How the miracle of March Madness shined its light on Alabama State basketball with last second win

In a tournament where madness is the norm, Alabama State basketball made some of its own Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio.

The Hornets needed some of that March magic in a tied game with three seconds left. The Hornets found it as Micah Simpson heaved a full-court pass that got bounced around before falling in the hands of Amarr Knox.

Knox made a layup to give the Hornets their first ever NCAA Tournament win in program history, 70-68 over Saint Francis.

The full-court pass wasn't even intended to go to Knox, a guard. But in March, where anything can happen, Knox was the one who ended up being the hero.

While the victory was a milestone for the ASU program, it was big for this season's team as it marked Alabama State's 20th win. The historical markers weren't loss on coach Tony Madlock after the game.

It will be something that Madlock and his players will remember for a long time, and he will always have his son, senior guard TJ Madlock, to share it with.

"Man, we're going to have stories forever, aren't we, for everything that happened with Alabama State – first time winning a tournament game, got to 20 wins this year. You know how hard that is for an HBCU school? It's so hard because you have to play those money games early," Tony Madlock said. "But for us to just fight and fight and fight and find a way to get to 20 wins, it just means so much, again, to our program, to the city of Montgomery, to Alabama State University.

"Again, we just want to make that city proud."

Top-seeded Auburn is up next for the Hornets. Even if it goes as expected with the top-seeded Tigers, it won't spoil what happened Tuesday in Dayton. The Hornets and the Tigers will tip at 1:50 p.m. CT on Thursday on CBS at historic Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.

For these history-making Hornets, it will just be another mark of history and tradition that they have made this year.

"How can you beat that? How can you beat that for a school in the SWAC that has a lot of great tradition for us to go play at Rupp Arena? Nothing like it. We can't wait," the coach said.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Alabama State basketball found its own March Madness miracle vs. Saint Francis

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