University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Coach George Ivory now has an NCAA Tournament victory to add to his Golden Lions resume.DAYTON, Ohio — Smiling Arkansas-Pine Bluff players plopped into the black folding chairs at courtside and checked their cell phones for congratulatory messages before heading out the arena door to get on yet another bus. Finally, the Golden Lions had found a road trip to their liking. Allen Smith scored 14 points Tuesday night, including a pair of 3-pointers during the Golden Lions' second-half surge to a 61-44 victory over Winthrop in the NCAA tournament's opening game.
The Golden Lions (18-15) will play Duke, the No. 1 seed in the South Regional, on Friday in Jacksonville, Fla. — a place they somehow missed during a season-opening jaunt that nearly did them in. "It seems like we play better on the road than we do at home because we're so used to being on the road," said center Lebaron Weathers."
Pine Bluff pumped to move on in NCAA
Excerpt: Against a lot of odds — their top scorer, Terrence Calvin, was on the bench most of the second half with four fouls, their well-muscled 6-foot-7 forward Tyree Glass was there, too, with an injury — Pine Bluff still pushed aside Winthrop 61-44 Tuesday night, March 16, in front of 8,205 in the NCAA tournament’s opening-round game at UD Arena. On Friday, it plays Duke, the No. 1 seed in the South Regional, in Jacksonville, Fla. It may seem a stretch to paint a David-versus-Goliath script for the opening-round game, but Winthrop has been to the NCAA tournament nine times and in 2007 knocked out Notre Dame.
This was Pine Bluff’s first trip ever to the tournament and everything was new to it. The Golden Lions played the entire first half without the NCAA tournament stickers affixed to their jerseys, which is protocol. They didn’t know. If Pine Bluff is just learning to dress for the Big Dance, it didn’t know the rigors of the road. Using a strategy the opposite of the Dayton Flyers, the Golden Lions played their entire nonconference schedule on the road against teams like Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech, Missouri, Kansas State and Oregon.
NCAA photos
UD Arena gets new court for NCAA events
The NCAA has been sending supplies to the University of Dayton to make sure UD Arena would be amply stocked for the men’s and women’s basketball events being held there this month. “We’ve been getting NCAA (drinking) cups, basketballs, ball racks and coolers so the NCAA 'brand’ is prevalent,” said Tim O’Connell, UD Arena manager. “It’s like Christmas around here. We don’t have room for all the boxes.”
The biggest shipment of all, though, had to be transported by an 18-wheeler. The NCAA decided this year that all host venues for every round of the men’s tournament will have identical courts, and UD received a floor and methodically assembled it Sunday, March 14, after removing the arena’s portable court. The baskets at both ends were part of the delivery, too. The equipment will stay in place through the NCAA women’s regional final March 30.
Golden Lions win first NCAA Tournament game in program history
DAYTON, Ohio -- George Ivory remained calm and the attitude of his Arkansas-Pine Bluff players remained focused. But through the final 10-minute stretch of the second half, as each second ticked away and UAPB came closer to its first ever win in the NCAA Tournament, the realization took over each of them at different moments. Guard Terrance Calvin said he knew at halftime, guard Allen Smith said he knew with about 90 seconds left and forward Tyree Glass knew as soon as he hobbled out of the locker room to watch the final seconds roll off the clock. What he came out to see was the finishing touches put on UAPB's 61-44 win over Winthrop in the opening-round game Tuesday at University of Dayton Arena.
It was the first NCAA Tournament win for a team from the Southwestern Athletic Conference in 17 years and it makes UAPB the No. 16 seed in the South Regional, setting up a Friday matchup with No. 1 seed Duke in Jacksonville, Fla. "We were just flowing too good for us to lose," said Glass, who scored 10 points. Glass had gone down with 12 minutes left when he slammed his knee to the floor while driving to the basket. At that point, UAPB (18-15) was already without one starter. Calvin had picked up his fourth foul with 13:18 left and spent more than 10 minutes on the bench.
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