Before I delve into an interesting first day at Richmond, there were some other big mid major doings going on.
First, the biggest news comes from the Southern Conference Semis where Appalachian State (25-7 overall RPI 57), one of the teams on the NCAA at large bubble, may have seen there bubble burst when Dontaye Draper scored a career high 38 points to lead third seed and tourney host College of Charleston (22-10) to an 89-87 overtime win over the Mountaineers. Draper also did a fantastic job holding Mountaineer leading scorer DJ Thompson to just eleven points on, get this, 2 of 16 shooting from the field.
The Mountaineers had a chance to win in regulation but Donte Minter, who led the Mountaineers with 21 points, missed the second of two free throws with 3.4 seconds left to send the game into overtime tied at 73. Minter was only three of seven from the free throw line as the Mountaineers as a whole only shot 16 of 28 from the free throw line (57 percent). The Mountaineers, who hold wins over Virginia, Vanderbilt, and VCU, must now await their fate on Selection Sunday. The Cougars shot 50 percent from the field including 11 of 21 from the three-point arc.
In the other Southern Conference Semifinal, #1 seed Davidson (28-4) absolutely crushed Furman 91-68, as star guard Stephen Curry scored 30 points to lead the way for the
Wildcats. The Wildcats scored SIXTY-ONE second half points and shot 12 of 28 from the field. Davidson must win the championship because they cannot count on their RPI of 60 and SOS of 227 to get anywhere with the selection committee as far as an at large bid.
Meanwhile, in the Missouri Valley, all four top seeds survived the quarterfinals, though two of them had to struggle to do it. #11 ranked, and #1 MVC seed Southern Illinois (26-5, RPI 5) cruised to an easy 71-59 win over #9 Drake. Jamaal Tatum, Matt Shaw and Tony Young combined for 55 points as the Salukis shot 48 percent from the field. Number four seeded Bradley (21-11, RPI 44) though needed an off balance three pointer by guard Will Franklin with less than 3 seconds left to defeat Northern Iowa 51-48 to keep their slim at large NCAA hopes alive. Bradley held the Panthers to 38 percent from the field, though being outrebounded 29-18.
In the other MVC bracket, #2 seed Creighton (20-10, RPI 30) easily handled Indiana State 59-38 as Nate Funk led the way with 14 points. The Bluejays held the Sycamores to 23 percent shooting from the field. #4 seed Missouri State (22-9, RPI 38) held off Wichita State 67-64 as Deven Mitchell had 16 for the Bears. Missouri State needs a good showing plus Southern Illinois to defeat Bradley, so that the Braves possibly don’t leapfrog the Bears for the last MVC at large spot into the NCAA tournament as they did last year.
Also, one last MVC note, the evening quarterfinals drew a MVC tournament record 16,651 in attendance and only 200 tickets remain for the semis in an arena that holds 21,000. NICE!
Ok, now lets get to the CAA first round action. Our flight was delayed two hours, so we got into Richmond late, but decided to have a nice breakfast at Aunt Sarah’s Pancake House, which is right next to our hotel. Then it was off to the Richmond Coliseum, where we got into the first afternoon session nearly midway through the second half with #8 William and Mary trailing #9 Georgia State 44-41 with a little over 12 minutes left.
We got there just in time for a Panther run, as Lance Perique’s three point play capped a 13-0 Georgia State run that put the Panthers up 54-41 with 10:03 left. Then the Tribe started their own run, scoring nine straight points, capped by a steal and layup by Adam Payton cut the deficit to 54-50 with 7:50 left. The Panthers again went on a run, this time a 10-4 run to put the lead back up to double digits 64-54.
Then a combination of Nathan Mann three pointers, plus several missed free throw attempts (a common thread this year in the NCAA – see the above Minter missed free throws) by Georgia State cut the Panther lead to 67-65 with 25 seconds left. Then after another Georgia State miss at the line, Adam Payton took the ball the length of the court and was fouled as he hit a layup with 4.7 seconds left. Payton hit the free throw and the Tribe looked like they had made a terrific game-winning comeback, up 68-67. However, we were about to witness an ESPN Sportscenter highlight as Leonard Mendez took the ball, nearly lost the ball on the dribble then took a twenty four foot off balance three point attempt from the left arc at the buzzer. SWISH! (The play was the #1 play of the day on Sportscenter) The Panthers won 70-68 as most of the crowd erupted, while the William and Mary fans were stunned. Mendez led the four Panther double-digit scorers with 17, while Payton led four Tribe double-digit scorers with 19. The Panthers now face #1 seed VCU in the first game of the afternoon session today.
The second game of the afternoon session was not as entertaining, though the crowd as a whole was rooting for the roster depleted #12 Delaware Blue Hens as they took on #5 seed Northeastern. The Blue Hens only suit seven players to injuries and transfers and the seventh player was the team manager as the season started. The Blue Hens actually got out to a 10-2 lead early on in the game, where no fouls were called in the first eight plus minutes of the game (and there should have been) and Northeastern did not get a foul until 8:07 left in the first half. Meanwhile, Leonard Spates and Bennet Davis led the Huskies on a 39-12 run that spanned over two halves as the Huskies led 41-22 before increasing that to 48-27 with 15:03 left in the second half. The Blue Hens cut to as little as nine, 60-51 with 4:57 left before losing 77-67 to the Huskies. The Blue Hens had to play Deion Goodman, their team manager, late in the game after Henry Olawoye fouled out. Goodman actually got his first basket of the year and a rebound. That’s something to tell the kids about in a few years. Davis led Northeastern with 20 points and Spates added 18. Herb Courtney, as usual, led the Blue Hens with a game high 24 points and Sam McMahon added 18. The Huskies face #4 seed Drexel in the second game of the afternoon session.
The evening session started off with #7 Towson taking on #10 UNC Wilmington with a pro Seahawk crowd in attendance. Didn’t matter to the Tigers though as they went on a 20-6 run led by Dennard Abraham and Gary Neat to start the game before UNCW answered with a 9-0 run of their own to cut the lead to 20-15. The Seahawks led by Daniel Fountain’s 10 first half points cut the lead to two, 25-23 with 2:30 left in the first half. However, that’s as close as UNCW got the rest of the way as Towson took a 29-25 halftime lead and extended that to 39-27 with 11:42 left in the second half as the Tigers played by far the best defense I had seen them play all year. Rodney Sprull was instrumental during this, hitting several shots including two three pointers. The Seahawks would cut the lead to 54-46 with 2:29 left before Towson went on a 13-6 run to close the game. Gary Neal led the way with 19, Sprull off the bench had 12 and Abraham added 11. The Seahawks were led by Fountain’s 16 points and Victor Kuljanin added 15 as the Seahawks were held to 33 percent shooting from the field, including 7 of 24 from the three point arc. The Tigers face #2 ODU in the first game of the evening session tonight.
In the last game of yesterday’s action, #6 seed and 2006 Final Four Participant George Mason took on #11 seeded James Madison. The Patriots had easily swept the season series from the Dukes winning by 18 and 21 points respectively. But early on, the game was close as JMU actually took a 24-23 lead with 6:42 left in the first half on a layup by all CAA Rookie team member Pierre Curtis. Mason would only be up by two 32-30 at halftime. However, the Patriots went on a 25-11 run in the second half to put the game away as Dre Smith continued his hot shooting from three which opened up the inside for Will Thomas. George Mason went on to win 73-62. Smith led all scorers with 26 points and Thomas added 14 as the Patriots shot 55 percent from the field. Including 10 of 19 from the three-point arc. Pierre Curtis led the Dukes with 16 and Joe Posey came off the bench and added 15 for JMU. The Patriots now play #3 seed Hofstra in the last game of the evening session tonight.
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