Early Games Recap Day 2

The action in this afternoon's games was much better than what we had yesterday. Two of the early games came down to a final shot during the shootout Ben Woodside had with Sherron Collins, and in the afternoon game we had an 11 knock off a 6 and a near 16-over-1 upset.

• South - #3 Syracuse 59, #14 Stephen F. Austin 44: The Orange raced out to a 20-4 lead, building their advantage to 26 early in the second half, as they won their first NCAA tourney game in five years. Jonny Flynn led the Orange with 16 points and 6 dimes, while Arinze Onuaku, Rick Jackson, and Paul Harris combined to manhandle the overmatched Lumberjacks in the paint to the tune of 30 points and 33 rebounds combined. SFA shot just 24.7% from the floor, and Josh Alexander, the Southland's player of the year, finished the game 4-20 with just 8 points. The score could have been much worse, but SFA switched to a 1-3-1 zone early in the second half, which the Orange never figured out.
• South - #6 Arizona State 66, #11 Temple 57: If I were to tell you that Dionte Christmas went nuts, scoring 29 points, and James Harden was held to one field goal and 9 points, would you believe me that the Sun Devils won? Well, it happened. Derek Glasser scored 17 of his 22 in the first half and Jeff Pendergraph added 22 points and 7 boards as ASU held off a late charge by the Owls. Down 29-16 early in the first half, Temple made a run to cut the lead to 9 at the half. They trailed by about that margin for most of the second half, before three straight baskets by Christmas cut the lead to 52-49. It remain that way for a few minutes, until free throw and a three by James Harden with four minutes left gave Arizona State a 56-49 lead. The Owls never got any closer than four the rest of the way, and the three ended up being Harden's only field goal.
• East - #8 Oklahoma State 77, #9 Tennessee 75: The Cowboys and Vols played what might be the best game of the tournament so far. It was a back and forth game as neither team could really assert the tempo the wanted to play - OK State likes to get up and down the floor, taking advantage of their smaller, quicker lineup, while Tennessee was trying to pound the ball inside. The biggest lead of the game came midway through the first half after Travis Ford picked up a tech, leading to a five point possession and giving Tennessee a 32-25 advantage (ironically, OK State lost their biggest lead with Marshall Moses was T'ed up for hanging on the rim, and Tennessee got another five point possession to cut it to 60-54). The game came down to the final possessions. After the Cowboys had taken a 74-72 lead, Tyler Smith took the ball to the basket, finishing a tough runner in the lane and drawing a foul. He would hit the foul shot, and OK State had the ball with under 30 seconds left. They set up a screen and roll for Eaton on the right wing, but it was an unusual screen. The screener set a pick on Eaton's right hand, which would have meant the PG would be driving baseline and towards the sideline. Instead, the middle of the lane opened up, so Eaton went middle and got to the rim, finishing the lay-up and drawing a foul with 7.2 seconds left. He would hit the freebie, and Smith missed a three at the buzzer that would have won it. Smith led Tennessee with 21, while Eaton had 20 and 7 assists for OK State and Moses added 16 points and 11 boards.
• East - #1 Pitt 72, #16 East Tennessee State 62: ETSU deserved to get a win. They outplayed the Panthers, out hustled them, and out worked them. In the end, however, Pitt was just a better basketball team. And they DeJuan Blair. The big fella went for 27 points and 16 boards, but was really the only guy that showed up for Pitt. ETSU forced 17 Pitt turnovers and grabbed 20 offensive rebounds as they battled and scrapped their way to hang around with the Panthers. Interestingly enough, the Buccaneers were only led once in the game, but as a result of a lack of effort and lackadaisical play from Pitt, they were able to hng around. The one thing that is going to haunt those guys is their free throw shooting. Usually a very good team from the line, ETSU shot just 12-24 today. The biggest worry for Pitt in this one was how Levance Fields played. He took a nasty fall about a week and a half ago against Marquette, bruising his tail bone, and that injury led to some groin problems. He was clearly not 100%, and didn't seem to have his usual lift or explosiveness. The Panthers better hope that Fields is ok, because playing the Cowboys without their point guard could lead to some problems. Kevin Tiggs led the way for ETSU with 21 while Courtney Pigrim added 17.
• West - #6 Marquette 58, #11 Utah State 57: Marquette jumped out to an early 23-9 lead over the Aggies with 5:00 left in the first half, but over the next 20 minutes of game time, USU dominanted. They would out score the Eagles 40-20, eventually taking a 49-43 lead with just under five minutes left in the game. Marquette would respond, scoring 13 of the next 15 points to take a commanding 56-51 lead late. The Aggies would hit a couple three's late for the final margin. Lazar Hayward finished with 26 points for Marquette, which included two free throws that gave the Eagles the lead for good at 52-51.Jared Quayle led the Aggies with 18 points.
• West - #3 Missouri 78, #14 Cornell 59: Cornell hung around for a while in the first half, but Mizzou's pressure was too much in the second half. The key for the Tiger's was that they started to make the extra pass and play as a team, which allowed them to score. When they were able to score, they were able to get into their press. Leo Lyons finished with 23 points and 10 boards, while DeMarre Carroll added 13 (11 in the second half) to go along with his 7 boards and 5 assists. Ryan Wittman had 18 to lead Cornell.
  
• Midwest - #3 Kansas 84, #14 North Dakota State 74: Sherron Collins and Ben Woodside locked horns in what turned into the best head-to-head match-up of the day. Woodside finished with 37 points on the day, but was outdone by the 32 points and 8 dimes, and most importantly the win, that Collins collected. Kansas used a little run at the end of the first half to take a nine point lead, but NDSU was not going away quietly. They cut the lead to three on a number of occasions, but they never could closer than that. Cole Aldrich added 23 points and 11 boards for Kansas. Collins looked so impressive because every team NDSU scored to get it close, he would take over, and either make a play and score or find an open man for a dunk/open three. Woodside probably got himself drafted with today's performance. He really looks like a guy that can play a Jose Juan Barea role in the league.
• Midwest - #11 Dayton 68, #6 West Virginia 60: The only higher seed to fall this afternoon, West Virginia was just simply out worked by Dayton. The Mountaineers are a team that prides themselves on defense, rebounding, and hustle - Bob Huggins blue collar mentality - but the Flyers beat the at their own game. Dayton had control of this thing through out, and despite a WVU run that kept the game within a possession for a while in second half, this thing was never really in doubt. The Mountaineers never so much as tied the game in the last 30 minutes. The key was the defense that was played on Alex Ruoff and Da'Sean Butler, WVU's two stars who never got it going offensively. Chris Wright led the Flyers with 27 points, 10 boards, and a number of huge dunks, while Charles Little added 18 points and London Warren played his typical great floor game - 9 assists, 1 turnover. WVU was led by two freshman with bright futures - Truck Bryant (21 points) and Devin Ebanks (14 and 12).