NEW YORK (JTA) — Jake Cohen, a junior forward from Berwyn, Pa., had 24 points and 10 rebounds, but Davidson College lost in the opening round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Louisville, the fourth seed in the West Regional, upended the 13th-seeded Wildcats, 69-62, on Thursday in Portland, Ore. Davidson finished at 25-8.
The 6-foot-10 Cohen connected on 9 of 18 field goal attempts and 6 of 7 from the foul line against the defensively strong Cardinals (27-9), who won the Big East Conference tournament. He also had a blocked shot and a steal.
Cohen had powered the North Carolina school to the title in the Southern Conference tournament with 17 points, 7 rebounds and 7 blocked shots in a 93-91 double overtime victory over Western Carolina in the championship game. This season he averaged 14 points, 6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks.
On Friday, also in the West Region, third-year coach Josh Pastner will guide the University of Memphis in its first-round match against St. Louis University in Columbus, Ohio. Memphis (26-8), the Conference USA champion, is seeded eighth, while St. Louis (25-7) is the ninth seed.
Pastner has a 75-28 overall record at the helm of the Tigers.
The next morning, junior guard Lauren Polansky will be in action when Princeton University plays its opener in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament against Kansas State in Bridgeport, Conn. Polansky for the second straight season was the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, averaging 2.4 steals for the conference’s best defensive squad.
Princeton (24-4), which carries a 17-game winning streak into the game and was undefeated in the Ivy League, is seeded eighth in the Kingston, R.I., bracket; Kansas State is the ninth seed.
