Sweet 16 recap
Midwest -- #1 Millsaps (30-2) got a combined 33 points from Clyde Peguero and Joseph Poe to crush the dreams of 12-seed John Carroll 79-62. The upstarts were held to less than 40% shooting from the floor. That sets up a regional final with #4 Webster (31-1), a 94-83 victor over Dickinson last night. Douglas Keese had 24 points off the bench in 23 minutes of work as Webster shot 50% from the floor. Webster led by nine at the half and Dickinson never really made a push over the final 20 minutes. The regional championship game tonight will be a rematch of a 70-60 Millsaps win back in the non-con.
East -- It'll be the 1 and 2 seeds showing down as #5 Emory (27-4) turned the ball over just 7 times and shot 58.3% in a 79-60 blasting of Worcester St. Now they'll draw #6 Palm Beach Atlantic (29-3), which survived 76-72 in overtime against U.S. Merchant Marines. USMM stormed back from 9 down at the half and actually held the lead in the closing minute before, who else, Martin Perry's longball with 13 ticks remaining tied the score. Robert Snyder had a key defensive steal to send it to OT. In the extra period, PBA gets a timely late offensive rebound and two free throws from Jerry Kroll to seal the deal. It was PBA's second win of the year over USMM.
South -- #2 Colorado (31-1) continued to roll along with a 65-54 win over Ursinus. Cary Jessup's trey with just under 4 minutes to play appeared to slam the door on Ursinus' only real push in the second half. Other than that, a very workmanlike win for Colorado. In the finals, they'll draw 6-seed and #13 Austin (26-6). Austin jumped South Vermont out of the gate, surging to a 47-29 lead at intermission. S. Vermont rallied back to within 3 midway through the second half, but a 14-0 Austin run turned out the lights on any comeback hope. After 17 turnovers in its first two NT games combined, S. Vermont gave it away 26 times to Austin. That press is nasty! No rematch here, Colorado and Austin will be locking horns for the first time tonight.
West -- #3 Piedmont (29-3) made sure all the 1-seeds are alive and well in the Elite Eight with an 89-83 win over Louisiana. Robert Temples with 21 points and Richard Eisele added 20 more for Louisiana, but it wasn't enough. Robert Prill countered with 20 of his own for Piedmont, but it was David Armstrong's trey with 2 seconds to go that provided the game-winning dagger. Now they'll face #22 Wittenberg (24-7), which held Dallas to just 15 points in the second half of a 50-36 win. That's almost a Gridiron Dynasty score! Dallas led by 3 at the half, but that's not enough to endure 28% shooting over the final 20 minutes, including one ugly stretch of 7:21 where Dallas managed only a single free throw. Wittenberg is in as a 10-seed.