Saint Peter’s broke the hearts of Kentuckians yet again, getting 17 points from KC Ndefo to beat Murray State 70-60 on Saturday night in the second round of the NCAA tournament and complete its rise from obscurity into the Sweet 16.
Two days after tossing eight-time national champion Kentucky out of the bracket, the tiny Jesuit school from Jersey City, New Jersey, became the third 15 seed to advance to a regional semifinal, joining Oral Roberts last year and Florida Gulf Coast in 2013.
Saint Peter’s (21-11) ended a 21-game winning streak and a memorable season for Murray State (31-3), located 265 miles from Lexington in Kentucky’s southeastern corner.
The memories will be lifelong for the Peacocks and coach Shaheen Holloway, a North Jersey hoops lifer who played at Seton Hall and apprenticed there as an assistant. On Friday, Pirates coach Kevin Willard endorsed Holloway as his replacement if he departs in the offseason.
Holloway has more immediate concerns: preparing his team for an East Region semifinal on Friday in Philadelphia against Texas or Purdue.
Doug Edert came off the bench to score 13 points for the Peacocks, including some big baskets late. Saint Peter’s built a 13-point lead early in the second half and never trailed, but Murray State still made it tense. Justice Hill hit a three-pointer to get the Racers within 59-57 with 4:07 left. Edert followed with a three and a layup, and the Peacocks closed it out at the free-throw line.
Hill made five threes for 19 points and Tevin Brown scored 14 for Murray State. First-half foul trouble hurt the Racers, who had to figure out how to keep DJ Burns and Nicholas McMullen in the game with three fouls each.
Shooting was a problem, too: The Racers shot 35%, including 9 of 28 in the first half. Saint Peter’s finished at 42% and closed the game with a 6-0 run for their ninth consecutive victory.
Ndefo, the Peacocks’ undersized post player at 6ft 7in and 195lbs, finished with 10 rebounds and made 7 of 9 free throws.
No 8 North Carolina 93, No 1 Baylor 86 (OT)
RJ Davis racked up a career-high 30 points as North Carolina posted a 93-86 overtime win over defending national champion Baylor in an NCAA tournament East Region second-round game on Saturday at Fort Worth, Texas.
North Carolina’s Brady Manek poured in 26 points before he was ejected for a flagrant foul.
After squandering a 25-point second-half lead and playing minus two starters down the stretch, the eighth-seeded Tar Heels never trailed in overtime against the top-seeded Bears (27-7). Davis had a three-point play in the extra session.
North Carolina continued what has been a late-season surge. The Tar Heels will play UCLA on Friday night in the East Region semi-finals in Philadelphia.
“This last month and a half, we’ve been getting a lot better and we’re gelling. We’re peaking at the right time,” said Armando Bacot, who collected 15 points and 16 rebounds. “I’m just so proud of our team.”
“That was the craziest game I’ve ever been in, but it was fun. We got thedub and we’re moving on to Philly,” North Carolina’s Leaky Black said.
Adam Flagler pumped in 27 points, James Akinjo had 20 and Jeremy Sochan added 15 points for Baylor, which rallied in the last 10 1/2 minutes of regulation.
Akinjo’s three-point play with 15.8 seconds tied the game at 80-80. Davis missed a potential winning three-pointer to end regulation.
A 12-0 run for the Tar Heels appeared to put the game out of reach in the second half, with the margin stretched to 67-42.
But Baylor mounted a response to close within 67-53 with more than eight minutes remaining. It was 71-62 by the 5:22 mark. Akinjo’s three-point play with 1:48 left made it 76-73. Bacot’s three-point play temporarily steadied the Tar Heels.
The Bears, who already were hampered by late-season injuries, fell into foul trouble by early in the second half. However, North Carolina guard Caleb Love fouled out with more than six minutes left shortly after Manek exited at 10:08.
The Tar Heels had to overcome a home-state crowd supporting Baylor, but they pulled off a second upset this month in a hostile environment after winning the regular-season final at Duke.
No 11 Michigan 76, No 3 Tennessee 68
Eli Brooks put Michigan ahead for good with a three-point play and delivered four critical points in the final minute, and the 11th-seeded Wolverines booked the most surprising of their five straight trips to the Sweet 16 by beating No 3 seed Tennessee 76-68 in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday.
Brooks finished with 23 points, including a looping, improvised hook shot and two free throws as Michigan (19-14) put away the Volunteers, who had a six-point lead with eight and a half minutes left but then went four minutes without scoring. Their cold shooting continued until it was too late.
Big man Hunter Dickinson had 27 points and two of his 10 rebounds in the closing seconds for the Wolverines, whose five straight Sweet 16 appearances are the most in Division I. Gonzaga are the only other team to make it four straight times.
Michigan will face either second-seeded Villanova or longtime rival Ohio State, the No 7 seed, in Thursday’s South Region semi-finals in San Antonio, Texas.
But coach Juwan Howard’s squad still has plenty of talent and elevated its play down the stretch against the Southeastern Conference champions. Howard himself had to learn some lessons about composure when he was suspended for five games late in the season for hitting a Wisconsin assistant during a postgame handshake line.
Kennedy Chandler had 19 points and Josiah-Jordan James had 13 for Tennessee (27-8), which had a seven-game winning streak snapped. Two days after shooting a school tourney record 60% from the field, the Vols shot 41.8% and came up short again in the postseason. Tennessee lost to Oregon State in the first round last year, also at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
No 1 Kansas 72, No 9 Creighton 72
Remy Martin scored 20 points, Ochai Agbaji put Kansas ahead for good with his first basket early in the second half, and the Jayhawks held off Creighton 79-72 on Saturday to advance to the Sweet 16.
Martin hadn’t led top-seeded Kansas (30-6) in scoring all season as the fifth-year senior transfer from Arizona State battled a sore knee, but he’s done it in both NCAA tournament games.
The shorthanded Bluejays (23-12) stayed close with an uncharacteristically hot showing from three-point range. One of the worst teams in the country from beyond the arc, ninth-seeded Creighton went 12 of 28.
The biggest came from freshman Trey Alexander, who swished an off-balance heave from well behind the line as the shot clock was about to expire. Keyshawn Feazell’s bucket soon after got Creighton within one in the final two minutes.
The Bluejays had a chance to go ahead in the final minute, but Alexander’s errant pass went off Alex O’Connell’s hands, leading to a breakaway dunk for Agbaji, who scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half.
Ryan Hawkins drained a three-pointer from well behind the arc 13 seconds into the game and finished 3 of 6 from distance with 14 points. O’Connell was 3 of 8 and scored 16. Alexander finished with 14.
No 4 UCLA 72, No 5 Saint Mary’s 56
Tyger Campbell scored 16 points and fourth-seeded UCLA completed a more conventional path to the Sweet 16, beating fifth-seeded Saint Marys.
UCLA (27-7), which went all the way from the First Four to the Final Four last year, instead knocked off two worse-seeded foes in Akron and then the Gaels (26-8).
The Bruins lost star Jaime Jaquez Jr to a right ankle injury with 6:58 in the game. He winced as he was helped off the court by teammates and later returned to the bench with his ankle wrapped in ice. Jaquez finished with 15 points, all in the first half.
Logan Johnson scored 18 points for Saint Marys.
No 4 Providence 79, No 12 Richmond 51
Noah Horchler scored 16 points and Providence had its best three-point shooting performance of the season, routing Richmond to reach its first Sweet 16 in 25 years.
The fourth-seeded Friars (27-5) looked like a juggernaut against the Spiders, posting the most lopsided NCAA tournament victory in program history.
Providence controlled the game from the start and went up 21 on Richmond (24-13) less than two minutes into the second half when Horchler swished a three from the corner. The Friars shot 52% from the field, and a season-best 54.5% from 3. They came in shooting 34.3% from long range.
Nathan Cayo led the Spiders with 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting.
No 4 Arkansas 53, No 12 New Mexico State 48
AuDiese Toneys fastbreak dunk capped the decisive run with about six minutes left and fourth-seeded Arkansas beat No.12 seed New Mexico State to reach the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year.
JD Notae scored 18 points before fouling out with 1:22 left and Jaylin Williams had 10 points and 15 rebounds for the Razorbacks (27-8). Notae’s replacement, Chris Lykes, hit all four free-throw attempts in the final 10 seconds to secure the win after the Aggies closed within two points on Teddy Allen’s three-pointer with 12 seconds left.
The Razorbacks will play top-seeded Gonzaga in San Francisco on Thursday.
Allen was limited to 12 points after scoring 37 in the first round against Connecticut. Johnny McCants scored 16 points and added 12 rebounds for New Mexico State (27-7). The Western Athletic Conference champion was denied a chance to reach the Sweet 16 for the second time in school history and first since 1992.
No 1 Gonzaga 82, No 9 Memphis 78
Drew Timme scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half, and top overall seed Gonzaga rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat Memphis.
Trailing at the half for only the fourth time this season, Gonzaga leaned on their star junior to reach its seventh straight Sweet 16. The Bulldogs (28-3) will face No 4 seed Arkansas in the West Region semifinals on Thursday in San Francisco.
Andrew Nembhard added 23 points for the Bulldogs, Rasir Bolton scored 17 and Gonzaga never trailed after a basket from Timme and Boltons three-pointer with 10 minutes remaining that made it 61-57.
DeAndre Williams scored 14 points for Memphis (22-11). NBA prospects Chet Holmgren of Gonzaga and Jalen Duren of Memphis were limited by foul trouble.
