The madness has arrived: Alabama State wins opening game of tourney on last-second shot

Amarr Knox’s layup with a second left lifted Alabama State to its first NCAA Tournament win Tuesday night, 70-68 over Saint Francis (PA) in a matchup of No. 16 seeds at the First Four.

Knox scored 16 points to help the Hornets (20-15) earn a date with No. 1 overall seed Auburn on Thursday in a South Region game at Lexington, Kentucky.

“You just said it: March Madness,” said Alabama State coach Tony Madlock. “I think I’ve talked about this with all of the media, that all of our games end just like this, either we have to get a bucket or we have to get a stop. Fortunately enough we were able to get a bucket to finish this game off.”

After forcing a turnover in the final seconds, Alabama State had the ball out of bounds under its own basket. With the score tied, Micah Simpson threw a long pass nearly the length of the court toward a scrum of players in the lane at the other end — not unlike a Hail Mary in football.

The ball deflected off a teammate and right into Knox’s hands near the rim, giving him a simple layup for the winning points.

“We put our tallest athletic person to go get the ball,” Knox said. “And fortunately everybody tipped the ball, and it landed to me, and I got the rebound and made the layup.”

Saint Francis chose not to pressure Simpson on the inbounds pass.

Officials determined there was 1 second remaining after Knox’s layup, but a desperation heave by the Red Flash fell short.

Saint Francis, which lost its season opener at Dayton, made an unlikely return to the arena as the 19th team to enter the NCAA Tournament with a losing record. Those teams are now 0-19.

“These guys for 34 games left it all out on the court for us,” coach Rob Krimmel said. “I know that they’re disappointed. That’s the thing that I love about them. They’re champions, and nothing can take that away from our group.”

Alabama State is making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance.

Micah Octave’s steal and dunk put the Hornets ahead by four with 1:36 left, but the Red Flash tied the score at 68 on Chris Moncrief’s 3-pointer with 40 seconds remaining.

Juan Cranford Jr., playing in his hometown, led Saint Francis with 18 points. Valentino Pinedo scored 17 for the Red Flash (16-18), who squandered a nine-point lead.

Saint Francis shot 59% and went 6 of 12 from 3-point range to take a 39-34 lead into halftime.

“We’ve been in that moment, that situation, a few times this year, and we knew we just had to come out and play ball,” Knox said. “We stayed positive. We knew as soon as the next half started that we would come out, fly around, play aggressive and just do whatever it takes to win the game.”

The Red Flash committed 15 turnovers, leading to 26 points for the Hornets.

“We turned the ball over too many times,” Cranford said. “We turned the ball over that many times, you can’t expect to come out with a good outcome.”

Following a missed shot by Knox down the stretch, TJ Madlock was fouled scrambling for the rebound. He missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but Saint Francis committed a turnover at the other end, setting up the dramatic finish.

Up next: Auburn.

“I’ll figure that all out tonight,” Tony Madlock said. “We’re going to enjoy this tonight. 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?”

Things didn’t start out so well for Saint Francis. During player introductions, the officials asked several Red Flash players to remove their black undershirts. By rule, undershirts must be the same color as the jersey. Saint Francis wore red.

Alabama State didn’t attempt a free throw until there was 5:09 remaining. The Hornets went 1 of 4 from the line.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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