DAYTON, Ohio — Amarr Knox grabbed a loose ball on a length-of-the-court heave and put in the game-winning layup with one second remaining to lift Alabama State to a thrilling 70-68 win over Saint Francis on Tuesday night in the First Four.
Knox scored a team-high 16 points and TJ Madlock, son of head coach Tony Madlock, finished with 11 points and seven rebounds for Alabama State (20-15). The Hornets grabbed the No. 16 seed in the South Region and advanced to play Auburn, the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, on Thursday in Lexington, Ky.
Knox said of the decisive play, “We wanted to throw the ball long, and we put our tallest, athletic person to go get the ball. And fortunately everybody tipped the ball, and it landed to me, and I got the rebound and made the layup.
“Couldn’t have done it without my whole team. We instituted a play that we practice on all day in practice, our game plan, and it worked.”
Tony Madlock added, “All of our games end just like this, either we have to get a bucket or we have to get a stop. Fortunately enough, we were able to get a bucket to finish the game off.
“So proud of these guys. We did not play very well. We’ve got to give Saint Francis a lot of credit, but we did not play well. But we talk about finding a way, finding a way, and we got the W and that’s the only thing that matters.”
Saint Francis’ Daemar Kelly fouled Madlock on a scramble for the ball near the far sideline with 11.8 seconds remaining and the score 68-68. Madlock missed the front end of the 1-and-1 free-throw opportunity.
The miss led to a frantic scene at midcourt as Saint Francis clambered to get the ball downcourt for a chance to win the game in regulation. However, Juan Cranford Jr. dribbled the ball out of bounds and Alabama State had one more chance to win the game. Micah Simpson (nine points) made the football-style pass from the Hornets’ baseline.
TJ Madlock said of Simpson making the pass, “We go over a lot of situational stuff in practice, so he’s the one throwing it in practice every single day. He’s used to that pass. He was ready for the moment, and we executed perfectly.”
Cranford, a Dayton native, led Saint Francis (16-18) with 18 points and eight rebounds. Valentino Pinedo added 17 points and Riley Parker had 12.
The game was filled with many frenetic moments in the final three minutes.
Knox hit an acrobatic floating runner while falling out of bounds to break a 62-62 tie and give the Alabama State the lead with 2:07 remaining.
Saint Francis appeared to be on its way to its first-ever NCAA Tournament win, building a nine-point first-half lead before Alabama State rallied in the second half.
Cranford scored 13 points in the first half, helping the Red Flash to a 39-34 halftime lead.
The Red Flash shot a torrid 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from the floor in the first half while the Hornets made just 14 of their 33 attempts (42.4 percent).
Saint Francis saw its season end the way it began, losing on the same University of Dayton Arena court where the season opened with an 87-57 loss to Dayton on Nov. 4.
–Mike Petraglia, Field Level Media
