| Teddy Archer played just 18 minutes because of foul trouble for the Tommies in a physical and surprisingly close game against Northwestern (Minn.). |
The Yellow Jackets trailed by seven with just over a minute left before rallying, tying the game when Danny Jones hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds left in regulation to tie unranked Alvernia. Randolph-Macon went on to win 62-59 in overtime.
Another Final Four team from last season nearly went down in the first round as well, but Williams survived a last-second buzzer-beater attempt from Husson in regulation and went on to win 86-83 in overtime. James Wang scored 30, seven of them in overtime.
St. Thomas got pushed to the final minutes by Northwestern (Minn.), as the Eagles represented the UMAC well with the conference's first automatic bid before falling 70-60. Northwestern led for most of the game and retook the lead with five minutes left before falling. Tyler Nicolai scored all 17 of his points in the second half to lead the Tommies. It was St. Thomas' 14th second-half comeback win of the season.
Johnson and Wales got 43 points from Lamonte Thomas as for the second year in a row, the GNAC champ defeated a top seed from the NJAC in the first round, with Johnson and Wales defeating Ramapo 114-106 in overtime. Thomas scored 17 of the Wildcats' first 25 points but had to hit back-to-back 3's in the second half to lead his team back from a deficit to force overtime. "We wanted to come out and strike first ... throw the first punch," Thomas said after the game. "I got used to the hoop today, not really yesterday, as I missed a lot of shots in practice."
| Alvernia nearly pulled off the upset leaning on its
starting five. St. Mary's athletics photo by Bill Wood |
Jeff Robinson brought the ball up the floor with WPI down by two and never hesitated, draining a 3-pointer from the top of the key for the lead and the Engineers held on against Bridgewater State 58-57. Amherst, another team with hopes of going deep in the tournament, looked a lot more like it, cruising past Skidmore 79-39 to advance to face WPI.
Wittenberg put an end to La Roche's run with a 74-68 win and the AMCC went two-and-out as Penn State-Behrend got crushed by Rhode Island College 83-54 on a neutral floor. Becker made the most of its first NCAA Tournament appearance, defeating Scranton 80-73. Georgio Milligan had 22 and Hayk Gyokchyan added 18 as Franklin and Marshall defeated N.C. Wesleyan 69-56. The Diplomats will face host Virginia Wesleyan, 93-63 winners against Delaware Valley.
Louis Hurd scored 20 points in the first half and finished with 22 as No. 3 UW-Stevens Point rolled past St. Norbert 70-49. The Pointers will get a neutral floor on Saturday against Luther, as the Norse knocked off host and 24th-ranked Concordia (Wis.) 68-61. Rochester dominated the boards in the first half and held on to beat Elms 81-70. The Yellowjackets will get a neutral floor for a regional final as well as MIT beat host Ithaca when Mitchell Kates scored four points in the final 22 seconds of an 82-78 win. Dom Farrello led all scorers with 28 points, shooting 9-for-18 from the field overall and 3-of-6 from beyond the 3-point stripe as Cabrini beat New Jersey City 85-76. The Cavaliers will face SUNY-Purchase on Saturday.