WKU and BYU rally for wins

Associated Press

DAYTON

Senior guard William Pugh crouched, bowed his head and put his right hand on the floor to steady his suddenly wobbly legs, trying to take it in.

How could Mississippi Valley State let a 16-point lead slip away in the final five minutes? Against a team that played like it was more suited to a loser’s bracket for 35 minutes?

The only team with a losing record in the NCAA tournament got it started with a classic March comeback on Tuesday night — in front of a presidential audience, no less. T.J. Price’s three-point play with 33 seconds to go completed Western Kentucky’s rally from a 16-point deficit for a 59-58 victory.

Just stunning all around.

“I thought this is a game we could have won, should have won,” MVSU coach Sean Woods said.

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron had front-row seats to see the tournament open with a ragged game that had an engrossing ending. He saw the longest of long shots somehow pull out another one.

The Hilltoppers (16-18) are the only squad in the 68-team field with a losing record. They played like it for most of the game, shooting only 30 percent and turning the ball over 28 times.

Western Kentucky moves on to play Kentucky — the top seed in the South Regional — on Thursday in Louisville, an all-Bluegrass game for the second round.

The Hilltoppers were the losers’ favorite in the bracket — the first team since Coppin State in 2009 to make it to the tournament with a losing record.

Burwell had a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds, shooting another 3 in front of Obama. It missed and Cor-J Cox had a putback at the buzzer that left the Delta Devils a point short.

BYU 78, IONA 72

Noah Hartsock scored 23 points, Brandon Davies added 18, and BYU rallied from a 25-point deficit.

The Cougars advance to play Marquette in the West Regional.

Scott Machado had15 points for Iona, which led 55-40 at halftime but quickly gave most of that lead back to BYU before the closing minutes of the game.