Isaac Mushila had 15 points and 12 rebounds as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi held off Southeast Missouri State 75-71 on Tuesday night to earn the first NCAA Tournament win in program history.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi went 4 of 4 at the free-throw line in the final 15 seconds to ice the game and help the Islanders advance to play top-seeded Alabama in the South Region.
The 16th-seeded Islanders (24-10), winners of the Southland Conference, returned to the First Four for a second straight season and led for all but 23 seconds.
Southeast Missouri State (19-17) erased a 10-point deficit and tied it at 64 when Chris Harris made both free throws with 3:07 left.
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Trevian Tennyson scooped in a layup off the glass to give Texas A&M-Corpus Christi a 72-69 lead with 22 seconds left, but Phillip Russell drove for a layup on the other end to bring the Redhawks within one.
Jalen Jackson made two foul shots with 14 seconds remaining to extend the lead to 74-71, and Russell came up short on a good look at a 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds to go.
Mushila grabbed the rebound and sank one of two free throws for the final margin.
Jackson led the Islanders with 22 points, going 14 of 18 at the free-throw line. Ross Williams added 13 points, Tennyson scored 12 and De’Lazarus Keys pulled down 10 rebounds.
Former Celtics assistant Damon Stoudamire overcome by emotion as he takes over at Georgia Tech
Damon Stoudamire managed to get one word out — “Wow!” — before he was overcome with emotion.
The longtime NBA guard is thrilled to be back in the college game, heading a men’s basketball program that he thinks can once again be a national powerhouse.
Then again, Stoudamire is not the first coach at Georgia Tech to express such optimism.
Stoudamire was formally introduced as the Yellow Jackets’ coach, capping a whirlwind search that took only three days after Josh Pastner was fired following another losing season.
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“This has been a long journey for me,” Stoudamire said, choking back tears. “I’m excited beyond belief to be here.”
Stoudamire’s only previous head coaching experience came at Pacific, a West Coast Conference school where he posted a 71-77 record over a five-year tenure. He never reached the postseason but was selected as the league’s coach of the year in 2020.
Stoudamire has been a Boston Celtics assistant since 2021, working with a team that reached last year’s NBA Finals and is among the top championship contenders this season.
He couldn’t pass up the chance to coach at Georgia Tech, even though the Yellow Jackets haven’t been much of a factor on the national scene for nearly two decades.
Stoudamire vowed to change the trajectory.
“This is a tradition-rich program, and one that aspires to get back to winning championships,” he said. “We’re going to galvanize the community, the student body, and just get this thing going in the right direction.”
Edey, Jackson-Davis, Wilson headline AP All-America Team
Purdue’s Zach Edey and Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis have given the Big Ten Conference a third straight year with multiple first-team Associated Press All-America picks, while Kansas had a second straight first-teamer in Jalen Wilson.
The 7-foot-4, 305-pound Edey appeared on all 58 ballots as a first-team selection from AP Top 25 voters as the lone unanimous pick.
The selections of the Boilermakers’ Edey and the Hoosiers’ Jackson-Davis came a year after the Big Ten had three first-team picks. And it gave the league seven through the last three seasons; no other league has more than three.
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The Big Ten has had at least one first-teamer for five straight years and eight of the last nine.
Houston’s Marcus Sasser and Alabama’s Brandon Miller joined Edey and Wilson on the first team in representing each of the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 seeds.
Rhode Island native Kolek leads Marquette to No. 2 seed, Vermont matchup
Tyler Kolek’s fearlessness has been a hallmark of Marquette’s stunningly successful season.
The approach also helped Kolek develop from a mid-major prospect into the Big East player of the year who led Marquette to its first Big East outright regular-season title and tournament championship since joining the conference for the 2005-06 season. Now he wants to help Marquette get beyond the opening round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013.
Marquette (28-6) is the No. 2 seed in the East Region and faces Vermont (23-10) on Friday.
“I’ve just got to be a chip-on-my-shoulder kind of guy,” said Kolek, a two-time Globe All-Scholastic selection and two-time Independent School League MVP at the St. George’s School. “That’s where I feel like it comes from. Just being that underdog, that under-recruited guy, you’ve got to have some gumption to you.”
Marquette boasts one of the nation’s most efficient offenses because its starting lineup features two outstanding passers in Kolek and 6-foot-9 forward Oso Ighodaro. Kolek ranks among the top five Division 1 players in assists per game (7.7) and assist-turnover ratio (3.22).
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Kolek inherited those passing skills from his father, Kevin Kolek, who dished out 6 assists per game from 1984-88 while helping UMass Dartmouth earn three straight Division III NCAA Tournament appearances.
“He knows what the defense is going to do, and he can just read what’s going to happen two, three steps ahead,” teammate David Joplin said.