Mount St. Mary’s stands tall; Villanova next
DAYTON — Mount St. Mary’s knocked off New Orleans 67-66 in a First Four game on Tuesday night and left with the attitude of not wanting to be sold short headed into a game Thursday with NCAA Tournament top seed Villanova.
It’s difficult not to think short when 5-foot-5 Mount St. Mary’s guard Junior Robinson comes to mind. But he and the Mountaineers (20-15) came up large when it mattered against the Privateers (20-12) in a meeting of No. 16 seeds. He said they intend to carry that into their East Regional game against the defending national champion Wildcats in Buffalo, New York, knowing a No. 16 has never beaten a No. 1.
“They play with a lot of heart, but we play with heart and passion,” said Robinson, who led all scorers with 23 points. “If the ball bounces our way, history will be broken.”
Robinson was told by coach Jamion Christian to take the shot when they needed to regain the lead with 1:28 left last night, Robinson waving off the team’s leading scorer Elijah Long before driving, losing the ball for an instant, then regaining it to made a 10-foot floater for a 65-64 lead.
Mount St. Mary’s freshman Miles Wilson made it 67-64 with two free throws at 1:04, increasing his total 17 points. New Orleans’ Nate Frye made two free throws with 34 seconds to play to cut it to 67-66, and Robinson ate the clock until he lost the ball on a drive with 2.6 seconds left. Then it was Chris Wray’s time to come up big for the Mountaineers, intercepting an inbounds pass from New Orleans’ Erik Thomas.
“We actually went into overtime and won games with that kind of play, so it was a great play,” Thomas said. “We just weren't able to finish the game out.”
Things might have been different had New Orleans forward Travin Thibodeaux been able to finish the game. He had 10 points in the second half before being called for a lane violation and responding physically to teammate Christaveous Gill’s upbraid on the way to the bench. Coach Mark Slessinger benched Thibodeaux for the last 6:36.
“Unfortunately for him it gives an uncharacteristic impression of how great a kid he is,” Slessinger said. “He’s an honor student who is extremely passionate and cares about his team.”
Mount St. Mary’s started 1-11 against a challenging nonleague schedule but rebounded to win the Northeast Conference. It picked up just its second NCAA Tournament win.
“I wouldn’t have guessed once out of 100 times that we were going to play Villanova, but dreams come true and it’s ‘March Madness,’" Long said. "So this is part of the madness, and we’re looking forward to it.”
Behind 24 points from Wesley Iwundu, 22 from Kamau Stokes and 18 from D.J. Johnson, coach Bruce Weber’s high-scoring Kansas State team beat down Danny Manning and Wake Forest in the First Four in Dayton.
It was a match of South Regional No. 11 seeds, with Kansas State (21-13) moving on to Sacramento, California, on Friday to face No. 6 Cincinnati.
The game turned Kansas State’s way after a flagrant foul on Wake Forest’s Bryant Crawford with 1:43 to play and Kansas State leading 84-79. Crawford had fallen but grabbed one of Stokes’ feet as he went past.
Stokes made both free throws, Kansas State got the ball and Johnson rolled in a for layup that put the Wildcats ahead 88-79 with 1:20 left.