Gabriel Christus / ESPN Images
Gabriel Christus / ESPN Images(DAYTON, OH) — March Madness began Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio with two of the First Four match ups.
The first game featured two 16 seeds, Southland Conference champion New Orleans and Northeast Conference champion Mount St Mary’s, in a game that went down to the wire. Mount St. Mary’s was trailing New Orleans 64-63 with under two minutes to play in the second half after two free throws by New Orleans’ Christavious Gill. Mount St. Mary’s responded with a Junior Robinson jump shot to give them a one-point advantage.
New Orleans trailed 67-66 with four seconds left when they rebounded the ball after a Robinson miss. After a timeout, New Orleans attempted to set up the game winning shot, but a Chris Wray steal stopped its efforts, giving Mount St. Mary’s the one point victory. The Mountaineers will head to Buffalo to take on first seeded Villanova on Thursday.
The second game of the night featured two 11 seeds, Wake Forest and Kansas State. Defense was not a factor in this one, as the two teams combined to score 107 points in the second half. The game was close throughout, but Kansas State was able to pull away late, giving them a 95-88 victory. They will take on sixth seeded Cincinnati on Friday in Sacramento.
On Wednesday, four more teams get their shot at rounding out the 64-team bracket. 16 seeds face off as North Carolina Central takes on UC Davis at 6:40 PM ET, followed by 11 seeds USC and Providence at approximately 9:10 PM ET.
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