Princeton Wins, For Pete’s Sake Tigers’ Backdoor Beats Ucla; Drexel Knocks Off Memphis

Princeton showed UCLA the backdoor right out of the NCAA tournament.

After scaring opponents for years, the Tigers finally pulled off the big upset Thursday night with a 43-41 victory over defending champion UCLA in the Southeast Regional at Indianapolis.

Running Pete Carril’s patient spread offense to perfection, the Tigers sent the 11-time NCAA champions home in a daze.

“We just knocked off a giant,” Carril said.

The Tigers had lost their four previous tournament games by a combined 15 points, falling to Georgetown by one point in 1989 and to Villanova by two points two years later.

With the score 41-41 Gabe Lewullis scored with 3.9 seconds left, faking Charles O’Bannon and taking a pass from Steve Goodrich for a backdoor layup, a Princeton staple.

UCLA, 11-time national champion, called a timeout but Toby Bailey shot an airball from the baseline at the buzzer. That gave Carril, who on Saturday night announced his retirement, the most dramatic victory in his 29 years at Princeton.

The Tigers may have struck the biggest upset Thursday, but they weren’t the only one.

Drexel became the latest Philadelphia school to pull off a shocker, jolting fifth-seeded Memphis 75-63 in the first round of the West Regional.

The Dragons’ win was still ringing through The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M., when Purdue nearly became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed, escaping with a 73-71 win over Western Carolina. No top seed has lost its first game since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

Western Carolina (17-13), making its first trip to the tournament, had two chances to tie or win in the final seconds but missed two shots.

Chad Austin led the Boilermakers (26-5) with 18 points and Brandon Brantley had 17.

Malik Rose had 21 points and 15 rebounds as Drexel (27-3) extended the nation’s second-longest winning streak to 15 games.

The Dragons, a No. 12 seed, will play fourth-seeded Syracuse, an 88-55 winner over Montana State, in the second round Saturday.

Philadelphia schools have left their mark in the tournament. In 1981, St. Joseph’s rocked top-ranked DePaul in the second round. Four years later, Villanova sprung one of the great upsets, a 66-64 win over Georgetown in the final.

Elsewhere in the tournament, top seeds Massachusetts, Kentucky, Connecticut advanced easily. UMass beat Central Florida 92-70 in the East, Kentucky defeated San Jose State 110-72 in the Midwest and UConn downed Colgate 68-59 in the Southeast.