Saturday night was not a night to be coming off a bye, or to be from the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Ithaca went down at home 77-71 to DeSales, as Darnell Braswell scored 27 and had 13 rebounds. Photo gallery.
Minutes later Stace Garrick hit two long three-pointers in the final 37 seconds to lift Bridgewater State past Middlebury 78-76. The Panthers hit just 11 of 26 free throws in the loss. Saturday's men's scores. For women's coverage, scroll down.
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The teams that played that Thursday night game got two big upsets on Saturday. Trinity (Texas) wasn't able to join them, however, as No. 22 UT-Dallas won at No. 17 Trinity 70-54. Whitworth fell as well, 84-72 at bye team Puget Sound as Jason Foster scored 27 points, including 15-for-16 free-throw shooting.
The Bracket of Death claimed all three WIAC teams, but not without three battles. Top-ranked St. Thomas ended No. 4 UW-Stevens Point's season 53-50 (Photo gallery), No. 3 Wheaton (Ill.) edged No. 5 UW-Platteville 74-69 in overtime and No. 2 Washington U. beat No. 8 UW-Whitewater 73-70.
Both OAC teams advanced to the Sweet 16, on the back of last-second shots. Chris Zajac drilled a 19-footer with less than one second left 76-74, while Capital got a one-handed bank shot on a runner from sophomore D.J. Frazier to survive Wooster, 72-70. They'll face Guilford and Texas-Dallas, respectively.
Franklin and Marshall advanced to the Sweet 16, holding off Brandeis, which closed the game on an 11-1 run but needed 13, falling 65-63. The Diplomats will play short-handed Salem State, which joined its MASCAC rival Bridgewater State in the Sweet 16 by edging Widener 69-67. Salem State used just seven players this weekend after a handful of players were injured in a car accident. Photo gallery. Jimmy Bartolotta and Damien Santana combined for the game's first 18 points, but it was Santana's Farmingdale State team that came out on top, beating MIT 67-61.