SPORTS WRAP
BY WILLIAM HATHAWAY, JR.
The NCAA Tournament is in full swing this month, and two New Jersey teams made history with historic upsets. First, #15 Princeton took out #2 Arizona in the South Region 59-55. Then, the Tigers punched their ticket to the Sweet 16 after beating #7 Missouri 78-63. They will take on #6 Creighton out of the Big East.
Of course, the biggest win came from Fairleigh Dickinson, who became the second ever #16 team in the men’s tournament to beat a #1 seed. The Knights stunned the top ranked Purdue Boilermakers in the East Region 63-58. Purdue featured National Player of the Year candidate Zach Edey, who is 7’4”, and the Knights have no player taller than 6’6”. Unfortunately, the journey for FDU ended after a 78-70 loss to #9 Florida Atlantic.
Bear in mind, FDU not only had to win a play-in game to outright get the #16 seed, but they did not even win their conference tournament, as Merrimack is not eligible due to the five year window on teams coming up from Division II.
In other action, Michigan State beat Big East champ Marquette 69-60. Tyson Walker led Michigan State with 23 points in the upset victory. Also in the East Region, Kansas State defeated Kentucky 78-69. Markquis Nowell scored 27 points while Keyontae Johnson had 12 points. In the South Region, #1 seed Alabama handled Maryland 73-51, while in the West Region, UCLA beat Northwestern 69-63 and Xavier dismissed Pittsburgh 84-73. Colby Jones led his team with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Finally, in the Midwest Regional, Miami beat Indiana 86-69. This mirrored the women’s bracket, as the Lady Hurricanes upset #1 Indiana. Another #1 that went down was Stanford, marking the Cardinal’s earliest tourney exit in years.
In the women’s National Invitational Tournament, the Seton Hall University Lady Pirates beat St. Joseph’s 69-61. Lauren Park Lane led SHU with 30 points and 5 rebounds, and Sidney Cooks had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Unfortunately, the Pirates season came to an end in the second round, as they lost to old Big East rival Syracuse 72-54. Park Lane had 21 points and Azana Baines chipped in 8 points and 8 rebounds in the loss. The Seton Hall ladies finished the 2022-23 season with an overall record of 19-15. Leading Syracuse was Georgia Wooley with 19 points and 4 rebounds.
In baseball, Japan won the World Baseball Classic, beating the U.S. in the title game. The last play saw Shohei Ohtani strike out Angels teammate and New Jersey native Mike Trout.
Finally, in sad news, Knicks legend Willis Reed has passed away at the age of 80. He was the captain of the franchise’s only two NBA Championship teams.
