• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Stephen F. Austin stuns VCU in overtime

Mar 22, 2014 - 6:05 AM San Diego, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Desmond Haymon tied the game with a four- point play late in regulation, then hit a big 3 in overtime as Stephen F. Austin took a thrilling 77-75 win over VCU in second-round action from the South Region.

Haymon was fouled hitting a three-pointer with 3.6 seconds left in regulation, then made the free throw to send the game to an extra session.

"I shot it with confidence," said Haymon. "He closed on me kinda hard and I stayed there with my follow-through and he knocked me down."

It was Haymon again with a long bucket with just over two minutes left in the extra session that gave the team the lead for good as he finished the game with 17 points and seven rebounds.

"I was struggling shooting the ball, I knew in order to get it going I was going to have to continue to try and find it," said Haymon. "I guess I found that groove with the last shot."

Jacob Parker had 22 points while Thomas Walkup gave 12 points and 10 rebounds for the 12th-seeded Lumberjacks (32-2), who won for the first time in the NCAA Tournament and ran their winning streak to 29 straight games.

Stephen F. Austin moves on to the round of 32 where it will play UCLA, which cruised past Tulsa, on Sunday.

Treveon Graham had 19 points and seven boards, Jordan Burgess gave 14 points, while JeQuan Lewis had 13 points for the fifth-seeded Rams (26-9), who lost to Saint Joseph's in the Atlantic 10 tournament final, but was one of six teams from the conference to earn a bid to the tournament.

"Congratulations to Stephen F. Austin, they have a great team, they hung in there and fought even at the end when we were ahead and never stopped battling and made a huge play at the end of regulation to tie the game," said VCU head coach Shaka Smart.

After Haymon gave the Lumberjacks a 74-73 lead, Burgess missed a 3 at the other end and Parker countered with a jumper with just over a minute to play in the extra session.

Lewis then drove and put in a layup with 41.3 to play, and VCU was able to tie up SF Austin for a jump ball, which it won to gain possession with a chance to take the lead.

Briante Weber tried to go up the middle, but Parker blocked the lane, coming up with the steal and Walkup hit one of two from the line with 14 seconds left.

Lewis then went for the win with a 3-point attempt from the right side, but it rimmed out and Walkup grabbed the board to seal the win.

"We were a little flustered, we rushed shots," said Weber. "When we got settled in we got whatever shots we wanted so it was a matter of us settling down and getting into the flow of the game.

The first half was tight as neither side held a lead larger than four, until Parker hit a layup and followed that with a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to give the Lumberjacks a 36-30 lead at the break.

Stephen F. Austin built its lead to 10 early in the second half, but VCU went on a long 24-3 run to grab the largest lead of the game as Graham's layup made it a 54-43 game with 8 1/2 minutes to play.

The Lumberjacks, though, got a layup from Walkup, followed by a Parker 3- pointer and a Deshaunt Walker layup with just over two minutes to play to make it a 60-57 game.

VCU went just 2-for-6 from the line in the final minute to allow Stephen A. Austin to tie the game.

Game Notes

VCU was making a its fourth appearance in the tournament, a school record, and is now 11-13 in tournament play ... Stephen F. Austin is in the tournament for just the second time in school history, with the other appearance an opening round loss to Syracuse in 2009 ... This was the first time these schools had faced each other ... The Lumberjacks shots 52.9 percent and grabbed 35 rebounds, while VCU made just 46.2 percent of its chances and totaled 29 rebounds.