DAYTON, Ohio — Alabama State won the first game of the 2025 NCAA Tournament with a Hail Mary against Saint Francis in the final seconds.

Alabama State guard Amarr Knox grabbed the ball out of a scrum under the Hornets' basket following a full-court pass and banked it in with one second to go to break a 68-all tie.

Saint Francis had a chance to win it, but a desperation heave from beyond midcourt by Chris Moncrief fell short as time expired.

With the 70-68 win, Alabama State advances to take on No. 1 seed Auburn on Thursday in the round of 64 in Lexington, Ky.

The Hornets (20-15) won a national postseason game for the first time in school history.

Saint Francis led for most of the game until CJ Hines put the Hornets on top 62-60 with a 3-pointer with 4:24 to go in the second half.

SFU’s Juan Cranford Jr. tied it with a driving layup two minutes later, his first basket of the second half, but Knox put the Hornets back on to with a high-arching layup from a difficult angle, and Micah Octave gave them a four-point lead with a breakaway dunk.

That came off the 14th turnover of the night for the Red Flash.

After a timeout, Cranford made a 3-pointer to draw the Red Flash within one, and Moncrief tied it with a trey after by TJ Madlock.

Madlock then was fouled in a scramble for a rebound, putting him at the free-throw line for one-and-one with 11.8 seconds left.

He missed the front end and Saint Francis got the rebound but turned it over with 3.4 seconds left.

That set up the game-winning play for Alabama State.

Cranford, a freshman from Dayton who starred at Wayne High School, finished with a game-high 18 points for Saint Francis while Knox had 16 and Madlock added 11 for the Hornets.

Alabama State led early, but Cranford made back-to-back 3s to put the Red Flash on top 12-10 with just under 14 minutes to go in the first half.

He hit another trey to extend the lead back to six with just over four minutes left, and a fourth four an eight-point lead with under two minutes to go.

The Red Flash led 39-34 at the half with Cranford leading all scorers with 13 points.

He hit four of five 3-pointers and grabbed six rebounds — also a game high — while drawing three fouls.

D’Ante Bass led Alabama State with eight points in the first half.

The Red Flash shot 13 for 22 (59.1%) in the first half but committed nine turnovers that turned into 15 points for the Hornets.

Alabama State also got 19 points off the bench in the first 20 minutes while SFU had none.

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