Round 2 recap
The Sweet 16 is set!
Midwest Region — Johnson and Wales holds Union to 33 percent shooting and forces 25 turnovers in a 100-49 beatdown that’s illegal in at least three states. Allen Woods with 28 points in the win. Louisiana built a 10-point halftime lead, lost it all in the first six minutes of the second half and didn’t panic to advance 86-76 past Defiance. Vernon Toohey with 20 points off the bench for Louisiana. In the upset of the night, 11-seed Webster goes off for 99 points for the second game in a row to drop Whittier 99-89. Steven Cameron with 23 points for Webster. Ronald Frank adds an additional 20 in 13 minutes off the bench. UMass Dartmouth grabbed a 39-29 rebounding advantage despite a sagging Lynchburg squad as they pulled away in the second half for an 89-79 win. Richard Ross with a tournament-high 35 points for UMD.
Tonight’s games: 1. Johnson and Wales v. 4. Louisiana, 11. Webster v. 2. UMass Dartmouth
East Region — Man down! Top seeded North Carolina Wesleyan fell behind 8 seed Emory by 10 in the second half, fought back to grab a lead, then failed to score in the final 1:40 to fall 63-62. Jonathan Johnson scored the last two of his 21 points with 16 seconds to play to give Emory the lead again. NCWC missed a shot with 10 seconds remaining, then, having been guilty of just three second-half fouls to that point, was unable to hack Emory enough times to force a free throw attempt before time expired. CSU Eastbay turned the ball over just nine times and held Newbury to 40 percent shooting as they ejected an Evil Empire member 67-58. GNE schools had been 7-0 in round 1. Martin Luther kept it close and kept it interesting against Texas Lutheran, but it was TL advancing by a 71-63 count despite pulling down just 19 rebounds in the game. Ursinus, the 7 seed, used an early 9-0 run in the second half to take the lead in its game against Suffolk, then built that lead to as many as 13 points at one stage, only to watch Suffolk charge back to tie the game with 1:50. Coach barjaz, the division’s winningest NT coach, didn’t blink and pulled out a 64-62 upset victory.
Tonight’s games: 8. Emory v. 4. CSU Eastbay, 3. Texas Lutheran v. 7. Ursinus
South Region — Susquehanna trailed by four at the half, but roared past Greensboro 76-63 at game’s end, thanks in part to a 9-for-18 showing from 3-point territory and 20 points from Mark Schmidt. Next up for them is Rivier, which bottled up Wooster 51-41 last night. And it’s really hard to grab anything to call a highlight from that game, so lets move on. South Vermont forced 10 second-half turnovers to climb back from a five-point halftime shortfall to win 60-57 over Southwestern. Kurt Burns’ 3-point try with a second remaining clanged away for Southwestern. US Merchant Marine forced 24 turnovers and shot 51 percent to hand Catholic its first loss of the season 76-56.
Tonight’s games: 1. Susquehanna v. 5. Rivier, 6. S. Vermont v. 2. Merchant Marines.
West Region — In the No-Doz division where defenses ruled round 1, it was Colorado and Emmanuel combining to take just 73 shots in the entire game as Colorado rocked the top-seed to sleep 49-39. By contrast, Hardin-Simmons’ Thomas Rivera had 31 points all on his own to lead his team to a 79-73 win over Calvin. Penn St. Altoona used defense to hold Emerson to six buckets in the second half of a 63-50 victory. Emerson’s Bob Neely with a Polish double-double of 17 points and 10 turnovers in the game. Willaim Cowherd with the more traditional 16 points and 10 boards for the victors from PSA. Ozarks goes big in the first half on Piedmont to cruise to a 79-64 victory. Lester Hart with 21 off the bench for the 2-seed.
Tonight’s games: 8. Colorado v. 4. Hardin-Simmons, 3. Penn St. Altoona v. 2. Ozarks.
Thoughts from the masses?