SOUTH REGION
Marquette Survives Crawford's Binge
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Friday, March 21, 2008
ANAHEIM, Calif., March 20 -- After first-round flameouts in their last two NCAA tournaments, the Marquette Golden Eagles vowed to stick around this time.
They're headed to the second round after defeating Kentucky, 74-66, in the South Region opening round on Thursday.
Jerel McNeal scored 20 points and Wesley Matthews hit eight free throws in the final 31 seconds to help the Golden Eagles survive a 35-point performance by Kentucky's Joe Crawford, who matched a career high before fouling out. Sixth-seeded Marquette will face No. 3 seed Stanford on Saturday.
Marquette (25-9) earned its first NCAA tournament victory since 2003, when it beat Kentucky in a region final.
Crawford, a senior, was disheartened to see his college career end in defeat.
"I came here to win," said Crawford, who hit 13 of 22 shots from the field, including 5 of 8 from three-point range. "So I'm just kind of sad right now because, you know, I feel like we had a good chance."
For Kentucky (18-13), the loss caps an uneven season. The Wildcats overcame a 7-9 start, including a loss to Gardner-Webb, and won 11 of their last 14 to slip into the bracket.
Ramel Bradley, another senior, added 19 for the Wildcats, whose 49 NCAA tournament appearances are the most of any school. Playing a combined 79 minutes, Crawford and Bradley scored 54 of Kentucky's 66 points. Only one other Wildcat -- Perry Stevenson -- made a field goal.
The Wildcats and Golden Eagles met for the 10th time in the NCAA tournament's most-played matchup. Marquette is 6-4 in the series.
The Wildcats played without leading rebounder and No. 2 scorer Patrick Patterson, a freshman whose season ended last month because of an ankle injury.
Kentucky cut it to 66-63 on Crawford's three-pointer from the top of the key with 38 seconds left.
After Matthews hit two free throws, Bradley hit a three-pointer from the corner to get the Wildcats within two with 22 seconds remaining.
Matthews made two more free throws, then stole the ball and hit two more from the line to ice the game.
"It was just a matter of going up there and making them," said Matthews, a career 77.6 percent shooter from the line.
¿ STANFORD 77, CORNELL 53: Kenny Brown scored 18 points and the third-seeded Cardinal earned its first NCAA tournament win since 2004.
Stanford (27-7), which lost opening games the last two years, outscored the Big Red 43-11 during a stretch bridging both halves for a 58-23 lead.
Robin Lopez added 14 points for Stanford, which shot 55 percent and enjoyed a 44-16 scoring advantage in the paint.
Cornell (22-6) had its 16-game winning streak snapped and never looked like the team that averaged 77.1 points during a 14-0 run through the Ivy League.
Lewis Dale, the Ivy League player of the year, scored 12 points for the 14th-seeded Big Red.
The Cardinal dominated on the boards, with a 47-25 rebounding advantage.
