DAYTON, Ohio -- Hampton coach Edward Joyner Jr. had joked he'd need a lot of help if his team advanced to play No. 1 Kentucky.
"Jesus on speed dial," he kidded.
So after Hampton extended its unlikely run, beating Manhattan 74-64 Tuesday night in the First Four to dial up a date with the mighty Wildcats, Joyner grabbed a cell phone and pretended to make a really, really long-distance call.
"Hello? Hello?" he said at a postgame news conference.
Then he put down the phone, laughed, and said, "I guess he'll get back to me."
Reginald Johnson scored 15 points and made two critical defensive plays down the stretch and Quinton Chievous added 15 points and 13 rebounds before leaving with a sprained ankle in the final minutes.
The Pirates (17-17) scored the first seven points, led by as many as 12 in the opening half and then, after Manhattan had rallied within a point, pulled away at the finish.
Johnson sealed the game with two huge steals, the second leading to his floor-length assist pass to Emmanuel Okoroba for a layup. Okoroba then hit a scoop shot on a drive and the lead was 67-58 with 90 seconds remaining. Manhattan (19-14) never threatened again.
The 68th team in a 68-team field, Hampton won as an underdog yet again.
"We love that. We take that head on," said Brian Darden, who scored 13 points including clinching free throws at the end. "That's our image" (see full recap).
Ole Miss rallies from 17 down to beat BYU
DAYTON, Ohio -- Ole Miss pulled off the NCAA Tournament's first big comeback.
Against the team that's known for the biggest one of all, no less.
Stefan Moody scored 26 points and led Mississippi's comeback from a 17-point halftime deficit to a 94-90 victory over BYU on Tuesday night in the First Four.
The Rebels (21-12) trailed until Moody led a 15-2 run midway through the second half. He hit a late 3-pointer that helped finish it off.
"Welcome to March Madness!" Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy said.
It was some way to get it going.
Ole Miss goes to Jacksonville, Florida, to play sixth-seeded Xavier on Thursday afternoon in the East Region, a team that Kennedy knows well from his days as a coach at Cincinnati.
BYU (25-10) pulled off the biggest comeback in NCAA Tournament history in Dayton three years ago, rallying from a 25-point first-half deficit to a 78-72 win over Iona in the First Four. This time, the Cougars couldn't hold the big lead.
"This game will sting for quite a while," coach Dave Rose said. "It was pretty similar to (three) years ago when we were here."
Tyler Haws, a senior guard who is BYU's all-time leading scorer, had 33 points but missed a 3-pointer as BYU tried to catch up in the closing seconds. It was the first time this season that the Cougars lost after leading by 17 points.
"We did enough offensively to win the game," Haws said. "We found our rhythm in the first half and got it going. It got away from us in the second half. We didn't really have any answers for them defensively" (see full recap).