UNC-Asheville defeats UAR-Little Rock in OT Thriller as Clemson Cruises Past UAB

The NCAA Tournament kicked off last night with two games that perfectly embodied the first round action of previous tournaments. One game was a tight overtime thriller, the other saw a clearly better team cruise to victory.

The first game was between UNC-Asheville and Arkansas-Little Rock. It was for a 16 seed and the chance to face number one seeded Pittsburgh on Thursday, but the game was spectacular. Though close UNC-A spent much of the game trying to catch AR-LR. Matt Dickey of UNC-A scored 14 of the teams last 18 points in regulation and tied the game with a 3 points shot with 10.5 seconds until the buzzer.

In overtime UNC-A was helped by the fact that AR-LR's best player, Solomon Bozeman, fouled out with under a minute left in regulation. There were five lead changes in the extra period, but UNC-A went up 78-77 on two free throws by J.P. Primm and never relented. The game ended 81-77 and sends Asheville to Washington, D.C. for the next round.

The second game was a less exciting contest between Clemson and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Clemson got out to an early lead over UAB and never looked back. The halftime score was 39-27 and the Blazers never pulled closer than eight in the second half. Clemson won the game 70-52 and will play West Virginia in Tampa, Florida on Thursday.