UPSETS ABOUND IN MEN'S QUARTERS

March Madness was in full effect in the Sunday quarterfinals of the men's tournament as the top 3 seeds all fell to defeat on the day.  Roane State toppled the #1 seed Walters State 82-78 in the first contest while in the evening contests, Cleveland State upset the #2 seed Motlow Bucks by a 92-76 before Columbia State eliminated the #3 seed Southwest Tennessee Saluquis 69-64 in overtime.  The only upper seed to advance was #4 Dyersburg State as they edged Chattanooga State 76-75.

Roane State jumped out to as much as a 21 point lead over the Senators midway through the second half before Walters made a strong comeback.  Trailing 79-70 with just over a minute and half to play, Miles Thomas would make back to back three pointers to bring Walters withing three.  He would add a dunk after that, but the Riaders would make 3 of 4 free throws to secure their berth in the semifinals.  The Raiders wold place three players in double figures with James Jordan leading the way with 23 points to go with 7 rebounds and five assists.  DeMierre Black would follow with 21 points with ten rebounds and four assists.  Dillon Fountain would come off the bench to add 17 points.  Thomas led the Senators with 31 points and 10 rebounds.  Khiry Shelton and Paris Taylor each reached double digits with 16 and  10 points while Kajuan Hale led with three assists.

The Dyersburg and Chattanooga contest saw nine ties and seven lead changes with Dyersburg taking the largest lead of the game at 70-55 with just 7:38 left in the game.  The Tigers would fight their way back and had an opportunity to go for the win, but a Devin Pitts steal with one second left secured the victory for the Eagles and a matchup with Roane on Monday.  The Eagles had four players in double figures with Aaron King leading the way with 23 points and a team high nine rebounds.  Pitts, Antwan Beans, and Myron mcKinney each added 10 in the win.  Beans would also dish out a team high seven assists in the game.  Richard Nunez led the Tigers with a game high 26 points and 18 rebounds.  AJ Morris and Joshua Conrad haqd 11 and 10 points for the Tigers with Morris adding four assists to his performance.

In the third contest of the evening, Cleveland State would trail by three at halftime, but explode for 61 points in the 2nd half to advance to the semifinal round.  The Cougars would not take the lead in the second half until the 13:09 mark on a three pointer by Austin Fisher.  They would go on a 23-9 run to pull away down the stretch in the contest.  The Cougars would place five scorers in double digits with Dalanio Walker leading the way with 25 points to go with a team high eight rebounds.  Evavian Young and Jonathan King each had 18 in the game with King adding five assists.  Demonte Person and Domont'a Wright each finished with ten while Person had a team high seven assists.  The Bucks had a trio of scorers reach double digits led by Leo Castillo with 18 points, five rebounds, and seven assists. Joshua Greer finished with 16 and Darius Harding had 13 in the game. 

In the final game of the evening, the Chargers never trailed in the contest.  They jumped out to a 9-0 lead to start, and led 31-18 by halftime.   The Saluquis would come back in the second half, and would go on an 8-1 run in the last 90 seconds to force the game into overtime.  Columbia would score to open the overtime period and would outscore the Saluquis 12-7 in the extra frame for the win.  Lorenzo McGhee would lead a quartet of scorers in double digits with 23 points to go with eight rebounds.  Jeremiah Alexander had 16 points to go with seven rebounds.  Jaden Stanley-Williams had 11 points and 7 rebounds in the game while Gary Grooms had ten to with a team high four assists.  Christian Jones led Southwest with 13 points and a team high six assists off the bench.  Cedri Henderson and Malik Anderson each had 11 as double digit scorers.  Anthony Yarbrough would lead with seven rebounds with Anderson and Michael Reese each pulling down six boards.