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St. Peter gained the upper hand on St. Patrick's Day when the underdog team of the small Jesuit school, Saint Peter’s University of Jersey City, N.J., upset the mighty University of Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The school’s winning streak continued in the second round of the tournament March 19, when the Peacocks beat Murray State University, 70-60, gaining a spot in the tournament’s Sweet 16.
St. Peter’s will now face Purdue University Friday, March 25, in Philadelphia in the East Region. The Jesuit school joins three other Catholic colleges in the third round of the tournament: top-ranked Jesuit-run Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.; Villanova University, an Augustinian school outside of Philadelphia; and Rhode Island's Dominican-run Providence College.
On Thursday, March 24, Gonzaga plays the University of Arkansas in San Francisco, and Villanova plays the University of Michigan in San Antonio. The following day in Chicago, Providence will play the University of Kansas. The Peacocks' 85-79 win over No. 2-seeded Wildcats in overtime March 17 at the start of the tournament was one for the record books since the New Jersey team went into the tournament as the No. 15 seed.
—CNS
