Watch: The first game of March Madness ends in Mayhem as Alabama State Downs Saint Francis with the shot in the last second

The NCAA tournament 2025 began epic on Tuesday when the state of Alabama amazed in the first four Saint Francis game with a last second shot to defeat the Panthers with 70-68. The Hornets drove with 3.4 seconds and achieved a hail-mary pass at the other end, which was distracted directly into Amarr Knox's hands for the start jumper.

The full pass in Alabama State plunged directly on the market with two defenders to hit the ball of two players of the State of Alabama. But Knox was right there to collect the cleanup under the basket, and calmly delivered the dagger when the clock was bleeding down to less than a second.

“We wanted to throw the ball for a long time and we put our highest, sportiest person to get the ball,” said Knox after the game. “Fortunately, the ball landed with me, I got the rebound and made the layup.”

Knox ended the game with 16 points and had 10 of them in the second half when the Hornets were excavated from a nine-point deficit for victory.

Alabama State, a seed No. 16, moves away from the first four to the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2025 and will compete against Auburn against Auburn against number 1 on Thursday. The game will type in CBS at around 2:50 p.m. ET.