Furious rally lifts Arizona over South Alabama 
 



  

  		Box score   

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Michael Dickerson scored 16 points and A.J. Bramlett's putback with 2:38 to play snapped a tie as fourth-seeded Arizona closed with a 22-4 run and escaped with a 65-57 victory over 13th-seeded South Alabama in the first round of the Southeast Region. 
THE GAME AT A GLANCE 
Star of the game: Arizona freshman point guard Mike Bibby, who handled his first NCAA appearance well, scoring 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting. 

  

Arizona's key: South Alabama reached 53 points with 7:31 to play. USA managed four more points the rest of the way, all in the final 30 seconds. 

  

What's next: Arizona: Will play College of Charleston in second round on Saturday.  
The Wildcats (20-9) will play the 12th-seeded College of Charleston in the second round on Saturday. Arizona won its first-ever NCAA Tournament game outside the West Region, erasing a 10-point deficit over the final 7:31. 

Rico Alderson had 14 points for South Alabama (23-7), which won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for an automatic bid to the field of 64. The Jaguars were making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1991 and fell to 1-4 all-time. 

"I thought South Alabama had a great game plan in terms of they're accustomed to playing at a slower tempo," said Arizona coach Lute Olson, whose team won consecutive first-round games in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1990 and 1991. 

"We outrebounded that ball club," said South Alabama coach Bill Musselman. "You look at their size and you look at our size, it was a major concern before the ball game, and I felt we did a pretty good job on the boards. I think we did a good job defensively." 
 
With 7:31 left in the second half, South Alabama held a 53-43 lead. But Arizona held the Jaguars scoreless over the next seven minutes and the Wildcats put the game away.  
Alderson gave South Alabama a seemingly safe 53-43 lead with 7:34 to play, but the Wildcats elected to contest the dribble at halfcourt and it paid dividends as they scored the next 17 points. 

Simon started the run with two free throws and added a layup with 6:16 to play. After Mark Neal missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 4:46 to play, Simon hit two more free throws and Jason Terry knocked down a three-point play to pull Arizona within 53-52 at the 4:35 mark. 

Simon made the second of two free throws to draw the Wildcats even and Bramlett grabbed the rebound of a miss by Michael Dickerson and scored from down low to make it 55-53. Terry stole the ball from Rusty Yoder and was fouled before making one free throw with 2:27 left. 

Simon then put the game away with a layup as the shot clock expired to make it 58-53. Terry capped the run with two free throws with 36 seconds to play. 

"You could see that the guys on their team didn't want to handle the ball like they did in the first half," said Simon. "Their guards weren't coming to it, they were having to outlet to their big men to break the press, and one time they hit one of the guards in the back coming down the court. But a big key, I think, was Jason Terry. His defensive pressure made all the difference in the world down the stretch." 

South Alabama didn't trail in the first half and started the game on a 17-7 run as Yoder scored five points. The Wildcats responded by scoring the next seven points and came as close as 21-19 on a jumper by Dickerson with 5:56 to go. The Jaguars led 28-26 at halftime by holding Arizona to 9-of-24 shooting, including 1-of-7 from three-point range. 

Arizona took its first lead of the game at 31-30 when Mike Bibby drilled a three-pointer 1:16 into the second half. The Wildcats shot 12-of-23 from the field in the second half and 45 percent (21-of-47) from the field. Arizona also outscored the Jaguars 19-5 at the foul line. 

The Jaguars shot 39 percent (24-of-61) from the field and 4-of-17 from three-point range. Jason Hamm added 13 points for South Alabama, which had Yoder and Toby Madison shot a combined 4-of-22, including 1-of-10 from three-point range. 

"We had a lot of good looks tonight," said Yoder. "They felt good, mine felt good, they just didn't drop tonight."