By MITCH STACY AP Sports Writer
DAYTON, Ohio — Joel Scott had 23 points and 11 rebounds as Colorado State won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in 11 years, blowing out Virginia, 67-42, in the First Four on Tuesday night.
Nique Clifford scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Rams (25-10), who advance as a No. 10 seed to play seventh-seeded Texas in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday.
Reece Beekman had 15 points on 4-of-16 shooting for Virginia, which hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since it won the national title in 2019. That stretch includes two first-round losses as a No. 4 seed.
The Cavaliers’ ugly performance ignited more debate about whether they should have made the tournament field. Although Virginia finished third in the Atlantic Coast Conference, it had just two Quad 1 wins and struggled offensively all season.
Colorado State dominated the boards and the Cavaliers couldn’t keep up, shooting 25% for the game. The Rams shot 55%, outrebounded the Cavaliers 43-24 and scored 36 points in the paint.
Virginia finished with the second-fewest points by an ACC team in the NCAA Tournament, trailing only Coach Tony Bennett’s 2017 Cavaliers squad, which lost, 65-39, to Florida in the second round.
Virginia shot terribly from the beginning, with Colorado State building a 27-14 lead at the break.
The Cavaliers shot 5 for 29 from the field – 17% – in the first half, failing to get a basket in the last 9:20. Beekman was 1 for 9, while Scott had 10 points for the Rams at the break.
The Rams scored the first eight points of the second half before Virginia got another basket.
In the early game …
Wagner 71, Howard 68: Wagner kicked off March Madness with the first NCAA Tournament win in program history, getting 21 points from Melvin Council Jr. and holding off a late rally by Howard in the early First Four game in Dayton.
The Northeast Conference champion Seahawks (17-15) advanced as the No. 16 seed in the West Region and…
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