Alabama State Beats SFU, Stuns CBB Fans with Historic NCAA March Madness Bracket Win

Welcome to the madness.

Alabama State became the first victor in the 2025 NCAA men's basketball tournament in the most dramatic fashion thanks to a full-court length pass that bounced around before it fell in Amarr Knox's hands.

Knox hit the layup in the final second to give the Hornets a 70-68 victory over St. Francis in Tuesday's First Four Game at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio. The stunning win gave Alabama State the right to face top-seeded Auburn in the South Region, which is quite the victory prize.

It was Alabama State's first NCAA tournament win in school history and a moment Knox will never forget.

He finished with a team-high 16 points, but it was the final two that drew the reaction from social media:

Both teams entered play with plenty of momentum, which made the back-and-forth affair anything but surprising.

Alabama State went 10-1 in its previous 11 games, including its victory over Jackson State in the SWAC tournament championship. And St. Francis won its previous six games, including its victory over Central Connecticut in the Northeast Conference tournament championship.

It was the Red Flash that parlayed that momentum into a quick start. They jumped out to a five-point halftime lead as Juan Cranford Jr. and Riley Parker caught fire from deep while Valentino Pinedo scored at the rim.

D'Ante Bass and Micah Simpson provided a spark off the bench to keep the Hornets well within striking distance, though, and TJ Madlock drilled a jumper before the buzzer to give the SWAC representative some momentum of its own.

Alabama State unleashed a full-court press at times in the second half as it created something of a frenetic pace to speed up the game. Knox also got to the rim multiple times, but the Red Flash seemed to have an answer every time to maintain the narrow lead.

Yet the Hornets finally got over the hump and took the lead when CJ Hines drilled a contested three-pointer with just more than four minutes remaining. It was their first advantage since early in the first half, and that advantage grew when Knoxx hit an unbelievable shot falling out of bounds before a Micah Octave dunk.

But St. Francis refused to go away with clutch three-pointers from Cranford and Chris Moncrief to tie it.

All signs were pointing to overtime, but the ball happened to bounce the right way for Knox.

And he took full advantage.

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