Cockurn March Madness ends yesterday

National basketball player Kofi Cockburn's NCAA men's tournament campaign ended yesterday in disappointment as the number-one seed University of Illinois were stunned 71-58 by the eighth-seed Loyola University Chicago in their second-round game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indiana.

Having been projected as one of the teams to advance to the tournament's final four, Illionois instead succumbed to an early exit despite Cockburn finishing the game as the team's highest scorer with 21 points. While they cruised in Friday's opening-round win against Drexel University, they faced stiff competition from the Loyola University Ramblers who led from wire to wire.

Illinois, who won the Big 10 conference title to seal their berth into the tournament, led the all-time series between the Rambles 12-3 entering their latest encounter but had lost the last two outings. Loyola dominated the first half and while Cockburn managed to score the last five points in the half they were still down by nine entering the second half. Illinois, while managing to keep the score close at times, were not able to make the deficit ending their season with a 24-7 overall record.

Loyola centre Cameron Krutwig said during the post-game interview while going against Cockburn was difficult, he credited his head coach Porter Moser in giving him the necessary encouragement to succeed

"A lot of respect to him. He is a big man in there and I knew it was going to be a tough matchup for me. Coach [Moser] just instilled confidence in me," Krutwig said speaking to CBS's Tracey Wolfson. "He kind of went to me right away right out the gate. Shots didn't start falling at the start there but just kept with it."

Highest national ranking

Cockburn returned to Illinois for his sophomore season after initially declaring for last year's NBA draft and has gone on to help the team to their highest national ranking in years. Statistically, he is the only player this season to average 15 points and nine rebounds on 65 per cent shooting and in Big 10 conference games has averaged a double-double (18.6 points per game, 10.1 rebounds per game). His individual numbers earned him Sporting News second-team All American as well as named to the first team all Big-10. Additionally, he was named to the Associated Press all-America teams.

The elimination of Cockburn ended Jamaican participation in the tournament as Jamaica born Patrick Ewing's run with Georgetown University ended with a first-round elimination on Saturday against the University of Colorado. Ewing guided the team to their first tournament appearance in six years in his fourth season as head coach.