San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
CINDERELLA STILL ALIVE IN THE FORM OF TIGERS
As the final minute ticked off the clock, the Princeton fans started chanting “Sweet 16! Sweet 16!” and coach Mitch Henderson cleared the bench with the victory easily in hand.
This upset was no smallschool fluke against a more heralded team. It was a thoroughly dominating performance that sent Princeton to a place it hadn’t been in more than a half-century.
La Jolla Country Day product Ryan Langborg led the Tigers with 22 points, Blake Peters made five 3pointers in the second half, and Princeton shocked another power conference team to reach the NCAA Tournament regional semifinals for the first time in 56 years by beating Missouri 7863 on Saturday.
“The world looks at us as two upsets,” forward Tosan Evbuomwan said. “But I feel like we’re supposed to be here. We have a lot of confidence in one another, what we’re doing. There’s definitely no letup with this group.”
The No. 15 seeded Princeton (23-8) followed up a firstround win over Pac-12 tournament champion Arizona by overwhelming 10th seeded Missouri (25-10) of the Southeastern Conference from the start.
The Ivy League school known for giving powerhouses scares and occasionally pulling off upsets a generation ago has reached the round of 16 for the first time since 1967 when only 23 teams even made the tournament.
“I have no words for you,” Peters said. “We have such an unbelievable section (of fans) here. I have the best teammates in the world. I love each and every one of them. when we go out and believe in each other, anything is possible. I know it’s cliché, but anything is possible.”
Princeton will play the winner of today’s game between Baylor and Creighton in the Sweet 16 in Louisville, Kentucky, on Friday night.
The Tigers will be the second Ivy League school to make the Sweet 16 in the past 43 tournaments, joining Cornell in 2010. No team from the academically prestigious league that doesn’t give athletic scholarships has gone further since Penn made the Final Four in 1979.
No. 1 Alabama 73, No. 8 Maryland 51: Brandon Miller heated up and so did Alabama (31-5), which avoided the fate of two other top NCAA Tournament seeds and brushed aside Maryland behind a dominant second half.
The Crimson Tide advanced to their second Sweet 16 in the past three tournaments and ninth overall. Alabama will face fifth-seeded San Diego State in the South Region semifinals in Louisville, Ky., on Friday.
Alabama and Miller got off to a slow start but the Allamerica freshman and top NBA prospect wound up with 19 points after going scoreless in the first-round game. Miller is nursing a groin injury and missed his first nine shots of the tournament.