Today, Batavia’s Best traveled to the First Niagara Center to watch the second round of the NCAA tournament. A day full of great games set the stage for the next few weeks and it seems as if a tournament for the record books is upon us.
After arriving to a packed FNC lobby, an all-Ohio thriller between Ohio State and Dayton began the day.
After a late layup by OSU’s Aaron Craft put the Buckeyes up by 1 with just about 10 seconds remaining, Dayton called timeout to set up a final play.
Out of the timeout, the Flyers were able to get to the basket and finish, giving them the lead with just under 5 seconds remaining.
Craft received the OSU inbounds pass and drove the length of the floor, but came up empty on his shot attempt and Dayton won the game in dramatic fashion.
Next up, the game of the day, was a matchup between Syracuse and Western Michigan. First Niagara was filled to its capacity for this one as thousands of Orange fans filled the seats.
This was the most boring game of the day. Syracuse destroyed WM and move on to face Dayton on Saturday.
The first contest during the night session was another instant classic. UConn outlasted a physical St. Josephs team in a back-and-forth game that was intense for 40 minutes.
We were also surprised to see former Section V referee Jeff Anderson officiating the game.
St. Joes was ahead for much of the game. They were out rebounding the Huskies on both ends and were physically taking the game from their opponent.
However, Shabazz Napier seemed unwilling to let his team flame out in their first tournament game. The UConn point guard was dominant, especially in the final minutes.
The game ended up heading to overtime, and was eventually won by the Huskies. Their was a strong contingent of Hawks fans in attendance who were very supportive of their team and it was unfortunate to see them go home so early.
In the final game of the day, Villanova vs Milwaukee, we broke bread with ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, discussing the various upsets that occurred yesterday and the tournament’s outlook going forward. (Just kidding. He actually seemed like he would have paid me $100 just to get away from him.)
(Photo courtesy of Cameron P. McDonald)
All in all, it was a very successful and enjoyable day at the First Niagara Center. Despite how good of time it was, I couldn’t help but think, “It’s too bad Buffalo doesn’t have a pro team.”
But that’s an article for another day.
