NCAA Tournament Round-Up: Second Round, Day One

By Ray Bennett
Thursday March 17, 2011

The 2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament got into full swing on Thursday with sixteen second round games. The early games were an indication of the unpredictability of the tournament. The early action saw nail biting close finishes, a buzzer-beater and a big upset of major conference team. Here's a quick look at the action so far.

Morehead State Upsets Louisville with Three-Pointer in Final Seconds

The Morehead State Eagles stunned the Louisville Cardinals with a last second three-pointer, winning 62-61. The Ohio Valley Conference champions, seeded thirteenth in the Southwest region, started off the game with a 10-0 run. Louisville then stormed back midway through the first half. A Morehead St. three-point field goal at the buzzer tied the game 33-33 at halftime. The back and fourth battle continued early in the second half, with the Cardinals getting the upper hand. However, the team lost leading scorer Preston Knowles with 8:51 remaining in the game after he apparently rolled his right ankle.

The loss of Knowles completely changed the course of the game near the end. Morehead St. then went on a 7-0 scoring run, leading the game 57-52 with about five minutes remaining in the game. Louisville then answered back with a 9-0 scoring run of their own, leading the game 61-57 with 1:14 left. Morehead St. needed a big rally and got that with 6'8" Senior Kenneth Fareid hitting two free throws to cut the deficit to two. Then after fouling Louisville Forward Elisha Justice, he then missed the front-end of a one-and-one. This set up the play that resulted in Morehead St. guard Delonte Harper hitting the go-ahead three-pointer with 4.2 seconds left.

After a timeout, Louisville had a chance to win. After in-bounding the ball, a Louisville player tried to shoot a potential game-winning three-point field goal. However, Fareid blocked the shot to end the game. This is the second straight year that Louisville has lost in the round of 64. The fifth seeded Cardinals were one of a record eleven teams from the Big East Conference to participate in the tournament. Morehead St. will face Richmond, who upset sixth seeded Vanderbilt 69-66, at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado on Saturday.

Last Second tip-in lifts Butler over Old Dominion

Coming off of last year's impressive run to the national title game, Butler had to get past Colonial Conference champion Old Dominion via last second shot, winning 60-58. In a game that went back and fourth, Butler was the team that ended up moving on to the third round.

The game had 22 lead changes with no team leading by more than six. With the score 49-43 with about twelve minutes left in the game, Old Dominion strung off a 6-0 run to tie the game with 10:09 remaining. The Monarchs did not score a field goal for seven and a half minutes, until Frank Hassell, who led the team with 20 points, hit a basket that led to a 6-0 run to tie the game with 32 seconds left.

Butler guard Shawn Vanzant then drove up to the basket. However, he lost his footing and had to quickly shoot it towards the rim. Butler forwards Andrew Smith and Matt Howard were both at the basket when the shot was put up. It was Howard who tipped it in at the buzzer to win the game for the Southeast seeded number eight Bulldogs. The Bulldogs will face the Pittsburgh Panthers, who cruised to a 71-54 win over North Carolina-Ashville, on Saturday at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C.

Kentucky Survives Upset Scare from Princeton with Last Second Lay-up

The SEC tournament champion Kentucky Wildcats were on the verge of being upset by the Ivy League champion Princeton Tigers. They needed a Brandon Knight lay-up with two seconds left to get to the third round 59-57. The lay-up was the only basket of the game for Knight, who was shut-out earlier in the game due to poor shooting and being well defended by the Tigers.

The game was a back and fourth struggle for both teams. Kentucky had a four point lead with under a minute left when Princeton's Kareem Maddox hit a field goal jumper with 58 seconds left. On their next possession, Dan Mavraides, who led the Tigers with 14 points, hit a shot with about 36 seconds remaining.

This set up the Knight lay-up that powered the Wildcats to a third round match-up with West Virginia, who railed from an early deficit against Clemson to win 84-76. They will play each other at the St. Petersburgh Times Forum outside of Tampa, FL early on Saturday.

Fernandez's Last Second Jumper Leads Temple Over Penn St.

A late basket by junior forward Juan Fernandez of Argentina propelled the West region seven seeded Temple Owls past the tenth seeded Penn State Nittney Lions 66-64. Fernandez hit the shot with just 0.4 seconds left. The win also snaps an eleven game tournament losing streak for Temple head coach Fran Dunphy.

Penn St. stared off strong, leading by as much as nine midway through the first half. Temple then charged right back to take a 35-33 point lead into the half. The intensity picked up once the second half began with both teams holding the lead for about five times each. In the final minutes, Penn St. guard Talor Battle hit an NBA-type three-point field goal to tie the game with 12.2 seconds left. This set up the Fernandez basket and the Temple win. Fernandez lead Temple with 23 points. The Owls will face San Diego St., who won their second round game 68-50 against first time tournament participant Northern Colorado. Both teams will face each other on Saturday at the McKale Center on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ.

Fredette's 32 Leads BYU Over Wofford

Jimmer Fredette, the nation's leading scorer heading into this year's tournament, scored 32 points in BYU's 74-66 win over Wofford. Fredette, who also had seven assists, shot 10 for 25 from the field. The Terriers tried to rally from eight behind late in the game. However, Fredette and the Cougars were too much for Wofford.

The Cougars held the lead throughout the whole game. Wofford cut the BYU lead to eight with about seven minutes remaining. Both teams traded baskets for a while until the Terriers didn't make a shot for three and a half minutes. This resulted in Fredette and the Cougars to pull away with the win. They move on to play the Southeast region's thirteenth seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs, who upset the sixth seeded St. Johns Red Storm 86-69 Thursday night, on Saturday in Denver.

Late Michigan State Rally Not Enough; UCLA Wins Close Contest

The UCLA Bruins held off a late surge from the Michigan State Spartans for a 78-76 victory on Thursday night. UCLA led by as much as 23 midway through the second half. Michigan State then started to click after a sloppy start to cut the deficit by more than half.

Spartan guard Keith Appling hit a three with about ten seconds left to within two. After a foul and two missed free throws, Michigan State got the ball back with about three seconds left. After the ball was in-bounded, senior guard Kalin Lucas tried to heave a shot from half court. However, he was called for a travel with 0.2 seconds remaining to end a tumultuous season for the Spartans. UCLA held the lead throughout all of the game. Tyler Honeycutt and Malcolm Lee led the Bruins with 16 points each. The Southeast region's seventh seed will face second seeded Florida, who easily defeated UC Santa Barbara 79-51, on Saturday.

Kemba Walker's near Triple-Double leads UConn past Bucknell

Connecticut's Kemba Walker was two rebounds shy of a triple-double in a 81-52 blow-out win over West region fourteenth seeded Bucknell. Walker set a career high in assists with 12 while scoring 18 points in the UConn victory. Roscoe Smith and Jeremy Lamb, who scored 17 and 16 points respectively, also scored in double figures.

The Huskies held the lead on the Bisons throughout the whole game without letting up. Walker was taken out of the game with just under four minutes remaining in the game. The game was also Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun's 850th career win. The Huskies are now riding a six game winning streak that started in last week's Big East Tournament. Their next opponent is Cincinnati, who held off Missouri for a 78-63 win later on in the evening. They will play each other for a chance to play in the round of sixteen on Saturday in Washington D.C.

Wisconsin Downs Belmont

The Wisconsin Badgers easily got past the Belmont Bruins on Thursday night with a 72-58 win. Their win salvaged a bad day for the Big Ten Conference, with Penn State and Michigan State losing close games. Wisconsin moves on to face Kansas State, who beat Utah State 73-68, on Saturday in Tucson.

Both the Badgers and Bruins played each other close in the first half, with Belmont leading by as much as three with three minutes left in the first half. Wisconsin lead 34-27 at halftime. Once the second half began, the Badgers caught fire thanks to guard Jon Lauer, who scored 17 of his 22 points in the half. Wisconsin shot 12 for 22 from beyond the three point line in the game.