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Madness in Dayton, March Madness Gets Off to Thrilling Start in First Game

March Madness gets off to an incredible start as the Alabama State Hornets shock Saint Francis.

Anthony Moeglin

Mar 18, 2025; Dayton, OH, USA; The Alabama State Hornets celebrate a play in the second half against the St. Francis (Pa) Red Flash at UD Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
Mar 18, 2025; Dayton, OH, USA; The Alabama State Hornets celebrate a play in the second half against the St. Francis (Pa) Red Flash at UD Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

Step aside Christian Laettner, there is a new March Madness signature moment.

With just 3.4 seconds remaining in regulation, the game was tied with Alabama State inbounding the basketball underneath their own basket. The play they drew up resembled a football Hail Mary. Forward Micah Simpson took the ball from the ref and heaved it as far as he could down the floor.

Two players from each team leaped for the ball and it caromed out of the scrum into the waiting hands of Amarr Knox, who gathered and laid the ball up and in.

Pandemonium in Dayton ensued as the Hornets needed a full dose of madness in the very first game of the tournament to get the victory.

It is games like this that make March so special. The elation of victory contrasted with the agony of defeat. Many will argue that Saint Francis deserved to win the game. But, a strong defensive stretch, some timely shooting and a little magic were enough to push Alabama State into the first round. 

Alabama State just went from a team that very few people outside of Montgomery, Alabama know about to one that no one will forget anytime soon. 

They hail from the Southwestern Athletic Conference with an enrollment of 3,322 students and they got hot at the right time. They finished fourth in the conference during the regular season before stringing together three straight wins in the conference tournament to earn the right to play in the Big Dance.

It is likely that their road will quickly come to an end, as they now have a date with the Auburn Tigers. For tonight, however, Alabama State is the king of the college basketball world.

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Anthony Moeglin
ANTHONY MOEGLIN

Anthony Moeglin is a northeast Ohio native, who most notably quarterbacked John Carroll University to the NCAA DIII National Semifinals in 2016 after beating the No. 1 team in the country twice in a 4-week stretch. He contributes written and video/podcast content across a variety of the sites in the On SI network, including regular video coverage of the Cleveland Browns, Ohio State Buckeyes, Cleveland Cavaliers.