Auburn Hills, Mich ? Jermaine Wallace might’ve had the worst view of the swish seen ’round the nation.
Stuck in the corner with time running out, all Wallace could do was heave, hope and watch.
As he fell below the baseline, his fadeaway three-pointer was good with a split second left, and little Northwestern State pulled off a shocker, rallying past Iowa, 64-63, Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“I actually saw it go in through the back of the glass,” Wallace said. “I can’t believe this.”
Neither could the third-seeded Hawkeyes (25-9).
Down by 17 with 81â2 minutes left, the 14th-seeded Demons from Natchitoches, La., stormed back to knock off the Big Ten tournament champions with swarming defense and clutch shooting.
“I’d like to say I had it all drawn up, but we were just trying to get the guys in the game who could create havoc on defense and score on offense,” said Northwestern State coach Mike McConathy, who shuffled 11 players on and off the court.
Hawkeyes star Greg Brunner made one of two foul shots with 14.6 seconds left for a 63-61 lead. The Demons came down court, missed a shot, and Wallace corralled the rebound.
Wallace turned and, as he falling out of bounds, scored with five-tenths of a second left.
“I chased it down and looked at the clock,” he said. “I knew I had chance for one or two dribbles, so I shot it and fell.”
The Demons (26-7) will face West Virginia in the second round of the Atlanta regional on Sunday.
West Virgina 64,
Southern Illinois 46
Auburn Hills, Mich. – Kevin Pittsnogle scored 18 to lead the sixth-seeded Mountaineers to an easy victory over 11th-seeded Southern Illinois.
West Virginia (21-10) staggered into the tournament having lost five of its last seven games, but looked nothing like the sluggish team that got bounced by Pitt in the first round of the Big East tournament last week.
Jamaal Tatum and Matt Shaw each scored 12 for Southern Illinois (22-11).
N.C. State 58, California 52
Dallas – The 10th-seeded Wolfpack snapped a four-game losing streak thanks to Cameron Bennerman.
First, he made a tough 15-footer off the right side of the foul line, then faked a defender to get an open three-pointer with 32.3 seconds left as N.C. State (22-9) avenged a first-round tourney loss to the Golden Bears three years ago.
Leon Powe wasn’t able to bail out seventh-seeded Cal (20-11). He made only 5-of-13 shots, including only one in the second half.
