National Basketball Association
No.Carolina A&T 73, Liberty 72
When: 6:40 PM ET, Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Where: University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio
Officials:
# Tony Crisp, # Mike Eades, # Les Jones
Attendance:
N/A
By SportsDirect Inc.
North Carolina A&T 73, Liberty 72: Jeremy Underwood came off the bench to score 19 points and the Aggies held off a late rally for their first NCAA Tournament victory in the first round of the Midwest Regional at Dayton, Ohio.
Bruce Beckford contributed 16 points and nine rebounds for North Carolina A&T (20-16), which survived as John Caleb Sanders missed an off-balance layup in the final seconds. Lamont Middleton added 14 points for the Aggies, who play top-seeded Louisville in Thursday's second round at Lexington, Ky.
Davon Marshall scored 22 points and Sanders had 21 for Liberty (15-21), which had its five-game win streak snapped. Tavares Speaks chipped in with 17 points, including a basket with 11.1 seconds left to pull the Flames within one.
The Aggies trailed by seven early before Beckford’s 12 points and the team’s 5-of-10 shooting from 3-point range helped them build a 40-33 lead at intermission. Marshall and Sanders each drained three 3-pointers to keep Liberty in striking distance during the opening 20 minutes.
Liberty, the second team to come into the tournament with 20 losses, trimmed a 10-point deficit to 73-70 on Marshall’s sixth 3-pointer with 1:30 left. After Speaks’ basket, Middleton missed the front end of a one-and-one with seven seconds to go which allowed Sanders to get a last chance.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Underwood was 6-of-6 shooting for North Carolina A&T, which was making its first appearance in the NCAAs since 1995 and is 1-9 overall. … Marshall broke the single-season record for 3-pointers at Liberty with 107, passing Seth Curry’s 102 in 2008-09 before he transferred to Duke. … Sanders became the 23rd player to score 1,000 career points at Liberty, joining his older brother Jesse.
Top Game Performances
| Liberty |
|
No.Carolina A&T |
|
Davon Marshall 22 |
Scoring |
Jeremy Underwood 19 |
|
John Caleb Sanders 9 |
Assists |
Adrian Powell 5 |
|
JR Coronado 7 |
Rebounds |
Bruce Beckford 9 |
|
Tavares Speaks 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Jeremy Underwood 5 |
|
Tavares Speaks 3 |
Steals |
Adrian Powell 3 |
|
Andrew Smith 2 |
Blocks |
Austin Witter 4 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Liberty
|
72 |
42.6 |
10-23 |
16-18 |
15 |
29 |
3 |
4 |
10 |
| No.Carolina A&T
|
73 |
51.9 |
8-18 |
11-19 |
10 |
32 |
4 |
6 |
8 |