By Wayne Sterling, CNN
(CNN) — Alabama State kicked off the 2025 edition of March Madness with a thrilling 70-68 win over Saint Francis (PA) in the First Four of the men’s basketball tournament Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio.
With the game tied at 68-68 and 3.4 seconds remaining in regulation, Alabama State junior guard Micah Simpson threw a long full-court inbound pass from under St. Francis’ basket that would eventually end up in the hands of sophomore guard Amarr Knox, who made the go-ahead layup with 0.7 seconds left at the UD Arena.
It was the Hornets first-ever tournament victory.
“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 lay-up,” Knox told reporters. “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.”
Senior guard TJ Madlock added: “At the end of the day, it’s about who wants it, and I know he obviously showed he wanted it a little bit more tonight.”
The No. 16 seeded Hornets will next face the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed in the 68-team field, the University of Auburn Tigers, on Thursday in Lexington, Kentucky, in the round of 64.
Alabama State head coach Tony Madlock said he doesn’t know how long the Hornets can savor the win before realizing Auburn is next. But the team will definitely enjoy the victory Tuesday night.
“We’re going to have this bus ride, I guess a couple hours down the road to play in Lexington at Rupp Arena. ‘How can you beat that?,’ he said. “‘How can you beat that for a school in the SWAC that has a lot of great tradition for us to go play at Rupp Arena?’ Nothing like it. We can’t wait.”
North Carolina makes dominant statement
The North Carolina Tar Heels silenced critics who believed the school shouldn’t have made the Big Dance based on a lackluster resume — for at least one night.
North Carolina overpowered the San Diego State Aztecs 95-68 in Dayton, Ohio. The No. 11 seeded Tar Heels will next play No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels on Friday in Milwaukee.
UNC senior guard RJ Davis led the way with 26 points on 8-for-12 shooting, including 6-for-6 from three-point range. North Carolina shot 52.6 percent from the field, 58.3 from three and 87.5 from the free throw line. The Tar Heels led by as many as 40 points.
After the convincing victory, the Tar Heels were asked if they sent an unmistakable message about the school deserving to be in the tournament.
“We know we deserve to be here. We’re not looking to send a message to anybody else,” Tar Heels junior guard Seth Trimble said in the postgame news conference. “We’re just looking to compete as a team and be the team that we know that we are capable of being and I think we did that tonight.
“We’re going to do that when we get to Milwaukee and go from there. We hear what people say. We don’t really care about it. It is what it is. We’re focused on us.”
Davis added: “One thing about us, yes, we hear the noise but we don’t really pay any attention to it. We stay within ourselves. … We’re just focused on what we have to do, not really paying too much attention to what’s being said about us and whatnot. Just our preparation leading up to the games.”
North Carolina earned its first First Four win in school history. The Tar Heels all-time tournament record is 134-50.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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