Jacksonville University, the 10th and final seed in the ASUN men's basketball tournament, knocked off defending conference champion Kennesaw on Monday.
On Tuesday the Dolphins disposed of Eastern Kentucky , this season's regular-season champions and the tournament's No. 1 seed.
Ninety minutes later, the University of North Florida lost a 10-point lead with 7:48 left and fell in its third overtime game against Austin Peay in two seasons.
Yep ... it's March Madness time.
Graduate senior Bryce Workman had 25 points and 12 rebounds and scored what proved to be the deciding basket with 21 seconds left to lift the Dolphins to a 67-65 victory over EKU on the Colonels' home floor at the Baptist Health Arena in Richmond, Ky., JU's second victory there in 24 hours.
The Dolphins (16-16) return to Florida for a semifinal game Thursday at 7 p.m. against Stetson at the Edmunds Center in DeLand. The second-seeded Hatters (20-12) beat Queens 83-71 in the only quarterfinal game that didn't come down to the final seconds.
UNF won't be joining the Dolphins. Ten seconds away from winning in regulation and ahead by a point with 74 seconds left in overtime but without their two best players, guard Chaz Lanier and forward Dorian James, the fifth-seeded Ospreys couldn't close the deal and fell to No. 4 Austin Peay 101-98 at F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, Tenn.
It was UNF's third loss in a row to the Governors and the sixth game in a row between the two teams that has been decided by seven points or less.
The Dolphins held the Colonels (17-14) to 44.1 percent shooting, with Workman leading a collapsing defense that sealed off much of EKU's inside game and forced them to shoot from beyond the arc — where the Colonels made only 3 of 16 3-point attempts.
On offense, Workman hit 9 of 15 shots and all seven of his free-throw attempts. He surpassed 1,000 career points with Jacksonville.
There were 17 ties and 17 lead changes in a game that turned into a chess match between A.W. Hamilton and JU's Jordan Mincy. Sophomore guard Robert McCray V, who had 24 points, broke the final tie of 63-63 with a foul shot with 1:09 left (the Dolphins made 18 in a row from the line before McCray missed his second), and after Michael Moreno misfired on a 3-point attempt, McCray pulled in the rebound.
Mincy called a time out and when play resumed, the Dolphins got a bit of luck. ASUN player of the year Isaiah Cozart (18 points, 14 rebounds) and Tayshawn Comer trapped McCray near the sideline. The officials missed a travel by McCray as he pushed the ball out to Stephon Payne III, who tapped the ball to Workman slashing to the basket for a layup with 21 seconds remaining to give the Dolphins a 66-63 lead.
JU then got a couple more breaks. Cozart was fouled trying to put back an offensive rebound and made only one free throw. The Dolphins' Gyasi Powell was fouled intentionally but he also made just one of two and the lead was 67-64 with 8.1 seconds left.
The Dolphins' Marcus Niblack fouled Comer intentionally with 6.3 seconds remaining, rather than let EKU attempt a 3-pointer. Comer missed the front end of the one-and-one but the long rebound came right back to him and he dribbled around the left side of the key to the baseline and launched a 3-point attempt that hit the side of the backboard.
However, Zach Bell of JU fouled Comer with 3.6 seconds left, giving him three free-throw attempts. Comer missed the first, made the second and had to miss the third on purpose. It almost paid off — Moreno got the offensive rebound but missed the follow-up shot at the buzzer.
JU beat Kennesaw 92-86 on Monday at EKU's arena, making a season-high 13 3-pointers in 21 attempts, for a 61.9 percentage that was their best since making 64,7 on Dec. 11, 2012, against North Carolina-Wilmington.
McCray led the Dolphins with 31 points, making 10 of 14 overall and all four of his 3-point attempts. He scored 15 of JU's last 19 points and six in the final 1:45.
Workman had 17 points and 15 rebounds and Niblack had 20 points.
The victory broke an 11-game road losing streak for the Dolphins, who last won away from Swisher Gym on Dec. 2 at Georgia Southern .
In the two ASUN tournament games so far, McCray has scored 55 points and hit 7 of 11 3-point attempts. Workman has 42 points and 27 rebounds.
Had UNF (16-16) won, it would have hosted No. 6 North Alabama, which upset No. 3 Lipscomb 77-75 on K.J. Johnson's running 3-pointer at the buzzer at Allen Arena in Nashville.
The Ospreys led 90-87 early in the overtime period but Lanier (19 points, all in the second half) fouled out with 3:28 left in overtime and James (14 points) picked up his fifth foul 20 seconds later.
Dezi Jones then scored seven of his 23 points in the last 54 seconds, beginning with a three-point play that gave the Governors (18-14) the lead for good, and a layuup to make the score 97-93 with 34 seconds left.
Nate Lliteras (21 points) sliced inside for a layup and nailed a 3-pointer for UNF to mount a final charge but Demarcus Sharp (35 points) hit a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left and Jones poked the ball away from Lliteras (21 points) on the Osprey's last possession.
The Ospreys led 34-33 at halftime but that was with Lanier, the No. 2 scorer in the ASUN at 19.7 points per game, held scoreless, with only three shots.
However, Lanier was able to shake free of Austin Peay's defense and connected on all six of his field-goal attempts in the second half to stake UNF out to a 66-56 lead with less than eight minutes left.
However, the Ospreys didn't have an answer for Sharp, who scored 13 points in less than six minutes to bring Peay with one point, 80-79 with 58 seconds left. The Ospreys went up by three points three times after that, the second two occasions on a layup, then two free throws by Jah Nze (19 points off the bench).
After Jones cut the margin to 86-85 with 24.4 seconds left, Lliteras was fouled. He made the back end of two free-throw attempts and Isaac Haney slipped inside for a layup at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Workman, McCray lead JU to upset victory over EKU; UNF loses in overtime
