The madness has been crazy with so much excitement this past weekend. It will take days to tell you about what all went down this weekend. From epic battles, triumphant comebacks and stellar performances from great teams—all battling to get to the final four for now.
Here are the top five moments that happen this weekend:
Coming in at number five, Syracuse vs. Dayton. We have to talk about it, Syracuse came out with a mission to make it to the next round. Starting the game with a 30 point lead in the half, meanwhile Dayton was trailing by two with 28 in the half. The good old Syracuse smelled the victory coming so they shot up to 40 points in the second with 40 in the second half and beat Dayton 70-51. To Dayton: Maybe next year.
At number four, let’s talk about the blue devils themselves, Duke. Duke had two stellar performance this weekend. With one they had to battle back and the other was a piece of cake. Duke first battled UNCW Seahawks, where UNCW came out with ‘pep in their step’ by having 43 points the first half. Later in the second half, it was Duke, the Devils took charge of the game. Getting 53 in the half winning 93-85. Duke went to face Yale, where they tried to beat them, but came back in half to win 71- 64.
Number 3: talk about a battle this weekend, it was a tough one with the fighting Irish. Notre Dame vs SFA Lumberjacks; these guys must still have the luck from this past St. Patrick’s Day. The battle began tough with the fighting Irish with 42 points in the half. In the second half, the teams were neck and neck—the pressure was on, fans were at a panic. Time was going down, Notre Dame got the ball—they shot missing the basket, but the Irish kept fighting until Rex Pflueger tapped in a rebound with 1.5 seconds left. Notre Dame survived 14-seeded Stephen F. Austin 76-75 on Sunday to reach the NCAA round of 16 for the second consecutive season.
Number 2 was a stellar performance by Wisconsin Badgers vs. Xavier Musketeers. Now the Musketeers were beating Badgers all through the game, the Musketeers had it in the bag. But something happened with 40 seconds left in the half…the Badgers went on a 6-0 run, where they tied the game and then the game changer player number 24, Bronson Koenig, hit the game winning a 3-point at the buzzer. 66-63.
Number one is one of the triumphant comebacks in history. Northern Iowa Panthers vs. Texas A&M Aggies. The Aggies were going strong throughout the whole game with 49 points in the second half. But the Panthers’ comeback sent the game into overtime. The Panthers gave a good fight, but the Aggies went harder. The Aggies went on a stunning 14-2 run in the final 35 seconds to send the game into overtime, then won it in double overtime with a 92-88 score.
De’Andre Stringer
Reporter