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Round of 128- Pod 5
Game of the Pod
#111 New Mexico vs. #18 Michigan St.
New Mexico came into this WIS tournament as the 12th ranked team in the nation, but needed a tiebreaker just to get second place in their group and get into the round of 128. They are looking to redeem themselves with a good performance in this one. Michigan St. ran through their group, their only loss in group play being a 5 point loss to Eastern Michigan, who also is in the round of 128.
The first half was sensational, featuring 15 lead changes in 20 minutes of action. Michigan St. got it stretch out to a 6 point lead with about a minute to go in the half, and led 29-26 at halftime. The second half looked like a runaway for the Spartans, as Keith Appling hit 2 free throws to give Michigan St. a 46-35 lead at about the 10 minute mark. Then New Mexico stepped up their defense. One man in particular did the damage: Jamal Fenton, who had 5 steals for the game and had 3 steals in a row on back to back to back Spartan possessions. Going into the last tv timeout, a Chad Adams three pointer gave New Mexico their first lead of the second half. But the last 3:30 of the game for New Mexico resembled how they played in group play, as they had 7 turnovers in that timeframe and were outscored 13-4. Michigan St. gets the win and New Mexico goes out with nary a whimper, just like they did in the actual 2013 NCAA tournament.
Final Score
#18 Michigan St.- 70
#111 New Mexico- 64
Other Pod Games
#2 Ohio St.- 76
#127 Cincinnati- 66
#66 Louisville- 57
#63 Baylor- 47
#31 Arizona St.- 73
#98 Harvard- 57
#95 LaSalle- 73
#34 Rutgers- 70
This would have been the game of the pod if not for the Michigan St.-New Mexico game.
#15 Indiana- 84
#114 St. Bonaventure- 67
#79 Villanova- 66
#50 Illinois- 57
#47 Colorado- 61
#82 USC- 52
Stars of the Pod
* Ramon Galloway from LaSalle had 12 points, 5 boards, and 5 assists in the win over Rutgers.
* Mouphtaou Yarou of from Villanova had a double double: 14 points, 12 boards and made all 8 of his free throws in the win over Illinois.
* Gary Harris of Michigan St. had 25 points and was 9-13 from the floor in the win over New Mexico.
On a side note, I have decided not to do a recap for the other pod games, simply to save a little bit of time. However, if you guys want to see a sentence recap for the other pod games, I can do so. Or I may just pick out a game or 2 that has a major key stat that jumps out at me. What do you guys think there?
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