Tourney Central 3/4/2005

Bracket Wrap

Southern: The favorites prevailed, but all their SoCon South division-mates have been wiped out. (recaps)

(S1) Davidson 67, (N4) Elon 53
(N2) North Carolina-Greensboro 73, (S3) Georgia Southern 71
(N1) Chattanooga 77, (N5) East Tennessee State 70
(N3) Appalachian State 63, (S2) Charleston 60

Davidson held Elon to 30% shooting and won easily. Charleston's shock loss was a microcosm of their season - moments of defense-driven excellence surrounded by periods of listless play, and . ETSU's Tim Smith couldn't lift his team singlehandedly on consecutive days - despite netting 33 points, the 5'9" junior guard bids farewell for the year after a balanced Moc attack (four Chattanoogans with at least 15 points) put the Bucs to bed. Greensboro had to storm back from six down and score the game's last eight to avoid the upset.

So here's the SoCon sitch: Greensboro will play Davidson today at 7 p.m. Eastern; at 9:30, host Chattanooga will play an App-State team that will be playing its third game in as many evenings.

Northeast: The campus-site quarters are complete. We have one upset that wasn't really an upset, and the remainder of the bracket was true to form.

(6) Wagner 69, (3) Robert Morris 65 (story)
(1) Monmouth 54, (8) Central Connecticut State 53 (story)

(2) Fairleigh Dickinson 78, (7) St. Francis (NY) 60 (story)
(4) Long Island-Brooklyn 76, (5) St. Francis (PA) 67 (box)

If you've been reading this column these past few days, Wagner's win comes as no surprise. But nobody was more shocked than the Robert Morris Colonials - they'd beaten these guys twice during the regular season. Thanks to reseeding, the Seahwaks get 1 Monmouth next - they've proven they can win at MU's Boylan Gym, having beaten the Hawks there 60-53 back on February 20.

In a 1-8 rematch of last year's title game, those Monmouth boys needed a Marques Alston layup with a second left in order to escape CCSU's clutches. Two-seed FDU had an easier time of it, dropping the Terriers of SFNY easily on the strength of 20 from Tamien Trent (a/k/a "Steed"). The other St. Francis also lost - the Pennsylvanians went down to the LIU Blackbirds in the really, truly, no-doubt-about-it last game ever at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater.

Semifinals are on Sunday. In addition to the aforementioned Wagner-Monmouth tilt, Fairleigh Dickinson will host Long Island.

Atlantic Sun: Of all the quarterfinal slates, the A-Sun seemed the least likely to play out as seeded. But that's exactly what happened in Nashville with a league that had to settle a four-way tiebreaker to determine the middle slots.

(1) Gardner-Webb 64, (8) Troy State 62 (story)

(2) Central Florida 81, (7) Mercer 68 (story)
(3) Belmont 67, (6) Georgia State 61 (story)

(4) Jacksonville 68, (5) Lipscomb 64 (story)

The score was tied with three ticks left, ans then G-Webb's Chris Gash unleashed a long jumper to put his Runnin' Bulldogs up 64-62. The Troy Trojans (in their final A-Sun go-round before they join the Sun Belt next year) led the nation in trey tries this season - so they went the length of the floor and let fly a futile attempt at a last-second win. Live by the three... well, you know the rest.

Tournament hosts Belmont were up 64-56 with five minutes left, only scored a handful of free throws down the stretch, and still held off GSU. Jacksonville spoiled Lipscomb's first-ever D1 postseason contest (they were in the NAIA five short years ago). UCF, the hottest team in the league coming into the tourney, easily disposed of a Mercer squad. "There were only 400 fans at the Curb Center," wrote the Orlando Sun-Sentinel's Alan Schmadtke. "but UCF's 100 stood in approval."

Today marks the semifinal round. Jacksonville eyes an upset against wobbly one-seeded Gardner-Webb, and Central Florida faces off against Belmont.

Big South: The final is set.

(1) Winthrop 78, Birmingham Southern 64 (story)
(7) Charleston Southern 58, (3) High Point 55 (story)

The Bucaneers' upset was keyed by a dub-dub by Kurtis Rice (19 and 10); they'll play the top-seeded Eagles, who rolled thanks to a career high 25 from former MMBOW Torrell Martin.

What's On Tap

It's Friday, and the action starts coming fast and furious from all corners of Hoops Nation. The MAAC (Buffalo), America East (Binghamton, NY), West Coast (Santa Clara, CA), Sun Belt (Denton, TX) and Missouri Valley (St. Louis) all hold first round qualification games between lower seeds. The Patriot League presents its quarterfinals at Holy Cross and Bucknell tonight, and the Horizon League will take its two second-round matchups to Milwaukee. We've also got semifinal action in the A-Sun and SoCon.

Automatic Bids

Pennsylvania (17-8, 10-1 Ivy) clinched the Ivy League regular season title on February 27.

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