15-Seed Saint Peter’s Advances To Sweet 16, One-Seed Baylor Goes Down
ncaaIn a wild Saturday of college basketball, the first one seed of the tournament went down, and March Madness officially has its Cinderella story.
To start off the day, No. 1 seed Baylor overcame a 25-point second-half deficit, before falling to North Carolina 93-86 in overtime.
Baylor, the defending national champions, staged a furious rally, going on a 38-13 run at the 10:08 mark of the second half to send the game into overtime. Baylor forced 21 turnovers on the day, including nine in the final 10:08.
“They consistently started to press us, and that bothered us,” North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis said after the game. “It sped us up, and made us make uncharacteristic plays. It made us turn the ball over. I also felt at times in pressure situations, we lost our composure. I feel like we helped them. But Baylor’s a great team. They’re the defending national champions and did not want to go home. They stepped up their effort, but we stepped up our effort as well.”
The Tar Heels jumped out to a quick lead in overtime on a three-pointer from Dontrez Styles, and were 6-8 from the free throw in the extra period to advance to the Sweet 16. Sophomore guard R.J. Davis was spectacular for North Carolina, pouring in 30 points, adding six assists and five rebounds.
North Carolina senior forward Brady Manek had 26 points before being ejected in the second half for an elbow that was ruled a flagrant two.
In the East region, two days after knocking out two-seed Kentucky, little-known St. Peter’s of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference took down 7-seed Murray State to become just the third 15-seed to advance to the Sweet 16.
The Peacocks held a 13-point second half lead before the Racers made a run and cut the lead to two with 4:07 left. Junior guard Doug Ebert had 13 off the bench for St. Peter’s, including three big buckets in the game’s final five minutes.
“I told these guys all year, ‘Nobody works harder than us.’ The stuff we put these guys through, this is easy. Practice is tough. This is easy,” Peacocks head coach Shaheen Holloway said after the game.
Saint Peter’s is a school with just 2,300 students from Jersey City, New Jersey, and will face the winner of Sunday’s game between Texas and Purdue.
The tournament’s number one overall seed, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to Memphis, beating the Tigers 82-78 to advance to the second weekend of the tournament.
Junior forward Drew Timme had 25 points on 10-16 shooting from the field, putting the Zags on his back with 21 second-half points.
“They did a good job in the first half, playing physical, bringing a double early,” Timme said after the game. “Coach was like ‘We need you. You gotta get it no matter what.’ So, that’s the kind of just the mindset we played with.”
Gonzaga advances to play four-seed Arkansas.
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].
Enter for the chance to hang out with Gina Carano at the premiere of her new Daily Wire movie, Terror on the Prairie! Two lucky Daily Wire members will be given the complete red carpet treatment – free airfare, hotel, premiere car service, and exclusive merch. Daily Wire members can click here to enter for a chance to win. If you’re not a Daily Wire member yet, click here to join us so you can win this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
" Conservative News Daily does not always share or support the views and opinions expressed here; they are just those of the writer."
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
