DAYTON, Ohio — Alabama State guard Micah Simpson played quarterback in middle school before switching to wide receiver and cornerback as a high schooler in Tennessee.
“Flashback,” Simpson said, flashing a big smile in the Hornets’ locker room.
“He’s definitely our quarterback,” teammate Amarr Knox said.
Simpson didn’t begin the season throwing long passes downcourt in end-of-game situations, earning the role only around Christmas. But when Alabama State needed a Hail Mary of sorts Tuesday night, tied with fellow No. 16 seed Saint Francis with 3.4 seconds left in a First Four matchup, Simpson was there to deliver.
His long pass was deflected twice before landing with Knox, whose layup with one second left lifted Alabama State to a 70-68 win. The Hornets notched their first NCAA tournament victory and advanced to face Auburn, the No. 1 overall seed and headliner of the South Region, on Thursday in Lexington, Kentucky.
“He makes that pass on the money all the time in practice,” said Knox, who led Alabama State with 16 points. “It was perfect today.”
Simpson targeted forward Jasteven Walker, Alabama State’s tallest starter at 6-foot-10, and had connected with him before. But this time, his pass hit the hands of both Walker and teammate TJ Madlock before ending up with Knox under the Saint Francis basket.
“It wasn’t supposed to go to me, but I wanted to go get it, go make a play, and that’s what I did,” Madlock said. “But it wasn’t supposed to go to me; it was supposed to go to our big. But hey, it’s March Madness. Anything can happen.”
Alabama State coach Tony Madlock, the father of TJ, said his team spends 10 to 12 minutes on situational elements before each game. The Hornets practice half-court shots, an option Tuesday if they had chosen a shorter inbounds pass.
The coach had options on the final sequence but went with a play lacking much of a success rate.
“Not that I’ve been involved in,” he said when asked if the play had worked before. “We practice it a lot.”
As Simpson added, “Usually, we just throw it, let the tall guy go get it, pass it to one of the shooters. But instead, we had it tipped up.”
Alabama State trailed by as many as nine points and reduced the deficit to one point four times in the second half. A CJ Hines 3-pointer with 4:24 to play gave the Hornets their first lead since the 14:20 mark of the first half. But a frenetic sequence that featured two Saint Francis 3-pointers and a turnover left the game deadlocked.
A Hornets team that won all three of its SWAC tournament games by five points or fewer was comfortable making another clutch play.
“All of our games end just like this,” Tony Madlock said.
Madlock played with and later coached for Penny Hardaway at Memphis. In 1992, they helped then-Memphis State to the Elite Eight as players. The two friends recently spoke during Madlock’s ride to work, reminiscing about their journey.
“Both of us are taking our teams to the Dance, and it’s just a special moment,” Madlock said.
His team will now face Auburn, the SEC heavyweight located only about 50 miles from Alabama State’s campus in Montgomery. In a college basketball season during which the Alabama schools have been front and center, the Hornets have a chance for the biggest upset.
Alabama State has faced Auburn only six times, most recently last season in a 20-point loss, and will seek its first win over the Tigers.
“We’re going to have this bus ride a couple hours down the road to play in Lexington at Rupp Arena,” Madlock said. “How can you beat that — for a school in the SWAC that has a lot of great tradition for us to go play at Rupp Arena? Nothing like it. We can’t wait.”
