Grambling State rallies for OT win in NCAA tournament debut - ESPN

DAYTON, Ohio — Grambling State coach Donte' Jackson's past, present and future came together Wednesday night at the First Four.

Jackson returned to the area where he finished college at Central State, where he met his wife, Shelithia, and where he began his coaching career, and not just in basketball. After helping Grambling State to a historic win, he left the arena holding Shelithia's hand, his team still alive in the NCAA tournament.

«I actually coached tennis, also,» Jackson said. «I got tennis players in the crowd, former basketball players in the crowd.»

Jackson's former players in his «second home» watched No. 16 seed Grambling State erase a 14-point deficit in the second half to defeat fellow No. 16 seed Montana State 88-81 in overtime. The Tigers advanced in the Midwest region and will face No. 1 seed Purdue on Friday in Indianapolis.

Eleven seasons after going 0-28, Grambling State won its NCAA tournament debut, becoming the first team to open 1-0 in the event since Northwestern in 2017.

«To get a first-round win, it's just amazing,» Jackson said. «That is just major exposure for our program, just letting these guys know that they could have went to all these other big schools and things of that nature, but they chose right by coming to Grambling.»

The Tigers became the ninth HBCU program to win in the NCAA tournament and the sixth since 2000. They did so behind an unlikely hero in sophomore guard Jimel Cofer, who scored all of his team-high 19 points in the second half in overtime, after not playing at all in the first half, or in Grambling's SWAC championship game win over Texas Southern.

«Even when I'm not playing, I'm locked in on the game because eventually, my name's going to be called,» Cofer said.

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