The Hampton Pirates kicked off the 2015 NCAA Tournament with a win over the Manhattan Jaspers. Guard Quinton Chievous led the way for the Pirates, who will now face the tournament's No. 1 overall seed.
Chievous finished 7-for-12 from the field with 15 points and 13 rebounds to help the Pirates to a 74-64 victory over the Jaspers. Manhattan entered the matchup as nine-point favorites, but they fell behind seven points after the first half and couldn't recover in the second.
Hampton shot a stellar 49.1% from the field compared to Manhattan's 37.1%, which was the difference-maker in the matchup. The Jaspers made only six of 25 three-pointers and turned the ball over 17 times, committing countless self-inflicted wounds. The Pirates capitalized by taking high-percentage shots and only seven from beyond the arc.
According to NumberFire.com, Manhattan had a 68.2% chance of winning and a 35.1% chance of covering the nine-point spread.
The top three scorers on Manhattan - Emmy Andujar, Ashton Pankey and Shane Richards - were held to 14-of-39 shooting and only 37 points, including Richards' dismal 4-of-14 from three-point range.
Hampton was able to take advantage without their top scorer in guard Dwight Meikle, who missed tonight's game as well as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament final because of an ankle injury. Chievous also injured his ankle in the final minutes, but hopes to be good to go for their next game against the top-seeded Kentucky Wildcats.
"It was really physical but we all came ready to battle, and we came out with the win and I'm just so happy right now," he told Matt Norlander of CBS Sports. "I've gotta get healthy, man, and my teammates gotta get ready, locked in and focused and hopefully we can get an upset at the end of the day."
Hampton will take on the Wildcats on Thursday at 9:40 p.m. ET.
