SALT LAKE CITY — In March Madness fashion, the seventh-seeded Dayton Flyers staged a thrilling comeback, complete with a 24-4 run and storm back to defeat No. 10 seed Nevada Wolfpack 63-60 in the first round of the West Region on Thursday.
Dayton moves on to face the No. 2 seeded Arizona Wildcats in the second round on Saturday.
The Flyers erased a 17-point deficit on a three-point play by DaRon Holmes II with 2:01 remaining in the game that gave Dayton it's first lead since the first half.
Holmes, the Atlantic 10 player of the year, finished with 18 points. Koby Bera scored 15.
Dayton (25-7) found themselves behind 56-39 with 7:36 remaining, but then the offense erupted with 17-straight points. The scoring run included three 3-pointers by Brea.
Enoch Cheeks clinched the win with a layup with 34 seconds left and then made two foul shots to make the final margin and give the Flyers their first tournament win in nine years.
“That’s been our group all year,” Cheeks said. “When we get into situations like this, we just show resilience. We just have a great group of guys who just always fight and fight. Being in this situation before, we just know that if there’s time on the clock, we have a good chance to come back.”
It seemed as if Nevada (26-8) had full control of the game, closing the first half on a 16-0 run. Things continued to look that way when it held Holmes without a basket for nearly 14 minutes during the second half.
But the Wolfpack managed just two buckets in the final 7 1/2 minutes of the game. They did have a chance to force overtime, but both Nick Davidson and Kenan Blackshear missed 3-pointers in the final possession.
Jarrod Lucas led the Wolfpack with 17 points, and Blackshear and Davidson had 15 each.
Oakland 80, Kentucky 76
PITTSBURGH — Behind 10 3-pointers by Jack Gohlke, the No. 14 seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies shocked the three-seeded Kentucky Wildcats 80-76 in the first round of the South Region on Thursday night.
Gohlke finished with 32 points, Trey Townsend had 12 and DQ Cole chipped in with 12, as the Horizon League champions dealt the Wildcats (23-10) and their NBA-stacked roster with another disappointing early tournament exit.
Despite being a 13 1/2-point favorite, coach John Calipari and his Wildcats have a recent history of struggling in the tournament. Kentucky has not advanced past opening weekend since 2019.
But for Oakland coach Greg Kampe, tonight was a triumph four decades in the making. Kampe, 68, is the longest-tenured coach in Division I and has spent 40 years at the commuter school in Rochester, Michigan.
Gohlke was white-hot from behind the arc in the first half, sinking seven 3-pointers. He was just one three-ball shy of tying Loyola Marymount's Jeff Fryer's NCAA Tournament record, which was set in 1990.
And while Gohlke cooled off a bit in the second half, as Kentucky began picking him up at halfcourt, his teammates were there to pick up the slack.
Antonio Reeves gave Kentucky a 45-43 lead on a layup with 15:02 remaining in the second half. But from that point on, Oakland never trailed during the final 14:32 of the game, leading to the program's first-ever victory in the round of 64.
The Wildcats mounted one final push in the closing minutes, cutting the score to 75-74 with Rob Dillingham drained a three with 1:03 remaining, giving the bench and blue and white supporters some life.
But Cole delivered a dagger on the next possession, with a three from the corner to give the Golden Grizzlies (24-11) a four-point lead with 28 seconds left.
Antonio Reeves led Kentucky scorers with 27 points. Tre Mitchell had 14 and Rob Dillingham added 10.
コメント