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Health & Fitness

Two Baysiders Are Playing In March Madness

March Madness is now in high gear but did you know that there was a Bayside flavor to the NCAA tournament? Read on for the details....

March Madness is in full gear as we head to the “Sweet Sixteen” in the NCAA college basketball tournament that began last week and will end with the championship game on Monday, April 2, 2012 in New Orleans.

Last week two of Bayside’s own, James Southerland and Marcos Tamares, played crucial roles in their school’s opening game victories. Southerland, a 6’8” junior forward with the No. 1 seeded Syracuse University (nationally ranked #2) was a standout at Cardozo High Schoo  before graduating and going to college at Syracuse and play for Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim.

Last Thursday, Southerland came off the bench to score 15 points and a career high eight rebounds in Syracuse's 72-65 victory against 16th seeded North Carolina-Ashville in an opening round game of the NCAA college basketball tournament in Pittsburgh, PA. Southerland, who scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half of the game, including a key basket with 6:17 left in the second half to give the Orange a lead they would not surrender. Syracuse advanced into the Sweet Sixteen on Saturday when they defeated Kansas State, 75-59 and will next play Wisconsin in the Eastern Regionals played in Boston, MA. Southerland again scored 15 points in the win over Kansas State hitting 5 of 6 field goals in the second half. Southerland has been seeing more playing time in the last two games due to Syracuse’s starting center, Fab Melo, being declared ineligible by the school for the remainder of the tournament.

In a major opening round upset, Norfolk State University, seeded 15th in the Western Regional defeated No. 2 seeded Missouri, 86-84, in Omaha, NE.   Marcos Tamares, a 6’7” senior forward with the Norfolk State University Spartans, scored 11 points, including a key three-point basket in the second half, in an exciting win over the highly rated Missouri Tigers, the #3 nationally ranked college basketball team.

The Spartans held on to the victory as Missouri attempted a long buzzer beating shot that would have won the game, but just missed. Norfolk State’s celebration was well deserved, but short lived as they were decisively defeated by their next opponent, the Florida Gators on Sunday, 84-50. Tamares scored 12 points in his last game with the Spartans. Tamares graduated from St. Mary's High School in Manhasset, but is reportedly from Bayside.

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