Belmont nearly pulls off big upset
Defensive play at the end saves Maryland from difficult defeat
Belmont proved it belonged. Maryland is moving on.
The Terrapins survived a last-second upset at the NCAA Tournament when Eric Ayala deflected a pass, leading to a steal by Darryl Morsell that allowed Maryland to escape with a 79-77 victory in the East Region.
Playing their second tournament game in less than 48 hours, No. 11-seeded Belmont shook off weary legs to justify the selection committee giving them one of the final at-large bids.
Belmont took Maryland to the final seconds but the No. 6 Terrapins came up with the winning stop at the end.
“If not for one little deflection,” said Rick Byrd, Belmont’s 805-win coach, “I think we’d be playing Saturday afternoon.”
Instead, it was Maryland (23-10) advancing to face LSU in the second round following the thriller with Belmont.
“Is my heart rate like I’m sleeping? No!” Terrapins coach Mark Turgeon said. “I just love it. So much fun.”
Dylan Windler scored 35 points to give Belmont a chance, hitting seven 3-pointers with his Harden-like step back beyond the arc.
“They’re almost impossible to guard,” Turgeon said, with plenty of admiration in his voice for the mid-major powerhouse from Nashville, Tennessee.
Maryland was clinging to a one-point lead and the shot clock was off as Belmont (266) went for a buzzer-beating win. The Bruins didn’t bother calling a timeout to set up a play; they knew what they wanted to do — a backdoor pass to Windler that had been one of their bread-and-butter calls all afternoon.
But Ayala got a hand on the pass from freshman Grayson Murphy and Morsell stepped in front of Windler to pick off the ball, the Belmont star tumbling to the court behind him. Morsell was fouled with 2.5 seconds to go, sending him to the other end of the court for a pair of free throws. LSU 79, Yale 74: Skylar Mays hit four free throws in the final 15 seconds to help embattled LSU slip past 14th-seeded Yale in an East Region game. Mays scored 19 points but sealed the game from the charity stripe, and the Tigers (27-6) needed each one of his free throws.
Kentucky 79, Abilene Christian 44: With PJ Washington watching from the bench in a cast, second-seeded Kentucky romped to Midwest Region victory over NCAA Tournament newcomer Abilene Christian. Keldon Johnson scored 25 points in a huge mismatch that was over by halftime. Wofford 84, Seton Hall 68: Fletcher Magee scored 24 points to lead No. 7 Wofford past No. 10 Seton Hall in the Midwest Region.