Players on the San Diego bench react as teammate De'Jon Jackson (not shown) hits the game-winning shot in overtime. San Diego, the West Regional's 13th seed, stunned fourth-seeded Connecticut, 70-69, Friday in Tampa, Fla.

Players on the San Diego bench react as teammate De'Jon Jackson (not shown) hits the game-winning shot in overtime. San Diego, the West Regional's 13th seed, stunned fourth-seeded Connecticut, 70-69, Friday in Tampa, Fla.

Siena coach Fran McCaffery hugs Kenny Hasbrouck (41) as teammate Tay Fisher looks on after the team defeated Vanderbilt, 83-62. Siena, the Midwest's No. 13 seed, upset Vandy, the fourth seed, Friday in Tampa, Fla.

Tampa, Fla. ? San Diego’s Rob Jones didn’t even bother leaving his feet when the ball was tossed up to start the game.

The 6-foot-6 forward knew he didn’t have a chance against Connecticut’s 7-foot-3 center Hasheem Thabeet.

When the same thing happened to begin overtime, Jones jumped so high he nearly got the tip – a clear indication of how confident the Toreros had become. They were even more fearless in the final seconds.

De’Jon Jackson hit the biggest shot in school history – a long jumper with 1.2 seconds left in overtime – and 13th-seeded San Diego beat No. 4 seed Connecticut, 70-69, Friday in the first round of the NCAA’s West Regional.

“The thing I put on the board: Don’t let them get a sniff that we’re two equal teams,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. “We allowed them to believe that it wasn’t going to be what everybody said it was going to be.”

Instead, UConn is heading home much earlier than expected. The Huskies (24-9) hadn’t lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament since 1979 and never during Calhoun’s 22 seasons.

San Diego, meanwhile, got its first tournament victory in four tries. The Toreros (22-13) advanced to play No. 12 Western Kentucky in the second round.

And if Brandon Johnson and Gyno Pomare play like they did against Connecticut, the small, Southern California school known mostly for its scenic ocean views could be in for an extended tournament stay.

Johnson had 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Pomare had 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting.

Together, they gave UConn all it could handle, especially after leading scorer A.J. Price left the game because of a knee injury.

But both of San Diego’s stars fouled out in overtime.

Siena 83, Vanderbilt 62

Tampa, Fla. – Privately, some Siena players wondered in recent days if their counterparts on the Vanderbilt roster knew any of their names.

If the Commodores didn’t, they surely do now.

Kenny Hasbrouck and Tay Fisher personally saw to that, and the Saints have another colossal upset to add to their tiny school’s NCAA Tournament legacy.

Hasbrouck scored 30 points, Fisher added 19 on 6-for-6 shooting from three-point range, and 13th-seeded Siena stunned No. 4 Vanderbilt in the first round of the Midwest Regional. The Saints (23-10) never trailed, became the first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference team to reach the second round since Manhattan in 2004, and will play Villanova on Sunday.

“I really don’t consider it an upset,” Fisher said. “I have confidence in my team, and I knew we could hang with anybody in the country.”

Siena vs. Villanova will be a rare matchup: Since the NCAA field expanded to 16 seeds per region in 1985, a 12th seed has faced a 13th seed in the second round only four other times.

Until now, Siena’s program was best known for a first-round upset of Stanford in 1989 – a 14 seed over a 3. This one might have been just as shocking, considering it came against an SEC team in Vanderbilt that reached the round of 16 last year and had aspirations of doing at least that much this year.

But this might not have been a surprise.

After all, it was in Tampa, which might now have a reputation as a bracket-busting sort of town. Earlier Friday, two other unheralded underdogs pulled off upsets on the same floor where Siena won: No. 12 Western Kentucky beat fifth-seeded Drake, and No. 13 San Diego ousted fourth-seeded Connecticut.