NCAA tournament: Ole Miss boots BYU, Hampton beats Manhattan

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 in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Dayton, Ohio.

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 off the tournament’s first big comeback.

Ole Miss goes to Jacksonville, Florida, to play sixth-seeded Xavier on Thursday afternoon in the East Region.

“I thought we were so tentative,” coach Andy Kennedy said. “We wanted to impose our will to start the second half. We chopped it in half pretty quickly, our guys start believing, the ball started going in, and good things happen.”

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. This time, the Cougars couldn’t hold the big lead.

Tyler Haws, BYU’s all-time leading scorer, had 33 points, going 13 of 23 from the field. He 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.

Haws had 19 points in the first half, helping the Cougars pull ahead 49-32. Moody got the Rebels’ guard-driven offense going midway through the second half, when three BYU players picked up their fourth fouls and things opened up near the basket.

Hampton 74, Manhattan 64: Reginald Johnson scored 15 points and added two late critical defensive plays to lead the Pirates (17-17) to a victory over the Jaspers (19-14) in a NCAA tournament first-round game in Dayton, Ohio.

The Pirates, who have won five in a row to get to .500, advance to meet top-ranked Kentucky (34-0) in Louisville on Thursday.

Shane Richards scored 17 points to lead Manhattan.