Editor’s note: The article below is a republished story from The Daily Orange’s coverage of Syracuse and Richmond NCAA Tournament matchup in men’s basketball on March 14, 1991. The Richmond win was the first time a No. 15 seed had beaten a No. 2 seed. On Friday, Middle Tennessee State became the eighth team to pull off such an upset and will face Syracuse on Sunday.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — It wasn’t a movie.

But the sights, sounds and unbelievable reality of the 15th-seeded University of Richmond’s 73-69 victory over second-seeded Syracuse in Thursday night’s NCAA first-round East Regional game seemed straight out of a Hollywood screen play.

It was live, not memorex.

While a Cole Field House sellout crowd of 13,386 howled in delight, the Spiders, 22-8, celebrated at center court amid the glaring lights of TV cameras. The Orangemen, 26-6, were abruptly thrown out of their accustomed spotlight.

It was the first time a No. 15 seed has defeated a No. 2 seed in NCAA Tournament history.

“Upset against Syracuse,” said a reflective Spider forward Kenny Wood. “Not too many people get this opportunity. Young kids dream about this, coming into a sold out arena against a nationally ranked team…we had nothing to lose, really.”

While every good fairy tale has a storybook ending, so too did the Spiders’ version of Hoosiers.

The Orangemen, who never led, had closed within one — at 70-69 with 21 seconds left — for the second time in the last two minutes of the game.

SU guard Mike Hopkins then fouled Spider freshman guard Eugene Burroughs, who played just six minutes in the game. Burroughs faced a one-and-one and perhaps the longest 15-foot shot he’s ever take.

To make matters worse, SU took a timeout to let Burroughs ponder his pressure situation.

What does a college freshman playing the biggest game of his life do at such a moment? Well, if you’re Burroughs, you calmly wink at one of the faces in the crowd.

“I was a little nervous because I hadn’t played that much the whole game,” Burroughs said. “Then I saw my dad in the crown and he kind of pumped his fist in the air and that inspired me.”

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• Gallery: Syracuse beats Dayton in Round of 64 NCAA Tournament matchup
• Fast Reaction: 3 quick takeaways after Syracuse’s 70-51 blowout of Dayton
• Dayton collapses under pressure of Syracuse’s early second-half run

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Thus inspired, Burroughs sank both shots, making the score 72-69. The Orangemen moved the ball upcourt where Billy Owens missed an off-balance three-point attempt. Ownes rebounded his own miss and kicked the ball out to guard Adrian Autry, who was fouled with 8.9 seconds left.

SU, however, was not in the bonus so the Orange had time to set up an inbounds play following a timeout.

On the ensuing play, Owens, the game high scorer with 22 points, worked the ball to guard Michael Edwards, who had already sunk four three-point shots. Edwards, perched in the left corner, watched his shot roll off the side of the rim and bounce off teammate Scott McCorkle and out of bounds with 2.6 seconds left.

Richmond guard Curtis Blair, the Spiders’ leading scorer with 18 points, was fouled by Hopkins with .7 seconds left. Blair connected on 1-of-2 free throws and the Spiders’ unexpected party began.

“Needless to say, I’m delighted with the victory,” Richmond head coach Dick Tarrant said. “There were 40 minutes of never trailing. Our kids in every huddle said, ‘This is our game. We’re going to win it.’”

The Spiders led by as many as 10 points and owned a 44-36 halftime advantage.

Still, SU had many opportunities in the game’s final minutes to ruin the Spiders’ Cinderella invitation. The game ended slightly before midnight, however, and Richmond vehemently aborted the Orangemen’s attempts to turn its stage coach into a pumpkin.

An 8-2 SU spurt from 4:22 to 2:00 cut the Spiders’ lead to 68-67 when Owens used a double-pump fake to score. After Richmond guard Gerald Jarmon was fouled by Hopkins and missed the front end of a one-and-one, SU had the ball with 1:29 to play.

SU was never able to get into the game until the final minutes. No Orangemen run exceeded a six-point swing and the undersized Spiders appeared to grab every key rebound on its offensive end.

“We knew they were going to make a run at us, but we were able to hold their runs off,” Wood said. “I think they had a run and we pulled the lead back up to eight or nine, and that gave us a lot of confidence.”

Owens agreed that the Spiders’ offensive rebounding continually thwarted SU.

“The main things was they hurt us on the boards,” Owens said. “They got a lot of offensive rebounds and they have the confidence to bring (the ball) back out and start it all over again.”

In the first half, Richmond shot 61.5 percent from the field en route to its eight-point lead. The Orangemen were consistently burned from the outside by Connolly (14 points), Chris Fleming (8) and Blair.

Published on March 18, 2016 at 6:29 pm