First Four: Wagner beats Howard, Colorado State bests Virginia
Wagner beat Howard 71-68 Tuesday night to open the 2024 NCAA Tournament at UD Arena.
Melvin Council Jr. scored 21 points to lead the Seahawks, who nearly blew a 13-point lead in the last five minutes but held on for their first tournament victory.
Julian Brown added 15 points, while Tahron Allen and Keyontae Lewis added 10 apiece for Wagner.
“I thought my guys did a great job of being calm,” Wagner coach Donald Copeland said.
“I know we made some tough plays down the stretch. I think they’re really good at those traps and pressures and everything, but we’re tough. We finished the game the right way.”
Bryce Harris and Ohio State transfer Seth Towns scored 16 points apiece to lead the Bison, who were down 67-54 until Marcus Dockery and Towns hit backto-back 3-pointers.
The Bison cut it to five when Howard was called for goal-tending then made it a 3-point game on Isiah Warfield’s layup that was set up by Dockery’s steal at midcourt.
Wagner failed to score at the other end, and Harris got all the way to the basket for a hoop that made it 69-68 with 17 seconds left.
Howard fouled Julian Brown, sending him to the free throw line with 14.9 seconds left, and he made both ends of a one-and-one to set up a frenetic final possession in which Howard got three looks from beyond the 3-point line.
None went down, though, and the Seahawks could celebrate moving on to play No. 1 seed North Carolina on Thursday.
Colorado State 67, Virginia 42: Colorado State put the clamps on Virginiain the second game of the First Four.
The Cavaliers scored only two points in the last 10 minutes of the first half and fell behind by 21 points early in the second half before getting much traction on offense. By then it was too late. Joel Scott scored 23 points to lead the Rams (25-10) while Nique Clifford added 17 and Patrick Cartier had 12.
“Just a terrific performance really on both ends of the floor from the opening tip,” CSU coach Niko Medved said.
“I didn’t see this coming like this way tonight at all, but I’m pretty pleased,” he added with a laugh. “What an incredible win for these guys and our program.”
Isaac McNeely made a 3-pointer at the 10:30 mark to pull Virginia within a basket at 14-12, but the Cavaliers did not make another field goal in the first half.
They were outscored 13-2 from that point, getting their lone points from the freethrow line.
Virginia shot 22% in the first half, missing 24 of 29 shot attempts, while Colorado State went 12 for 24 from the field and doubled the Cavaliers up on the boards, 24 to 12.
CSU was able to get inside the Virginia defense, scoring 18 points in the paint, while keeping the Cavaliers out, holding them to four.
The second half didn’t start much better for the Cavaliers, who missed their first four shots and fell behind 35-14 before Reece Beekman finally hit a 15-foot jumper with 16:37 on the clock.
That ended a scoreless stretch of 12:43 and 13:53 without a Virginia field goal.
The No. 10-seeded Rams advance to play No. 7 Texas on Thursday night in Charlotte, N.C.