NEW YORK (AP) — Alijah Martin, Vlad Goldin and ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic became the first and lowest seed to reach this year’s Final Four when the Owls withstood another great game from Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell to beat Wildcats 79-76. Saturday night.
FAU (35-3), making just its second NCAA Tournament appearance, won the East Region at Madison Square Garden and will head to Houston to play the winner of Sunday’s South Region final between Creighton and San Diego State.
“I hope the forecasters pick us fifth in the Final Four,” FAU fifth-year coach Dusty May said.
The winningest team in Division I this season had never won an NCAA Tournament game before stealing four in a row, all by single digits, to become the first No. 9 seed to reach the Final Four since Wichita State. in 2013 and the third to do so. much since planting began in 1979.
Nowell, the 5-foot-8 native New Yorker, was incredible again at Madison Square Garden, with 30 points, 12 assists and five steals, following a Sweet 16 game in which he set the NCAA Tournament record with 19 assists. . He didn’t get enough help this time.
Nae’Qwan Tomlin was the only other player in double figures for Kansas State (26-10) with 14 points. Keyontae Johnson, the Wildcats’ leading scorer, fouled out with nine points.
Martin scored 17 points, including a huge 3 down the stretch, the 7-foot-1 Goldin had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Michael Forrest made four crucial free throws in the final 20 seconds for the Owls, who held firm as the Wildcats. he made a late push.
Cam Carter made a 3-pointer off the wing with 22.8 seconds to cut FAU’s lead to 75-74 and Kansas State fouled Forrest to the line with 17.9 seconds remaining. The senior did both to make it a three point game.
Nowell found Tomlin inside for a layup with 8.6 remaining to cut the lead to one again, and again K-State sent Forrest to the line. With 6.9 remaining, he did both.
With no timeouts remaining, Nowell ran down the court, handed the ball to Ismael Massoud outside the 3-point line, and never got it back. FAU’s Johnell Davis slipped it and time ran out.
The Owls ran onto the floor to celebrate a historic moment for the school. FAU didn’t even have a basketball program until the late 1980s and has only been a Division I school for the past 30 years.
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