Northwestern gets 1st tournament win thanks to Vanderbilt blunder

Northwestern's first-ever NCAA tournament win wasn't pretty, but the job got done.

The Wildcats advanced into the Round of 32 with a narrow 68-66 victory Thursday thanks to a mental mistake from Vanderbilt guard Matthew Fisher-Davis.

Vanderbilt held a one-point lead when Fisher-Davis needlessly committed an intentional foul with 14.6 seconds left. Northwestern was in the bonus, which sent Bryant McIntosh - an 86 percent free-throw shooter - to the line.

McIntosh canned both freebies to take the lead. Vanderbilt still had a shot to win, but Riley LaChance's triple rimmed out.

The eighth-seeded Wildcats held a steady lead for most of the match, but the Commodores gradually chipped away and eventually flipped a 12-point deficit into a brief one-point advantage in the final minute. Fisher-Davis poured in a team-high 22 points off the bench to spur the comeback before his crucial error ended his team's hopes.

McIntosh led the Wildcats in scoring with 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting, while Dererk Pardon and Scottie Lindsey chipped in with 14 apiece.