Round 1 roundup
Midwest Region
As expected, Rivier rolled 92-66 as the top seed, they'll now get 28-1 Tufts, a 73-60 winner over York (PA). Lynchburg, ranked one spot worse than Tufts, but seeded three seeds higher on the bracket, survived an OT scare from Otterbein before winning 75-65. They'll get CSU, Eastbay as the bracket held up in an 11-point win over Rhodes. On the bottom half of the region, Ursinus needed a pair of Michael Puga free throws with four seconds remaining to escape 80-79 from Texas Lutheran's upset bid. Texas Lutheran had led by double-digits midway through the second half. Ursinus now gets Penn St. Altoona, which had no difficulty in an 80-58 win over Babson. Ten-seed Sewanee had the only upset in the opening round, getting past Mount St. Mary 72-66 in OT. Raplh Ferree buried a three with 5 seconds left in regulation for MSM to force the extra minutes. Now they get Vassar, which cannot be any sort of happy after blowing a double-digit lead and having to go to overtime before posting a 106-95 opening-round win. A reminder to set theriddler's mind at ease....Defiance's national championship run began with a couple nail-biters last season as well.
East Region
Top seed Colorado moves forward in fairly pedestrian fashion 72-60 over the Newark flavor of "Rutgers at." Next up is unbeaten Illinois Wesleyan, which looked far better in a 91-67 win over Austin. Check out Harley Cooke's 24 points off the bench for 30-0 IW. In the battle of E's, 12-seed Emory scores one for the University by knocking off the Evil Empire's Emerson, 57-54. Emory led most of the final 12 minutes in the contest. Now they get fourth-seed US Merchant Marines, lynchmob1414 took no prisoners in a 77-52 beatdown of Christopher Newport. Bottom of the bracket drama was provided by 11-seed Wooster -- GO SCOTS!! -- in a 57-52 upset of Catholic. Wooster broke a halftime tie with a three-point bucket to start the second half and never relinquished the lead from there. Now they get the defending national champs as Defiance got more than it barganed for in an 80-73 opener against East Connecticut St. Wentworth blew open a narrow game in the second half to storm past Emory & Henry 93-74 as the 7-seed. Second-seed Millsaps smothered Scranton 67-48 as the 2-seed. Scranton managed just 34 percent shooting.
South Region
Top-seeded Buena Vista rolled 91-56 past York (NY). Next comes Calvin, an 80-79 winner over Union. William Ricketts' bucket with 16 seconds left provided the winning margin for Calvin, which trailed by 4 at the half and by as many as 11 in the second half, but was clearly the fresher team down the stretch. Hardin-Simmons used a strong second half to advance 70-58 as the 5 seed against Westminster (PA). Now it's a date with preseason No. 1 Greensboro, which blasted Brandeis 89-66 as a 4-seed in the tournament. The bottom half of the bracket had Susquehanna smothering Dominican 66-56 to advance. Tonight, they get Newbury, 57-56 escape artist against 14-seed Rose-Hulman thanks only to Daniel Daley's free throw with 9 seconds remaining and his subsequent block of a potential RHIT game-winner in the final second of action. Tenth-seeded UMass, Dartmouth scores a minor upset on the bracket after holding Southwestern to just 16 second half and 41 overall points in a 51-41 game that delivered for those betting the under. While those schools were combining for 92 points, the No. 2 seed, John Carroll was topping the century mark in a 104-83 thrashing of St. Scholastica.
West Region
Top seed Howard Payne had no trouble in a 90-65 opener over Johnson St. They now get Emmanuel, a minor upset winner in the 8-9 coinflip, 75-65 over Mt. St. Joseph. Emmanuel vaulted to a 14-point lead at intermission to control the action in that one. The 12-seed Martin Luther did its best to reform the bracket, but Robert Parra's three-pointer with 4 seconds remaining helped 5-seed Chapman escape upset 66-63. Also tested was 4-seed Lousiana, which trailed with 2:36 to play, but closed the game on an 8-0 run to advance 70-63 over Wittenberg. The bottom of the bracket saw 11-seed Dickinson score the upset with an exclamation point as mfnmyers crew rained down a 92-72 pummeling of favored Whittier. North Carolina Wesleyan cruised 96-65 past Eureka as the 3-seed and gets Dickinson next. Capital dominated second half play to defeat Connecticut 92-74 as the favored half of the 7-10 pairing. Next up is Johnson & Wales, a solid, but not overly impressive 65-54 winner over Webster. Webster scored the final seven points in that game to provide a final margin that's not nearly as close as the bulk of the second half action.