Play-In Game Recap – St. Louis Region
(16) Florida A&M 72, (16) Lehigh 57
For the third year in a row, a team with a sub-.500 record won the play-in game in the NCAA Tournament as Florida A&M dumped Lehigh, 72-57 on Tuesday night.
The win was the first ever in the NCAA Tournament for the Rattlers (15-16), who will face the tournament’s top seed, Kentucky, on Friday. The Patriot League entry in the NCAA Tournament is now 0-14.
Terrence Woods came alive in the second half en route to scoring a game-high 21 points to lead the Rattlers, who trailed for only about one minute the entire game. They shut down Lehigh’s perimeter duo of Austen Rowland (3-14, 8 points) and Jose Olivero (2-8, 6 points), holding the Mountain Hawks below 30% shooting for the game and forcing 17 turnovers.
Woods had a bruised thigh and was not able to practice leading up to the game, and then his back stiffened in the first half, but he showed no ill effects later on. Guard Tony Tate, who had a big game in the MEAC championship, hurt his leg on a pileup during the game and struggled, grimacing often after he later returned.
Demarcus Wilkins supported Woods with 12 points and 7 rebounds, and Michael Harper posted a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Lehigh was led by Kevin Tempest’s 13 points.
The Rattlers had a 39-33 halftime lead, then Woods helped open it up to 16 by the midway point of the second half when he led a run of 9 unanswered points. At that point, Lehigh’s struggled accelerated at the offensive end, as their poor shooting took away any chance of a comeback.
