Well, in the time it took me to write my post, wrap up things at work and head home, St. Mary’s went on a 16-4 run to tie the game at 43 with 8 minutes to play.

In what turned into a defensive battle, Augustas Marciullonis broke a tie at 50 with a three-pointer to give the Gaels a lead, and a couple minutes later, Luke Barrett hit a three to extend the lead to six. Vandy’s Devin McGlockton responded with a three, but Marciullonis drew a foul and hit his free throws to keep the lead at 5.

Still, the Commodores would not go away. Tyler Nickel hit a three with a minute left to make it a 2 point game. St. Mary’s took time off the clock, and Barrett missed a shot, but Mitchell Saxen got the rebound and was fouled. Saxen hit one of his two free throws to set the stage.

Vanderbilt came down the court, but Jason Edwards missed a three-pointer to tie the game. The rebound headed to the corner, where McGlockton got the ball, but his desperate three-pointer also missed the target, and the WCC champions survived and advanced.

Meanwhile, North Carolina summed up their season. Down 22 points to Ole Miss, they played with a crazy passion including an 11-0 run to cut the lead all the way down to 2 with about a minute left as RJ Davis drove to the basket and made a crazy layup while being fouled. After Davis hit the free throw, Ole Miss came down and got Sean Pedulla open off a screen for a game-ending three-pointer. Ole Miss would hang on for a 71-64 victory, as the Tar Heels have to wonder what their season would have been like if they had constantly played like they did in the second half against Duke in the ACC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament today.

The announcer mentioned as Ven-Allen Lubin missed a layup with about 22 seconds about Carolina uncharacteristically missing so many shots in the lane, and the other announcer said – but that layup is not what cost them the game. You simply can’t fall behind 22 points and expect to win. That stretch in the first half where they went cold is what ended their season.

Looking forward to some of the late games tonight. UConn vs. Oklahoma and Illinois vs. Xavier should be interesting games! But that being said, my apologies to Vanderbilt (and almost Ole Miss). Like I told Charlie, the game isn’t over. I should have waited to see what happened before posting – I just was in a hurry to give credit to Colorado State and Baylor.