March 21, 2008
Reynolds, Villanova rally to upset Clemson
TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Villanova capped a wild day of upsets at the St. Pete Times Forum on Friday.
Scottie Reynolds scored 21 points and freshman Corey Fisher added 17 off the bench as the 12th-seeded Wildcats rallied for a 75-69 victory over fifth-seeded Clemson in a Midwest Regional first-round matchup.
Freshman Antonio Pena had 12 points for the Wildcats, who ended the game on a 9-3 run - all on free throws - in the last two minutes to break a 66-66 tie. Villanova had scored seven straight to take a 73-66 advantage with 26 seconds remaining.
Earlier in the day in Tampa, 12th-seeded Western Kentucky knocked off the fifth-seed Drake, and a pair of 13 seeds, San Diego and Siena, defeated fourth-seeded Connecticut and Vanderbilt, respectively. It was the first time in NCAA Tournament history that four upsets took place in the same building on the same day.
Villanova will take on Siena in the second round, while the other contests will take place in the West Regional on Sunday.
One of the last at-large teams selected into the NCAAs, the Wildcats (21-12) trailed by as many as 18 points in the first half before cutting the deficit to 12 at the intermission.
But Villanova stormed back early in the second half and a 3-pointer by Reynolds gave the Wildcats their first lead of the game at 50-49 with 11:56 remaining.
Villanova held its biggest lead at 63-55 with under six minutes to play, but Clemson came back to tie the game at 66-66 on a pair of free throws by David Potter with 1:55 left.
K.C. Rivers scored 15 points to lead the Tigers (24-10), who shot 38 percent (23-of-61) from the floor, including 9-of-33 from the arc.
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