DAYTON — The NCAA Tournament kicked off with a barn burner, as Melvin Council Jr. scored 21 points and the Wagner Seahawks held off a late charge by the Howard Bison to earn the programs' first tournament win with a 71-68 in opening game of the First Four on Tuesday night in UD Arena.
The Northeast Conference champion Seahawks (17-15) will move on to the Round of 64 as the No. 16 seed in the West Region and face top seed North Carolina on Thursday, March 21 at 2:45 p.m. EDT in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Brown finished with 15 points for the Seahawks, who's only other appearance in the NCAA Tournament came in 2003 where they lost at a 13-seed to Pittsburgh 87-61.
Tahron Allen and Keyontae Lewis each scored 10 points apiece as all seven players on the Seahawks roster scored. Wagner had only seven players available for all of conference play due to injuries.
The Seahawks took a 7-6 lead on Allen’s layup with 16:42 left in the first half, and from that point on, the Seahawks never trailed again. They even built a 17-point lead during the first half.
The Bison (18-16) trailed by 17 in the early stages of the second half, but used a late 14-2 run to close the gap, getting to within 69-68 after Bryce Harris' layup with just 19 seconds left.
Julian Brown sank two free throws on the other end to give Wagner a 71-68 lead with 14 seconds remaining.
Howard got three attempts from behind the arc to send the game into overtime, but none connected and Wagner survived to the next round.
Harris and Seth Towns each netted 16 points each for Howard, who won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament and was also seeking its first win in the NCAA Tournament.
Colorado State 67, Virginia 42
DAYTON — Joel Scott got a double-double and the Colorado State Rams blew away the Virginia Cavaliers for a 67-42 win in second game of the First Four on Tuesday night.
Scott led the Rams with 23 points and 11 rebounds and Nique Clifford added 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Colorado State will now head to Charlotte, North Carolina as the No. 10 seed and face the seventh-seeded Texas Longhorns at 6:50 p.m. EDT on Thursday.
Reece Beekman struggled from the floor, shooting 4-of-16 from the field, but still managed to score 15 points. The Cavaliers have still not won an NCAA Tournament game since winning the national championship in 2019.
Virginia was one of the teams many questioned making the tournament field this year, and their performance didn't silence the doubters at all.
Colorado State dominated Virginia on the offensive end, shooting 55% from the field while the Cavaliers were just 25%. They also out-rebounded Virginia 43-24 and scored 36 points in the paint.
Virginia shooting woes started right from the beginning, as Colorado State built themselves a 27-14 lead at halftime.
Then Rams scored the first eight points to begin the second half before Virginia scored their first points.
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