PROVIDENCE, R.I.-The Ivy League has produced its share of surprise winners in the NCAA Tournament.
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Thanks to Yale and Little Rock, 99 percent brackets in both CBS and Yahoo! pools are no longer flawless.
At Providence, Rhode Island, Makai Mason had a career-high 31 points, including six of Yale’s final nine points, and the No. 12 seed Bulldogs held on to upset fifth seed Baylor.
Jones, a Duke transfer who was playing in her first NCAA Tournament game in three years, opened the barrage with a 3-pointer from the corner just 26 seconds into the game.
Then, perhaps the more stunning collapse of Purdue to Arkansas Little Rock.
Josh Hagins sent the game into overtime with a shot from the edge of the midcourt logo, and then into double OT with an arcing shot off glass over an outstretched defender.
– Among ACC freshmen this season, Ingram leads in scoring (16.9), three-point percentage (.414), rebounding (6.9) and double-doubles (8), and ranks second in blocks (1.4).
How’d the 12-seeded Yale nab the victory? “It’s great right now. I don’t think it’s really hit us how big this is yet, but we’re going to take it in and get back to work tomorrow”.
Afterward, the Bulldogs celebrated like a team that had been waiting 54 years to play in the big dance.
“We talked about getting it to the point, with five minutes to go, having a chance to win the game, and we got it there”, Yale coach James Jones said. Stopping in front of a cheering throng of Yale fans, he slammed both hands down on the scorer’s table before again lifting his arms high.
4 seed, Duke led by as many as 27 points in the battle of the brainy schools before seeing that dwindle to just three points with less than a minute to play.
Yale will face the Blue Devils in the Round of 32 on Saturday. Justin Sears added 12 points and 11 rebounds.
“We knew coming in that they were going to run a 2-3 and 3-2 zone, and they were going to really pack it in and force us to make shots on the outside”, Davis said.
The Bulldogs controlled the game from the opening tap, and suffocated a Baylor defence with its quickness and nullified its advantage inside with methodical movement on offence.
Mason shot an incredible 70 percent from the field against Baylor, as well as a flawless 11-11 from the free throw line, proving that he can score in a variety of ways and will be a hard match up for any team facing Baylor during this tournament run. Last season, they were shocked by Georgia State in an opening-round game in Jacksonville.
Their issues took a back seat, for a day, to their upset victims, the Baylor Bears basketball team, courtesy Bears star Taurean Prince, who managed to surpass Cam Newton for the best postgame sound bite by a losing player. She had 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists, shooting 9-of-15 overall and 5-of-10 from 3-point range, tying Baylor’s tournament record for 3-pointers made. With role players Phills, Blake Reynolds and Sam Downey combining to go 5-for-8 for 13 points, it required just about the entire roster.
To a degree, tension abounded for CT at the end of its season, which ended with two straight losses and three in its final four games.
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Duke then lost some of its rebounding presence when big man Marshall Plumlee had to go to the bench after being called for his fourth foul with just under 9 minutes to play. The Red Raiders shot 46 percent in this one, but had trouble keeping up with Dunham all afternoon – and Martin during the game-changing sequence. The Red Storm overcame a double-digit deficit in the second half of the semifinal game to beat regular-season champion DePaul on its home court before beating Creighton in the championship game.
