Butler slips past Pitt, 71-70
Published 12:06 am Sunday, March 20, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) — Matt Howard made one free throw with 0.8 seconds left to cap a wild final sequence, and Butler added another amazing victory to its list of NCAA tournament upsets, eliminating top-seeded Pittsburgh 71-70 Saturday.
Each team had a chance to win it from the foul line in the last 2 seconds. After Butler’s Shelvin Mack inexplicably fouled Gilbert Brown near midcourt with 1.4 seconds left, Brown made the first try to tie it.
He missed the second, and Howard was fouled by Nasir Robinson while grabbing the rebound. Howard made the first shot, then intentionally banged the second attempt off the rim.
Brown finished with 24 points, but he will forever remember the missed free throw.
Mack scored 30 for Butler (25-9), which used a string of upsets to reach the championship game last year. Butler has won 11 straight overall and is 7-1 in its last eight NCAA tournament games.
Pittsburgh (28-6), the Big East regular-season champion, trailed by 12 points in the first half and blew a five-point lead in the second.
San Diego State 71,
Temple 64, 2 OT
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Billy White had 16 points and 13 rebounds and Kawhi Leonard sealed San Diego State’s exhausting victory with a steal and a slam dunk.
White sank the go-ahead jumper and Leonard made two free throws as the second-seeded Aztecs (34-2) used one last burst of their magnificent athleticism to finally put away the pesky, No. 7 seed Owls (26-7).
Ramone Moore scored 17 for Temple.
Richmond 65, Morehead State 48
DENVER (AP) — Justin Harper scored 19 points and Kevin Anderson added 14, helping 12th-seeded Richmond advance to the round of 16 for the first time since 1988.
Richmond (29-7) shut down 13th-seeded Morehead State big man and NBA prospect Kenneth Faried — at least as much as anyone can these days.
Faried, the all-time Division I rebounder in the modern era, was held to 11 points and 13 rebounds as the Eagles (25-10), the darlings of the tournament after knocking off Louisville, were sent home.
BYU 89, Gonzaga 67
DENVER (AP) — Jimmer Fredette made seven 3-pointers and scored 34 points to help No. 3 seed Brigham Young defeat No. 11 Gonzaga and move to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament for the first time in 30 years.
The nation’s leading scorer had trouble getting his shots in the first half. But he opened the second by hitting a 3 from five feet beyond the arc as part of an 11-2 run that broke the game open.
The Cougars (32-4) will head to New Orleans to play Florida in the Southeast regional semifinals Thursday.
This is BYU’s deepest run into the tournament since 1981, the year Danny Ainge went coast to coast for a last-second layup to beat Notre Dame in the round of 16.
Elias Harris and Steven Gray had 18 points for the Bulldogs (25-10).
Florida 73, UCLA 65
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s little man Erving Walker came up big again, scoring 21 points and hitting several clutch shots down the stretch.
Walker scored 10 of his team’s final 12 points, including four free throws in the final 33 seconds. His most significant basket was a 3-pointer with about a minute remaining. That shot gave the second-seeded Gators (28-7) a 69-65 lead and forced the No. 7 seed Bruins (23-11) into desperation mode.
Kenny Boynton added 12 points and five assists for the Gators. Alex Tyus chipped in eight points and a season-high 13 rebounds.
Josh Smith and Reeves Nelson led UCLA with 16 points apiece.