NEW YORK — The Florida Atlantic Owls, led by Michael Forrest, used a second half surge of points to upset the Tennessee Volunteers 62-55 to move within one win of reaching the Final Four on Thursday night.
Johnell Davis led all scorers for the Owls with 15 points and Forrest finished with 11, including eight during a crucial second-half run that helped FAU take control of the game.
The Volunteers (25-11), shot just 33% — including 6 of 23 from the 3-point line. Josiah-Jordan James and Jonas Aidoo scored 10 points apiece.
The game was trudging along at Tennessee’s style and pace, as the No. 1 defense in the country was forcing the Owls work hard for shots.
But then the Owls started hitting from behind the arc after missing for much of the first 30 minutes.
Forrest buried consecutive three-pointers to put FAU up 41-39 with 9:49 left, giving the Owls’ its first lead since the opening minute.
Forrest later capped off his own personal 8-0 run with driving layup that gave the Owls a four-point lead.
Meanwhile, Tennessee struggled to find the bottom of the net, scoring just four points during a six minute stretch.
A putback from Brandon Weatherspoon after a 3-point miss off the side of the backboard made it 51-41 with 6:47 left.
Tennessee made one more big push, cutting the Owls' lead to 55-50 after James swished a 3 with 3:33 left in the game.
The Owls then put the clamps down on the Vols and even getting a key stop that led to a fast-break layup by Boyd to put FAU up 57-50 with 2:31 left.
When the final horn sounded, Boyd and Bryan Greenlee jumped onto the press row table to celebrate.
The ninth-seeded Owls (34-3) will will now face the third-seeded Kansas State Wildcats in the East Region final at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Kansas State 98, Michigan State 93
Markquis Nowell set an NCAA Tournament record for assists in a game with 19 and the Kansas State Wildcats beat the Michigan State Spartans 98-93 on Thursday night in a Sweet 16 thriller at Madison Square Garden
The Kansas State guard broke the assist record previously held by UNLV’s Mark Wade, who had 18 during the Runnin’ Rebels 1987 Final Four win over Indiana.
Nowell's last two passes were spectacular ones during the final minute of overtime. First, finding Keyontae Johnson for a reverse alley-oop with 52 seconds left in OT to give the Wildcats (26-9) the lead for good. He then tossed an inbound pass to Ismael Massoud, who buried a jumper with 17 seconds left for a 96-93 lead.
With the Spartans needing a 3 to tie, Nowell stole the ball from the Tyson Walker and went coast-to-coast for a clinching layup at the buzzer.
The 5-foot-8, Harlem-raised Nowell finished with 20 points and five steals. Johnson added 22 points to lead all scorers for Kansas State.
A.J. Hoggard scored a career-high 25 points for seventh-seeded Michigan State (21-13). Joey Hauser added 18 points and Walker had 16, including his layup with 5 seconds left in regulation to force the first overtime of this year’s NCAA Tournament.
The No. 3 seed Wildcats will face ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic on Saturday as they seek the program’s first Final Four berth since 1964.
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