Saint Peter's Peacocks shock No. 2 Kentucky Wildcats in first round of NCAA tournament

INDIANAPOLIS — Saint Peter's took down basketball royalty on Thursday night, getting 27 points from Daryl Banks III in an 85-79 overtime victory over second-seeded Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The Peacocks became the 10th No. 15 seed to win a first-round game since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 and handed Kentucky its first opening-round loss under coach John Calipari.

St. Peter's closed as an 18.5-point underdog and pulled off the largest upset in the NCAA tournament since Coppin State (+18.5) knocked off South Carolina in 1997. The Peacocks' win is also tied for the fourth-largest point spread upset in the tournament since 1985.

Kentucky entered the tournament with the third-best odds to win the championship at 7-1 at Caesars Sportsbook.

Saint Peter's, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion, kept it close throughout and Banks' two free throws with 1:45 left in overtime gave the Peacocks the lead for good. Doug Edert's layup with 24 seconds left in regulation sent the game to overtime. He also made the final two game-sealing free throws for the Peacocks and finished with 20 points.

Saint Peter's (20-11) moves on to face either Murray State or San Francisco in Saturday's second round in the East Region.

Not bad for a private Jesuit school in Jersey City, New Jersey, that's made half as many NCAA Tournament appearances (four) as Kentucky has national titles (eight).

Oscar Tshiebwe had 30 points and 16 rebounds for Kentucky (26-8) but his pair of missed free throws early in overtime was costly, and the Wildcats lacked a reliable secondary scorer. TyTy Washington Jr. was held to five points on 2-of-10 shooting.

The game featured 16 ties and 13 lead changes. Kentucky went ahead