March madness: McNeese State blows almost huge leads but pulls upside down

McNeese is upset over No. 5 Clemson was over early … until it wasn’t.

The 12th-seeded cowboys dominated Clemson for a large majority of the game on Thursday, which led with as many as 24 in the second half, but they only managed to squeak past with a 69-67 victory.

Clemson couldn’t find the bottom of the edge in the first half, which was held at 13 points and 1-for-15 from three. As for McNeese, they set up 31 in the first 20 minutes, and about five minutes into the second half they led 40-16.

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McNeese State Cowboys Frem Bryant Selebangue (9) celebrates with guard quadir Copeland after defeating Clemson Tigers on Thursday. (Eric Canha-Preferred Pictures)

With 8:07 in the game, a three-pointer from Brandon Murray McNeese gave a 51-29 lead, but gives all the credit to Tigers for not calling it a finisher.

From then on, McNeese got cold and Clemson got hot. Clemson went on a run of 38-18 to close the game. McNeese even led with 12 with less than a minute left, but Clemson knocked down four just 3-Pointers to make it a three-point game with 12 seconds to go.

With 10 seconds left, Javohn Garcis went to the line and made one of his two free kicks, making it a four-point game. The three-pointer strip ended, and the clock expired after a layup and did what was a blowout for an exciting thriller at the end.

McNeese State Forward Christian Shumate (24) celebrates with guard Quadir Copeland after defeating Clemson Tigers. (Eric Canha-Preferred Pictures)

Tensions run high during March Madness games as the tab throws the water bottle on the field

It was the first major uprising of the tournament. No. 9 Creighton defeated No. 8 Louisville earlier in the day, but it’s much easier to predict than 12s over 5s.

McNeese won his first win ever in the tournament and next time stands at No. 4 Purdue, which took down No. 13 highlight earlier in the day, despite the latter making things interesting in the early walk.

McNeese made headlines on Wednesday when reports circulated that their head coach Clemson Alun will wade, accepted an agreement to become the next head coach at NC State at the end of the season.

Wade admitted that he had spoken to NC State officials earlier Wednesday, noting that he had been transparent with his players about the potential trait.