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National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
No.Carolina A&T 73, Liberty 72
When: 6:40 PM ET, Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Where: University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio
Officials: # Tony Crisp, # Mike Eades, # Les Jones
Attendance: N/A

North Carolina A&T 73, Liberty 72: Jeremy Underwood came off the bench to score 19 points and the Aggies held off a late rally for their first NCAA Tournament victory in the first round of the Midwest Regional at Dayton, Ohio.

Bruce Beckford contributed 16 points and nine rebounds for North Carolina A&T (20-16), which survived as John Caleb Sanders missed an off-balance layup in the final seconds. Lamont Middleton added 14 points for the Aggies, who play top-seeded Louisville in Thursday's second round at Lexington, Ky.

Davon Marshall scored 22 points and Sanders had 21 for Liberty (15-21), which had its five-game win streak snapped. Tavares Speaks chipped in with 17 points, including a basket with 11.1 seconds left to pull the Flames within one.

The Aggies trailed by seven early before Beckford’s 12 points and the team’s 5-of-10 shooting from 3-point range helped them build a 40-33 lead at intermission. Marshall and Sanders each drained three 3-pointers to keep Liberty in striking distance during the opening 20 minutes.

Liberty, the second team to come into the tournament with 20 losses, trimmed a 10-point deficit to 73-70 on Marshall’s sixth 3-pointer with 1:30 left. After Speaks’ basket, Middleton missed the front end of a one-and-one with seven seconds to go which allowed Sanders to get a last chance.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Underwood was 6-of-6 shooting for North Carolina A&T, which was making its first appearance in the NCAAs since 1995 and is 1-9 overall. … Marshall broke the single-season record for 3-pointers at Liberty with 107, passing Seth Curry’s 102 in 2008-09 before he transferred to Duke. … Sanders became the 23rd player to score 1,000 career points at Liberty, joining his older brother Jesse.
Top Game Performances
 
Liberty   No.Carolina A&T
Davon Marshall 22 Scoring Jeremy Underwood 19
John Caleb Sanders 9 Assists Adrian Powell 5
JR Coronado 7 Rebounds Bruce Beckford 9
Tavares Speaks 5 Free Throws Made Jeremy Underwood 5
Tavares Speaks 3 Steals Adrian Powell 3
Andrew Smith 2 Blocks Austin Witter 4
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Liberty 72 42.6 10-23 16-18 15 29 3 4 10
No.Carolina A&T 73 51.9 8-18 11-19 10 32 4 6 8