Yale posts bracket buster
Beware the Ivy League. Those guys do more than just study.
The collection of elite Northeast academic schools that don’t give athletic scholarships struck again Friday as 13th-seeded Yale ousted fourth-seeded Auburn 78-76 in an NCAA Tournament first-round thriller in Spokane, Washington.
John Poulakidas scored 28 points, and Samson Aletan made a key block during a chaotic finish. The Bulldogs won an NCAA Tournament game for just the second time ever, rallying from a 10-point deficit midway through the second half. Johni Broome led Auburn with 24 points and 13 rebounds but appeared to injure his knee in the final scrum, which included missed shots and rebounds by the Tigers.
As famous Auburn alum Charles Barkley shook his head as an analyst in the Turner Sports studio, the bracket-busting Bulldogs (23-9) brought echoes of last yea, when Princeton zapped Arizona in the first round.
Yale will face No. 5 seed San Diego State, last year’s NCAA runner-up, in the second round Sunday.
■ Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, KJ Simpson rattled in a tiebreaking jumper from the baseline with 2 seconds left, and 10th-seeded Colorado beat seventh-seeded Florida 102-100. Simpson finished with 23 points as the Buffaloes and Gators put on the most impressive offensive display of this year’s March Madness so far.
The Buffaloes advance in the South Region to facenMarquette on Sunday. Walter Clayton Jr. scored the last 16 points for Florida, including a 3-pointer to tie the game at 100, and finished with 33.
■ Also, Clemson recovered from a poor ACC Tournament, bolted to a big early lead and ousted No. 11 New Mexico 77-56.
■ There are 11 people whose NCAA Tournament brackets survived victories by long shots Yale, Oakland and Duquesne. Only 1,825 perfect brackets survived Thursday’s games in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge, and after Yale’s stunner, that number was down to 10.