Jojo Doria

Dayton, OH

The Cougars got into the official 2012 March Madness bracket with Noah Hartsock pouring in a game-high 23 points as Brigham Young rallied from a 25-point deficit to stun the Iona Gaels 78-72 in first round action at University of Dayton Arena.

It marked the biggest comeback in an NCAA tournament game.

The Cougars, who were once a dominating program in the Mountain West Conference before moving to the West Coast Conference, were down 25 points in the first half, but eventually denied Iona its first official NCAA tournament win despite a dominating first half.

Hartsock, who came in as the overall team-leading scorer this year with his 16.7 ppg, unloaded 16 of his points in the huge second half, where BYU held the Gaels to just 17 points over the final 24:34 of the contest after scorching opening half.

The Gaels shot a whooping 69 percent from the field and hit 71 percent on 3-pointers in the first 15:26 of the game and went into halftime with a 55-40 lead.

With its stepped-up defense in the second half, BYU forced the Gaels into committing 15 of their 18 turnovers in the half, while holding Iona, which came in as the nation's top-scoring team at 83.2 points per game to just 20 percent from the field and 1-for-18 from long range in that span.

Hartsock capped a furious comeback with a go-ahead 3-pointer. The senior forward's triple with 2:26 left gave BYU its first lead of the tilt, 71-70.

Brandon Davies, who added a double-double of 18 points and 15 boards, made two free throws to hike the lead to 73-70. The Cougars extended the advantage to six points with 23 seconds to go to win a tournament game for the third straight season.

Reserve guard Damarcus Harrison had 12 points for BYU (26-8), which made 48.4 percent of its shots and held a 43-36 edge on the glass.

Scott Machado scored 15 points with 10 assists to lead the Gaels, while Jermel Jenkins and Mike Glover had 13 and 12 points, respectively, for Iona, which shot 44.3 percent overall.

BYU's historic triumph marked the second incredible comeback of the night in Dayton, which also saw Western Kentucky rallying past Mississippi Valley State.

BYU will next face Marquette in a second-round game in the West region.

 

Syracuse Center Fab Melo Ruled Ineligible for NCAA Tournament

Pittsburgh, PA

Top seeded Syracuse will be without sophomore center Fab Melo for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Melo will miss the tournament due to an eligibility issue" the school announced on its website on Tuesday afternoon.

"Given University policy and federal student privacy laws, no further details can be provided at this time," the school said.

Melo missed three games earlier this season due to an academic issue and the Orange suffered their only regular-season loss in that span, a setback at Notre Dame.

The Big East defensive player of the year, Melo averaged 7.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and blocked 88 shots for the top-seeded Orange.

A trendy Final Four pick before losing Melo, Syracuse opens tournament play against Big South champion UNC Asheville on Thursday.

 

Noah Hartsock Paces BYU in Huge Comeback vs Iona