztecs had the ball with 4.3 seconds left when Matt Bradley inbounded to Aguek Arop, then ran around him for the handoff. Bradley lost control of the ball before getting a shot off, and Creighton secured it with 0.8 seconds to to go.
Alexander scored 18 points, and Ryan Kalkbrenner had 16 points and 10 rebounds before leaving with an apparent left leg injury in overtime.
The ninth-seeded Bluejays (23-11) will play Saturday against either Kansas or Texas Southern.
Chad Baker-Mazara scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half for the Aztecs (23-9), who were in position for their first tournament win since 2015. Gus Bradley added 15.
Richmond 67, Iowa 63: Jacob Gilyard scored 24 points, Tyler Burton added 18 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 12 seed Richmond leaned on its experience to defeat Big Ten tournament champ Iowa 67-63 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
Nathan Cayo also had 15 points, including a couple of big baskets down the stretch, as the Atlantic 10 Tournament champ Spiders (24-12) improved their NCAA tourney record against fifth-seeded teams to 4-0. They will face the Midwest Region’s No. 4 seed, Providence, after the Friars defeated South Dakota State earlier in the day.
Keegan Murray scored 21 points and Patrick McCaffery added 18 for the Hawkeyes (26-10), who were unable to carry over the momentum of winning four times in four days at the Big Ten tournament last weekend. In winning the title with a 75-66 win over Purdue on Sunday, Iowa set conference tournament records with 123 field goals and 351 points.
The Hawkeye's fourth-best offense nationally, which entered the NCAA Tournament averaging 83.8 points, was held to its third-lowest total of the year and worst production since a 48-46 loss at Rutgers on Jan. 19.
The Spiders are making their 10th tournament appearance and first since 2011, when they reached the Sweet 16 as — you guessed it — the No. 12 seed.
Led by sixth-year senior Grant Golden, Richmond's 20-player roster is made up of five fifth-year graduate seniors — Gilyard is one of them — and three fourth-year seniors. And that experienced showed down the stretch, when Gilyard sealed the victory by hitting all four of his free-throw attempts in the final 16 seconds.
After the teams traded the lead seven times, the Spiders never trailed after Golden laid in an inbounds pass from Gilyard to put Richmond ahead 40-39 with 14:33 remaining. It was Golden’s first basket after missing his first nine attempts.
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Providence 66, South Dakota State 57: Al Durham had 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists and Jared Bynum made three big free throws with 29.9 seconds left as Providence snapped the longest winning streak in college basketball by beating South Dakota State.
It was a typical grind for the Big East regular-season champions. The Friars’ turnaround season after going 13-13 in 2020-21 now includes 16 victories by single digits.
The Jackrabbits (30-6) came in on a 21-game winning streak.
The Friars (26-5) were up three in the final minute and Bynum let loose a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left on the shot clock. The shot missed, but Douglas Wilson was whistled for a foul. Bynum knocked down all three shots to give Providence a six-point lead. Bynum finished with 12 points and Noah Horchler had 13 for the Providence.
Baylor Scheierman led the Jackrabbits with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Wilson scored 13.
SOUTH REGION
Tennessee 88, Longwood 56: Santiago Vescovi scored 18 points and Tennessee pounded Longwood, showing why it felt it deserved better than a No. 3 seed.
The Volunteers (27-7) shot 60% from the field and had four players score in double figures. The runaway victory came just four days after the school won the Southeastern Conference Tournament for the first time in 43 years.
Josiah-Jordan James added 17 points, and John Fulkerson scored 15 on 7-for-8 shooting. Kennedy Chandler had 13 and Zakai Ziegler finished with 10.
Longwood (26-7), the Big South champ from Farmville, Virginia, was led by Justin Hill with 13 points in the school’s first NCAA tourney appearance.
WEST REGION
Gonzaga 93, Georgia State 72: Drew Timme scored 22 of his 32 points in the second half and top overall seed Gonzaga struggled to shake No. 16 seed Georgia State for 30 minutes before pulling away late.
The Zags (27-3) were sluggish early and couldn’t make a basket for a long stretch of the first half. Even when Gonzaga’s offense kicked into gear after halftime, the Panthers didn’t fold.
The eventual overwhelming surge from the Bulldogs finally arrived with about 10 minutes to go. Gonzaga went on a 24-1 run, turning a four-point game into the blowout that was expected. The Zags will face the West Region’s No. 9 seed, Memphis, in the second round on Saturday.
Timme was the catalyst, topping 30 points for the fifth time in his career while also grabbing 13 rebounds. Chet Holmgren, the Zags’ 7-foot freshman, added 19 points, 17 rebounds and seven blocks.
Corey Allen led Georgia State (18-10) with 16 points, and Jalen Thomas and Kane Williams both added 12.
New Mexico State 70, UConn 63: Teddy Allen scored 37 points and New Mexico State won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time almost three decades, upsetting fifth-seeded Connecticut to become the second No. 12 seed to advance out of the first round.
The Aggies (27-6) will face the winner of the Arkansas-Vermont game. In their 23rd NCAA appearance, the Aggies won for the first time since beating Syracuse in the first round in 1993.
Allen made a rainbow 3 off the dribble with 1:40 to put New Mexico State up 61-58.
He wasn’t done. After R.J. Cole cut the lead to one for UConn (23-10), Allen went back to work. He completed a three-point play for a 66-60 lead with 27 seconds left.
Cole led the Huskies with 20 points.
Memphis 64, Boise State 53: DeAndre Williams had 14 points, Jalen Duren made a crucial basket down the stretch and No. 9 seed Memphis held off a second-half rally by Boise State.
Duren finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Tigers (22-10), who were 9-8 after 17 games but went on a late-season charge to reach the tournament for the first time since 2014. The Tigers have now won 13 of their past 15 games.
Abu Kigab had 20 points to lead the eighth-seeded Broncos (27-8), the Mountain West regular-season and tournament champs, who were making their first appearance in the tournament since 2015.
UCLA 57, Akron 53: Tyger Campbell rescued UCLA from a potential upset, scoring eight straight points late in the second half, and the fourth-seeded Bruins rallied for a win over No. 13 seed Akron in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
With the Bruins down 51-47 with 31/2 minutes left, Campbell took control and helped his team avoid getting bounced on the opening day of the tournament. Campbell hit a corner 3-pointer to pull UCLA within one, knocked down a 15-footer for the lead and added a 25-footer as the shot clock was expiring to put the Bruins ahead 55-51 with 1:17 left.
Even with Campbell’s streak, the Bruins still had to sweat the final moments after a missed free throw and Jamie Jacquez Jr. missing a jumper with 15 seconds left. Akron’s Ali Ali drove to the basket but didn’t have a clean look and was blocked by Cody Riley.
Johnny Juzang knocked down a pair of free throws, and the Bruins moved on to face No. 5 seed Saint Mary’s on Saturday.
Campbell finished with 16 points and Jaquez added 15. Jules Bernard, who hit a 3 to start UCLA’s run when it trailed 47-39, added 10 points.
Xavier Castaneda led Akron with 18 points and Enrique Freeman added 14 before fouling out with 2:26 remaining on an illegal screen. Ali, the Zips’ leading scorer, was held to five points after averaging nearly 15 per game.