MY ACCOUNT
Last year’s NCAA Tournament champion Baylor Bears have been eliminated in spectacular circumstances in their March Madness matchup against North Carolina.
Baylor, which boasts two likely first round picks in this year’s NBA draft in Jeremy Sochan and Kendall Brown, looked dead in the water with 10 minutes to play, trailing 67-42.
From that point on it was like a scene from a movie, as the Bears could not miss, while the Tar Heels committed silly mistakes as the pressure mounted.
Trailing by six points with 35 seconds on the clock, Baylor’s Sochan hit a three, before North Carolina missed both free throws, allowing James Akinjo to tie the game with a three-point play to force overtime.
Against all momentum, North Carolina steadied in the overtime period, winning it 13-6 to ultimately prevail 93-86.
Meanwhile, the ‘Cinderella’ team of this year’s tournament, 15-seed Saint Peter’s, moved on to the Sweet 16 with another upset win, this time beating seven-seed Murray State 70-60.
The Peacocks shocked the experts by defeating one of the overall favourites, Kentucky, in the first round.
After dominating Gonzaga’s first-round matchup, potential number one overall pick Chet Holmgren was forced to work much harder in his side’s comeback 82-78 win against Memphis.
The Bulldogs trailed by 10 points at half-time, but last year’s runners-up showed their poise as veterans Drew Timme (25 points and 14 rebounds) and Andrew Nembhard (23 points and five assists) led the charge.
Holmgren finished with nine points and nine rebounds, but made a game-winning impact on the defensive end, blocking four shots and holding fellow lottery pick Jalen Duren to just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting.
