Washington: In one of the greatest upsets in US sports history, the University of Maryland Baltimore County defeated top seeds Virginia 74-54 in a first-round game of the men’s college basketball tournament.
The first-ever victory by a 16th seed over an overall top seed after 135 consecutive National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament losses left the UMBC Retrievers dancing for joy and leaping to slap hands with fans as they ran off the court in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“We just believed in each other and we came in with the mindset of working with each other,” said UMBC senior guard Jarius Lyles, who scored a game-high 28 points on 9-of-11 shooting.
“We just came out and dug in,” senior Retrievers guard Jourdan Grant said. “We made defence a priority all season and it paid off tonight.”
Call it Retriever Fever. They created Retriever Believers. And it will be UMBC who face ninth-seeded Kansas State on Sunday in Charlotte for a berth in the NCAA’s famous ‘Sweet 16’ field.
