DAYTON, Ohio — Arkansas-Pine Bluff finally found a road trip to its liking.
Allen Smith scored 14 points Tuesday night, including a pair of 3-pointers during the Golden Lions’ second-half surge to a 61-44 victory over Winthrop in the NCAA tournament’s opening game.
The Golden Lions (18-15) will play Duke, the No. 1 seed in the South Regional, on Friday in Jacksonville, Fla. — a place they somehow missed during a season-opening jaunt that nearly did them in. They spent the first two months playing some of the country’s best teams on the road, going everywhere and getting nowhere.
They dropped their first 11 games, losing at schools such as Texas-El Paso, Michigan, Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech, Missouri, Kansas State and Oregon. They cranked up their iPods and let their music soothe them during 13-hour bus rides across the heartland, ones that bonded them.
The basketball equivalent of boot camp hardened them for a Southwestern Athletic Conference season that would be much more kind. By the time their tournament rolled around, the Golden Lions were only one game under .500, nearly out of that 11-loss hole.
They swept through the conference tournament to get to Dayton. Their next destination is with history — a chance to pull off the unprecedented first-round upset of a No. 1 team.
Coach George Ivory knows a little bit about that. He was a star at Mississippi Valley State, which kept up with No. 1 Duke in 1986 before falling 85-78.
The fast exit was familiar for Winthrop (19-14), which has made the tournament nine times in the last 12 years but has only one victory in all those tries.
Winthrop got the type of game it wanted, but couldn’t make a shot as another tournament slipped away. Charles Corbin scored 13 points for the Eagles, who shot 29 percent from the field and went 2 of 21 behind the 3-point arc.
Neither team shoots particularly well — no player averages more than 10 points for either one. Instead, they win with tight defense and rebounding.
These mirror-image teams settled in to slog one out on the NCAA’s big stage.
Midway through the first half, there were as many shots blocked as made. Bored fans started doing the wave. Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s Tavaris Washington missed two dunk attempts. Both teams shot under 30 percent from the field in the first half, which ended with the Golden Lions up 24-23.
Ugly? Not to these two.
Corbin was the only shooter with any semblance of a touch, making his three attempts in the first half. His 3-pointer started a 13-2 run that gave Winthrop a 23-17 lead. The Golden Lions caught up by drawing fouls and making free throws.
Smith hit a pair of 3s — a rarity in this game — as Arkansas-Pine Bluff pushed its lead to 38-31. Smith held up his right hand in the “OK” sign — three fingers extended — after connecting from the left corner and the top of the key.
Things were anything but OK for Winthrop when the Golden Lions’ Terrell Kennedy, a bulky front-line player, swished only his second 3-pointer of the season to beat the shot clock, helping Arkansas-Pine Bluff pull ahead by double digits. Winthrop would never get the lead closer than nine the rest of the way.
Smith put the final touch on it, hitting another 3 and giving his “OK” sign with 16.3 seconds to go.
College Sports
Pine Bluff wins NCAA opener
- College Sports
-
-
AU men lose, but still clinch spot in HCAC tourney
The Anderson University men’s basketball team lost to Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference rival Manchester College 81-71 on Wednesday night at Stauffer-Wolfe Arena in North Manchester.
-
Hoosiers hold off ’Cats
Tom Crean’s first 20-win season at Indiana came with some fitting benchmarks.
A freshman credited with turning the program around led the way again. An injured senior who survived a six-win season closed it out. And, of course, the Hoosiers had to scrap for another 40 minutes to pull off the win -
Wiles’ heart leads her to Hoosiers
Meghan Wiles took some time to explore her options, but she always kind of knew where she would end up.
She’s an IU girl.
Wiles, a Pendleton Heights senior, signed to play soccer at Indiana University on Feb. 1, the NCAA’s National Signing Day. Her parents, Tom and Mandy, both attended IU. -
Boilers get back on track with win
Robbie Hummel scored a season-high 27 points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds Sunday as Purdue snapped Northwestern’s three-game winning streak with an 87-77 victory.
-
W. Virginia women upset No. 2 Irish
Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said her team had it coming to them. “I thought we’ve been building up to this game now for a couple of weeks,” she said. “We just haven’t played well for a long time.” The second-ranked Irish almost played well enough Sunday, but West Virginia ended their 21-game winning streak with a 65-63 victory.
-
Prahalis lifts No. 10 OSU women past No. 16 Purdue
Samantha Prahalis, the only senior on Ohio State’s roster, has been through a lot of battles on the court. So it figured that when the No. 10 Buckeyes were badly in need of a bucket on Sunday against No. 16 Purdue, it was their most experienced player who supplied a dagger of a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left to pave the way to an 80-71 victory.
-
Ravens soar past Grizzlies
The Anderson University men’s basketball team has been in tournament mode for the past three weeks.
But the Ravens took a big step toward the actual postseason Saturday afternoon with a 79-65 victory against Franklin in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play. -
AU women fall to HCAC leaders
The Anderson University women’s basketball team lost to Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference leader Franklin College 68-43 on Saturday at O.C. Lewis Gymnasium on Senior Day.
-
No. 23 Hoosiers hurry past Illinois 84-71
Illinois played like a desperate team Thursday night. That didn’t matter to Indiana. Cody Zeller scored 22 points and Victor Oladipo and Christian Watford each had 18, igniting No. 23 Indiana’s late charge to get past the Fighting Illini 84-71.
-
Boilers honor Lewis at halftime against IU
Purdue basketball fans took time out Saturday in the middle of a heated rivalry game with Indiana to honor Anderson High School graduate Troy Lewis, whose No. 23 jersey hangs from the rafters at Mackey Arena.
- More College Sports Headlines
-
