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| Crishawn Orange had two game-winning shots in two nights and the Vikings advanced to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. File photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com |
Augustana survived a wild final two minutes at UW-Whitewater when Crishawn Orange hit his second game-winning shot in as many nights, while Wartburg took all of the drama out of its game with UW-River Falls early and Hope advanced to the round of 16, along with six teams from the Northeast.
Augustana held a 70-62 lead with two minutes to play when UW-Whitewater rallied to tie the game. Whitewater's Chris Jones hit a three pointer to cut the lead to five and, after a Warhawks free throw cut the lead to four, Derek Rongstad and Jones scored layups to tie the game at 70. Augustana inbounded the ball, took it across half court and handed it to Orange for the last shot. He ran down the clock and pulled up from 10 feet out to splash the game-winning shot with three seconds. Whitewater heaved the ball inbounds and had one last shot that did not fall, and the Vikings celebrated the 72-70 victory. Box score
Both teams shot well with Augustana hitting 52 percent of its shots (30-for-58) and Whitewater 46 percent (26-for-57). Dylan Sortillo led the Vikings with 28 points. Jones scored 22 points for the Warhawks.
Augustana will play Wartburg next Friday night at a site to be announced on Sunday afternoon. The Knights had another torrid shooting night and crushed UW-River Falls 76-43. Wartburg built a 44-17 lead at the break thanks to 59 percent shooting (16-for-29). Nate Woeste scored 19 points and hit four of his nine 3-point attempts. The Knights, who were the sixth seed in the IIAC tournament, beat two Top 10 teams by a combined 59 points in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
Those two will be joined by Hope and Hanover in that sectional next weekend. Code Stuive scored 37 points for Hope on 12-for-17 shooting with 10 three-pointers and Dante Hawkins added 26 points as the Flying Dutchmen rolled past Washington U., 94-80. Hope shot 55 percent (16-for-29) from three.
Hanover made all four of its free throw attempts in the final minute and needed all of them, as Aiden Chang's three pointer left North Central (Ill.) one point short in a 64-63 Panthers win. Wes McKinney's final two free throws capped an 18-point night for Hanover. Box score
The Northeast region put six teams into the round of 16 with half coming from the NESCAC. Williams rolled over Scranton 80-53 at home with 22 points from Daniel Aronowitz. Vincent Pace scored 37 points and Tufts beat St. John Fisher 94-81 on the road. Middlebury built a 20-point halftime advantage on Lycoming and the Panthers cruised past the Warriors, 95-76. Matt St. Amour scored 30 points for Middlebury which will get a rematch with Endicott on Friday. The Gulls won their fourth matchup of the season with CCC mate Nichols, 111-75. The Gulls shot 19-for-40 from three with Max Matroni scoring 34 points in 33 minutes.
Babson will likely host next weekend's sectional round after the Beavers held off Skidmore 72-65 behind another big night from Joey Flannery. The All-American guard scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Babson will play Tufts in a rematch from earlier this season while Keene State will play Christopher Newport in a rematch from last year's NCAA tournament.
Keene State upset Ramapo 92-91 in overtime on a go-ahead three-pointer from Jake Collagan with 45 seconds left. The Roadrunners led 81-79 in the closing seconds of regulation when Ty Nichols pushed to the rim for two points to tie the game. Nichols finished with 32 points for the Owls. Christopher Newport completed a successful weekend on the road with a 77-67 win at Swarthmore. The Captains outrebounded the Garnet 42-25 and scored 38 points in the paint.
Several other second round games turned into lopsided romps for the home teams. Keith Richardson had a double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Marietta blasted Guilford, 88-64. Rochester finished another dominating weekend in the Palestra with a 82-60 victory over Union. Hardin-Simmons rode big nights from Nathaniel Jack (26 points, 15 rebounds) and Dashun Dixon (20 points) past Emory, 95-85.
The Cowboys will play Whitman next week after the Blues shook off a slow start and eliminated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 79-73. Whitman trailed at the break by three but opened the second half on a 12-4 run to take the lead for good. Tim Howell paced Whitman with 22 points and Austin Butler added 18 points on 7-for-8 shooting. Kendrick Morris scored 23 for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
The sites for next weekend's sectional rounds will be announced early Sunday afternoon on the east coast.