DAYTON, Ohio -- A senior's career night let Niagara make the
best of an unwanted situation.
Clif Brown made a career-high six 3-pointers, part of a 32-point
performance Tuesday night during a 77-69 victory over Florida A&M
that opened the NCAA tournament and got Niagara reconsidering its
feelings about the play-in game.
"It's fun," said Brown, who scored 24 in the second half.
"I'm loving it.
Winning will do that.
The Purple Eagles (23-11) were stunned and bewildered when they
got sent to Dayton instead of directly into the first round of the
tournament. The Metro Atlantic champions thought they deserved
better.
Niagara got its first NCAA tournament win in 37 years and its
hoped-for chance to pull off an all-time upset. The Purple Eagles
head to Chicago for a game against Kansas, the top seed in the West
Regional.
"We just look for the next task, keep moving, keep making
history," forward J.R. Duffey said.
By contrast, Florida A&M (21-14) went home with a very bad taste
from its very brief tournament stay.
In the week leading up to selection Sunday, coach Mike Gillespie
lobbied for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champs to avoid the
play-in game. He spoke from experience: Florida A&M also played in
Dayton four years ago, beating Lehigh in the play-in before losing
to Kentucky by 20 points.
This time, the Rattlers were playing their fourth game in seven
days, while Niagara had a week off after winning its conference
tournament.
"We haven't had a chance to savor winning the MEAC tournament,
and now we're feeling about as low as we can feel," Gillespie
said. "We earned the right to be a Cinderella. We won three games
(in the conference tournament), three grueling games. We deserve
the right, even as a No. 16 seed. Let us be Cinderella. Let us wear
the slipper for at least one game."
The Rattlers didn't bring a pep band or cheerleaders to the
play-in. They didn't have a clue about how to stop Brown, either.
"His range surprised us," Gillespie said. "He made some tough
shots and clearly was the difference in the game."
The senior forward with the soft touch became indispensable in
the second half, when leading Niagara scorer Charron Fisher (21
points per game) picked up his third foul early and then his fourth
with 9:01 to go. Brown asserted himself, making the big shot every
time Florida A&M would score a couple of baskets and get a
double-digit deficit down to six points.
"Our team never knows who's going to be the guy," said Brown,
who finished 10-of-18 from the field and 6-of-11 from behind the
arc. "I hit a few shots in the first half and I was still feeling
pretty good, so I took a few more and it turned out good."
At the start of the season, Niagara was known more for what was
going on in the courts than on the court. Fisher was suspended by
the school for the first eight games for his role in attacking a
pitcher on the Niagara baseball team outside a bar.
Five other Niagara basketball players served suspensions ranging
from one to two games. The Purple Eagles started 1-6 and had the
look of a team in trouble.
"We never lost hope," coach Joe Mihalich said. "We truly
believed we could be the best team in our league and go to the NCAA
tournament if we kept our heads together, and we did."
The Rattlers are going to need some time to get this one out of
their heads. They went 4-of-17 from behind the arc and a stunning
7-of-18 from the free throw line. At one point in the second half,
Florida A&M missed six of its seven free throws during a 43-second
span.
And the Rattlers couldn't shake the feeling they shouldn't have
been there anyway.
"Let the last two at-large teams come to this game," Gillespie
said. "We won our tournament. We didn't finish second or third. We
didn't lose in the first round. All the games we won, the
tournament we won, and we still had to come here."