NCAA Round-up, March 17 - Richmond Spiders, Temple Owls, Butler Bulldogs and Kentucky Wildcats win (part 2)
Richmond Spiders 69 - Vanderbilt Commodores 66
Guard Kevin Anderson powers the 12th seeded Richmond Spiders to vanquish No. 5 Vanderbilt Commodores 69-66 on Thursday at Pepsi Centre. With this victory, the Spiders has caused the second distress of the tournament.
The Commodores had a chance to tie the game when 2.5 seconds were left in the game, but Rod Odom’s anxious free throw was no way near the basket, before the buzzer.
Anderson scored 25 points out of which 16 came in the second half, including a jumper in the few seconds, helping the Spiders to maintain the lead.
As far as the dealing with the demons was concerned the Commodores failed again in doing so. This was third successive time they had choked in the NCAA. Prior to this, they had lost in the similar fashion in the previous season
to 13th seed Murray State and before them in 2008 dropped one against Siena, who was then at No. 13.
Temple Owls 66 - Penn State Nittany Lions 64
Juan Fernandez tallied 23 points, three assists and three caroms to led the seventh seeded Temple Owls a wild triumph over the 10th seeded Penn State Nittany Lions on Thursday at McKale Centre, Tucson.
Both teams hadn’t led by more than four points, as the lead changed on 10 occasions in a nail bitter second half. Talor Battle made a three point jumper tying the game at 64 apiece with 12.2 seconds to go. But Fernandez made the
spurt and nailed a game winning jumper shot, just before the buzzer went off.
Ramone Moore also added 23 points for the Owls.
The Nittany Lions holds the record of losing eleven games in a strip. Battle made 23 for the Nittany Lions, as they appeared on NCAA scene after 10 years. Most probably, this will be Nittany Lions Coach Fran Dunphy’s last tournament.
Butler Bulldogs 60 - Old Dominion Monarchs 58
Matt Howard scored 15 points and nailed a game winning layup before buzzer to led the 8th seeded Butler Bulldogs overpower the Old Dominion Monarchs in the second half and shattered their nine game winning streak.
When Shawn Vanzant let the Bulldogs down by missing a layup in last three seconds, his teammate Howard grabbed one, went through the hoop and capped in the basket before the time ended. The lead changed on 21 occasions and neither
team stretched more than six points.
Last season Butler missed one against the Duke. But this time he clicked and gave the right boost his team required. Shelvin Mack also tallied 15 points for the Bulldogs.
Frank Hassell led the Monarchs with 20 points, five rebounds and four steals.
Kentucky Wildcats 59 - Princeton Tigers 57
Josh Harrellson hit a double-double and guided the 4th seed Kentucky Wildcats to beat the 13th seeded Princeton Tigers on Thursday at St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa.
Freshman Brandon Knight had a nightmare as he was restricted to zero for over 39 minutes, and was called to bench, but the nightmare finally came to an end when he made a driving layup with two seconds left and advanced the Wildcats
to 59-57 victory.
The starters escorted the Wildcats during most of the play. Harrellson scored 15 points, 10 rebounds, four steal and one block, while Darius Miller added 17 points. By far it was the best effort by the three new-comers of the Wildcats.
As Terrence Jones counted 10 points, and Doron Lamb made seven.
Kareem Maddox hit 12 points, three rebounds, two assists and three steal for the Tigers off the bench.
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