The round of 64 in the NCAA tournament is getting ready to kick off. The “First Four” rounds took place in Dayton, Ohio on Tuesday. Alabama State and Saint Francis (PA), kicked off the first four round with a thrilling finish. With 3.4 seconds left, Micah Simpson threw the ball down the length of the court which ended up in the hands of Amarr Knox, who laid the ball in the basket for the win.  Alabama St. won the game 70-68 to advance and play the number one overall seed,, Auburn in the round of 64. North Carolina vs. San Diego State was the game that followed Tuesday night, with UNC dominating the Aztecs 95-68. RJ Davis led the Tar Heels with 26 points, going 6-6 from beyond the three-point line to move them to play 6-seeded Mississippi in the first round. 

Wednesday night was the last day of the first four which started the night with Mount Saint Mary’s vs. American, who were 16 seeds fighting to move on to play number 1 seed Duke. Mount Saint Mary’s won the high scoring game 83-72, controlling the pace the entire time. American took a tough break in the beginning of the game when senior Matt Rogers went down with a knee injury, where he had to miss what would end up being his final college basketball game. Following that game, Texas and Xavier, a pair of 11 seeds, squared off against each other to determine who would move on to play Illinois in the first round. While Texas had the lead for a majority of the game, Xavier used the momentum and energy from their fans to help rally them to an 86-80 comeback win over the Longhorns. Dayton is only about 47 miles away from Xavier’s campus in Cincinnati, allowing many of their fans to make the trip and support their team.