PROVIDENCE, R.I. — McNeese coach Will Wade and his boom-box-toting manager are moving on in March Madness after the 12th-seeded Cowboys held off late-charging No. 5 seed Clemson 69-67 on Thursday in the first bracket buster of the NCAA Tournament.
Brando Murray scored 14 of his 21 points in a stifling first half, when the Southland Conference school from Lake Charles, La., held Clemson to 13 points. After falling behind by as many as 24, the Tigers rallied, erasing most of a 12-point deficit in the final minute before running out of time.
With its first NCAA Tournament victory, McNeese earned a second-round matchup on Saturday with fourth-seeded Purdue, a 75-63 winner over High Point.
Chris Shumate added 13 points and 11 rebounds for McNeese, which has been best-known this March for its viral, rapping manager and a renegade coach who has reportedly already lined up his next job — at NC State.
The Wolfpack will have to wait at least another 48 hours, because Wade is still needed in Providence.
A 7½-point underdog, McNeese (28-6) held the Tigers to one basket over almost eight minutes during a 17-2 first-half run that turned a tie game into a 23-8 lead. After Clemson (27-7) scored the first three points of the second, the Cowboys ran off nine in a row and led by as many as 24.
Jaeden Zackery scored 24 points, Chase Hunter had 21 and Viktor Lakhin grabbed 10 rebounds for Clemson before fouling out with six minutes left in the game.
Takeaways
The once-feared ACC is down to two teams: No. 1 seed Duke and North Carolina, one of the last teams in. No. 8 seed Louisville lost to ninth-seeded Creighton in another of the tournament’s first games.
Coaching carousel
Wade was fired from LSU amid an investigation into recruiting violations, and he took a year off before returning to Louisiana at McNeese. In two seasons, he has led the Cowboys to their first back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
Gone cold
Teams have gone cold before — 11 of them have been held to a baker’s dozen or fewer points in the first half — but Clemson is just the second one to do it when seeded fifth or better since the shot-clock era began in 1986.
Clemson was 1-for-15 from 3-point range in the first half and made just five baskets before the break.
