March 18 (UPI) — The fourth-seeded Illinois Fighting Illini escaped with a 54-53 win over the 13th-seeded Chattanooga Mocs on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Big Ten co-champion Illini (23-9) never held a lead until the final minute and avoided an upset loss when Chattanooga star Malachi Smith missed two shots in the closing seconds. Smith’s runner in the lane was swatted away by Illinois’ Coleman Hawkins, and his pull-up jumper just before the clock expired bounced off the rim.
By surviving against the Mocs, the Illini will play either No. 5 seed Houston or 12th-seeded UAB on Sunday in a South Region second-round matchup.
All-American center Kofi Cockburn notched 17 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks for Illinois. His putback pushed the Illini ahead 52-51 with under 48 seconds remaining in the game.
Smith, the Southern Conference Player of the Year, answered with two made free throws to put the Mocs back in front.
Illinois guard Alfonso Plummer, who sank three 3-pointers to help Illinois crawl back from an 11-point second-half deficit, then drew a foul and knocked down the go-ahead free throws with 12 seconds to go.
Chattanooga declined to call a timeout, and the ball ended up in Smith’s hands twice. Unlike the Mocs’ thriller in the Southern Conference Tournament final — which ended with a game-winning 30-footer by David Jean-Baptiste — there was no last-second heroics.
Chattanooga (27-8) was attempting to win its first game in the NCAA men’s tournament since 1997, when it was a No. 14 seed and eliminated Illinois on its way to the Sweet 16.
Plummer finished with 15 points on 5 of 12 shooting for the Illini, while Hawkins had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Smith ended with 12 points and eight rebounds for Chattanooga, and Darius Banks had 8 points and 13 rebounds.
In other action from the final day of the first round, top-seeded Arizona and No. 2 seeds Villanova, Auburn and Duke cruised to decisive victories.
No. 3 seeds Texas Tech and Purdue also earned blowout wins over Montana State and Yale, respectively. No. 6 Texas defeated No. 11 Virginia Tech 81-73, while No. 7 Ohio State beat No. 10 Loyola Chicago 54-41.
No. 11 Iowa State, No. 10 Miami and No. 11 Notre Dame each picked up wins over lower-seeded teams. Iowa State knocked off LSU 59-54, Miami edged USC 68-66, and Notre Dame defeated Alabama 78-64.
