For those fans whose braces took massive blows with Thursday’s two big upsets, starting Friday’s first-round games with third seed Xavier facing a heart moment against 14th seed Kennesaw State surely didn’t calm things down.
A day after March Madness, No. 15 seed Princeton defeated No. 2 seed Arizona, and No. 13 seed Furman hit a shot in a crazy sequence to defeat No. 4 Virginia. Much of the country leaves work early and flocks to the bars on St. Patrick’s Day.
Breathe easy (for a moment), place fans, and send gifts to Xavier’s big man, Jack Nunge. Nunge blocked a go-ahead basket from Kennesaw State’s Terrell Burden in the final seconds and Souley Boom made four free throws in the final 2.6 seconds as Xavier rallied to beat the NCAA rookie Fighting Owls, 72-67, in Greensboro, USA. NC.
The Musketeers (26-9) advance to the second round where they will face the winner of 11th-seeded Pittsburgh, where Xavier’s coach Sean Miller played, and sixth-seeded Iowa State on Sunday.
Kennesaw State (26-9) made the most of its first appearance in an NCAA Division I tournament. The 2004 Division II national champions, now led by rising star Amir Abdur-Rahim, finally broke through to the Big Ball by beating Liberty in the Atlantic Sun championship game after sharing the regular season title with the Flames.
( No. 15 seed Princeton upsets No. 2 seed Arizona )
Chris Youngblood and Terrell Burden each had 14 points for the Fighting Owls.
Xavier, who played the past month without star forward Zach Freemantle, trailed 61-48 with 9:56 left to Jerome Hunter, who scored a game-high 24 points, and Souley Boom (17 points) took over in the final stretch.
While Kennesaw State couldn’t buy a basket for the next 7:52, Xavier went on a 16-2 run to take a 64-63 lead with Boom scoring six points and Hunter adding five during that period.
The Fighting Owls finally got baskets from Demond Robinson and Kasen Jennings sandwiched around a 3-pointer from Xavier’s Adam Kunkel to make it 67-67 with 1:22 remaining.
( Furman stuns Virginia with a late 3-pointer in the NCAA’s first big upset )
After Colby Jones’ free kick put Xavier ahead, Burden drove the lane for a short jumper, only to see it denied by Nunge. Boom finished with the loose rebound and the musketeers survived.
