Dayton, Villanova advance to third round of NCAA tournament

As the Division 1 NCAA tournament moves into the second day of its second round, three Catholic schools have been knocked out, and two have advanced.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - 11 in the South region, the University of Dayton (24-10, 10-6), had a 60-59 victory over number six Ohio State University (25-10, 17-3) on March 20. The game was close throughout with 15 lead changes. With 15 seconds left in the game, Aaron Craft of Ohio State took the lead for his team with a reverse layup. After a time out by Dayton, Vee Sanford made a layup with just 3 seconds left to secure the victory.

On March 22 Dayton will play third-seeded Syracuse University (28-5, 14-4) after Syracuse knocked out number 14 Western Michigan University (23-10, 14-4) in a 77-53 blowout on March 20.

In the East, second-seed Villanova University (29-4, 16-2) also had a 73-53 win against the 15th seed, University of Milwaukee (21-14, 7-9) on March 20. Villanova will play a former Big East conference rival, the seventh-seeded University of Connecticut (27-8, 12-6) on March 22.

While these two teams look forward to at least one more round, championship dreams are over for three other Catholic schools;  Mount Saint Mary's University (16-17, 9-7), Saint Joseph's University (24-10, 10-6), and Xavier University (21-13, 10-8).

In the "First Four" Mt. St. Mary's, 16th in the South, suffered a 71-64 loss to Albany (19-14, 11-3) on March 18. On that date Xavier (21-13, 10-8) lost to North Carolina State University (22-13, 9-9) for the 12th seed in the Midwest. The East's number 10 seed, Saint Joseph's University (24-10, 10-6), was knocked out after a 89-81 loss to the seventh-seeded University of Connecticut (27-8, 12-6) on March 20.

On March 21 the three other Catholic schools will play their second round games. Seeded eighth in the West, Gonzaga University (28-6, 15-3) will play the ninth seeded team Oklahoma State University (21-12, 8-10). Creighton University is seeded third in the West and will play 14th-seeded University of Louisiana at Lafayette (23-11, 11-7). Providence (23-11, 10-8) is the 11th seed in the East, and plays the sixth seed University of North Carolina (23-9, 13-5).

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