VCU Rams Defeat Florida State Seminoles 72-71
SAN ANTONIO -- Bradford Burgess made a layup off an inbounds pass with 7.1 seconds left and Rob Brandenburg blocked a shot at the buzzer, giving Virginia Commonwealth a 72-71 victory over Florida State in overtime in a Southwest Region semifinal Friday night.
In the first NCAA tournament game between teams seeded 10 and 11, the lower seeded Rams blew a nine-point lead by scoring only three points in the final 7:37 of regulation. They never trailed by more than four all night, but found themselves down 71-70 when Burgess scored the kind of basket that will live in NCAA tournament lore.
The Rams (27-11) are among the final eight for the first time. Having already ousted high-profile programs from the Pac-10 (Southern Cal), Big East (Georgetown), Big Ten (Purdue) and now the ACC, they will try adding the Big 12 to their hit list, facing top-seeded Kansas. The Jayhawks advanced with a 77-57 rout over Richmond.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) – Bradford Burgess made a layup off an inbounds pass with 7.1 seconds left and Jamie Skeen blocked a shot at the buzzer, giving Virginia Commonwealth a 72-71 victory over Florida State in overtime in a Southwest Region semifinal Friday night.
In the first NCAA tournament game between teams seeded 10 and 11, the lower seeded Rams blew a nine-point lead by scoring only three points in the final 7:37 of regulation. They never trailed by more than four all night, but found themselves down 71-70 when Burgess scored the kind of basket that will live in NCAA tournament lore.
The Rams (27-11) are among the final eight for the first time.
Since being told they lucked their way into a play-in game for the 11th seed, all VCU has done is knock out high-profile programs from the Pac-10 (Southern Cal), Big East (Georgetown), Big Ten (Purdue) and now the ACC. Those were all blowouts – this one was as tight as they come.
Second-year coach Shaka Smart keeps stoking his team by reminding them that everyone said they don't belong. It shouldn't be a problem finding folks writing them off for their next game. The Rams face top-seeded Kansas on Sunday with a spot in the Final Four on the line. The Jayhawks advanced with a 77-57 rout over Richmond.
For Florida State, Derwin Kitchen scored 23 points and Chris Singleton made a tying 3-pointer with 45 seconds left in regulation and a go-ahead layup across the baseline with 29.2 seconds left in overtime. The Seminoles (23-11) hadn't been this far since 1993.
Burgess led VCU as he's done all tournament, scoring 26 points. He was an amazing 6 of 7 on 3-pointers. His only miss was a blocked shot in overtime.
Brandon Rozzell scored 16 points, including a series of 3-pointers during the second-half surge that put the Rams back in front – seemingly for good, until their collapse. Skeen scored 11 points and had eight rebounds.
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By JAIME ARON 03/26/11 01:14 AM ET Associated Press