Barry Brown, Kansas State Narrowly Beat UMBC to Advance to Sweet 16

Barry Brown scored 18 points as the ninth-seeded Kansas State Wildcats held on to defeat the 16th-seeded UMBC Retrievers 50-43 in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday.Senior guard Jairus Lyles scored 12 points for UMBC, which became the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in the men's Division I tournament after taking down Virginia 74-54 on Friday.This matchup was a gritty, hard-fought game in which defense ruled and neither team could get much going offensively. Both teams combined for 24 steals, and neither school shot well from the field (28.9 percent for UMBC and 40.9 percent for Kansas State). The Wildcats also made just one of their 12 three-point attempts, while UMBC missed nine of its 18 free throws.The turning point of the game occurred in the second half with UMBC down 38-37. The Retrievers had two chances to take the lead, but the first possession ended in a missed jumper and the second finished with a steal and a slam from Xavier Sneed to put the Wildcats up three:The Retrievers kept within striking distance and cut the deficit to three points once again when Lyles made a layup with 2:14 left. However, Sneed came through in the clutch, as he hit a sideline jumper with 1:11 remaining to give the Wildcats a five-point lead. After a Lyles three-point miss, an emphatic Makol Mawien dunk sealed the game for K-State:Ultimately, UMBC stayed in the game for the entire night because of its incredible defense, which picked up right where it left off Friday. The Retrievers held the Wildcats scoreless for the first six minutes and 20 seconds of the game, as Kansas State missed eight shots and committed three turnovers.The Wildcats chipped away at the Retrievers' advantage, however, and it took its first lead of the game when a layup from Sneed put the Wildcats up 15-14. Kansas State would eventually take a 25-20 edge into the break.The Retrievers kept things close in the second half and had good open looks, but they went cold down the stretch, as they scored just 12 points in the final 14:27 of play.Kansas State moves on to face Kentucky in the Sweet 16 on Thursday in Atlanta.Although the Retrievers' Cinderella story is over, Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic summed it up rather well:UMBC finishes its historic season with a 25-11 record.
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