What could have been NCAA tournament: Gonzaga tops Duke to win the West
For the third season in a row, Duke was one possession away from the Final Four. For the second time in the past four years — and in school history — Gonzaga is going.
Javin De Laurier’s jumper from the right wing hit the side of the rim as time expired in the West regional final, depriving Duke of a chance to force overtime and delivering the top-seeded Zags an 84-82 win over the third-seeded Blue Devils in front of a partisan Staples Center crowd.
Cassius Stanley hit a 3-pointer with 10 seconds to play to pull the Blue Devils within one, and Gonzaga’s Anton Wilson, miraculously healthy after missing the second half of the season, made only one of two free throws to leave the door open for Duke.
The score was tied at 67 before Gonzaga went on a 12-2 run to take control and establish a lead the Zags would not relinquish. Killian Tillie led Gonzaga with 18 points. The Zags have won 27 of their past 28 games.
Stanley led Duke with 17 points while Tre Jones added 15 points and eight assists. Vernon Carey was held to 13 points and nine rebounds in limited playing time.
Duke still made history: The regional semifinal win over Villanova was Mike Krzyzewski’s first-ever NCAA tournament win in the Pacific time zone, running his record to 1-5 (and, shortly, 1-6). But the Blue Devils were denied on the final possession yet again. Two years ago, Grayson Allen’s potential game-winning layup to beat Kansas rimmed out; the Jayhawks won in overtime. Last season, RJ Barrett missed a free throw with 5.2 seconds to play that would have tied the score against Michigan State.
REGIONAL FINAL
AT LOS ANGELES
1 GONZAGA 84, 3 DUKE 82
GONZAGA — Killian Tillie 18 points; Filip Petrusev 15 points, 10 rebounds; Joel Ayayi 13 points; Ryan Woolridge 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists.
DUKE — Cassius Stanley 17 points; Tre Jones 15 points, eight assists; Vernon Carey 13 points, nine rebounds; Wendell Moore nine points, seven rebounds.
REGIONAL SEMIFINALS
AT LOS ANGELES
1 GONZAGA 97, 13 BELMONT 94 (OT)
GONZAGA — Corey Kispert 19 points; Filip Petrusev 18 points, 7 rebounds; Killian Tillie 15 points; Joel Ayayi 13 points, 6 rebounds; Anton Watson 11 points.
BELMONT — Adam Kunkel 25 points; Grayson Murphy 18 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists; Nick Muszynski 15 points, 7 rebounds; Tyler Scanlon 11 points.
GAME NOTES — Belmont’s Scanlon sank a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left to force the overtime. Ayayi’s contested pull-up jumper with 27 seconds left in the extra period gave Gonzaga a three-point lead and the Bulldogs made their free throws down the stretch.
AT LOS ANGELES
3 DUKE 84, 2 VILLANOVA 74
DUKE — Vernon Carey 25 points, 11 rebounds; Tre Jones 18 points, 8 assists; Matthew Hurt 12 points; Cassius Stanley 10 points.
VILLANOVA — Saddiq Bey 16 points; Justin Moore 15 points; Collin Gillespie 10 points.
GAME NOTES — Duke out-rebounded Villanova 40-28. The Blue Devils held Villanova to 30 percent (6 of 20) on 3-pointers. The Blue Devils built a 12-point lead late in the first half.
SECOND ROUND
AT SPOKANE
1 GONZAGA 93, 8 LSU 86
GONZAGA — Corey Kispert 17 points; Joel Ayayi 15 points; Filip Petrusev 15 points, 11 rebounds; Ryan Woolridge 14 points; Killian Tillie 13 points.
LSU — Trendon Watford 17 points, 6 rebounds; Skylar Mays 15 points, 8 rebounds; Ja’vonte Smart 13 points, 6 assists; Emmitt Williams 11 points, 6 rebounds; James Bishop 11 points.
GAME NOTES — Gonzaga’s offense exploded in the second half, outscoring LSU 61-48, to erase a six point halftime deficit.
AT SPOKANE
13 BELMONT 107, 5 OHIO STATE 103 (2 OT)
BELMONT — Nick Muszynski 28 points, 8 rebounds; Adam Kunkel 23 points; Tyler Scanlon 15 points, 7 rebounds; Grayson Murphy 11 points, 7 rebounds, 12 assists.
OHIO STATE — Andre Wesson 18 points, 8 rebounds; Kaleb Wesson 18 points, 11 rebounds; Kyle Young 15 points, 11 rebounds; Duane Washington 13 points; Luther Muhammad 12 points.
GAME NOTES: Belmont’s Michael Benkert hit a jumper as the buzzer expired to send the game into overtime. After a 10-10 first overtime, the Bruins opened up a six-point lead in the second extra period. Belmont is your first true Cinderella of the tournament.
AT GREENSBORO
3 DUKE 88, 6 ILLINOIS 79
DUKE — Vernon Carey 18 points, 13 rebounds; Cassius Stanley 18 points; Tre Jones 12 points.
ILLINOIS — Trent Frazier 13 points; Ayo Dosunmu 12 points; Kofi Cockburn 11 points, 8 rebounds; Giorgi Bezhanishvili 10 points, 6 rebounds.
GAME NOTES — Duke built a 51-36 halftime lead. The Blue Devils held Illinois to 26.3 percent (5 of 19) shooting from 3-point range.
AT ALBANY
2 VILLANOVA 75, 10 OKLAHOMA 63
VILLANOVA — Jermaine Samuels 21 points, 7 rebounds; Collin Gillespie 14 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists; Justin Moore 13 points; Jeremiah Robinson-Earl 10 points, 11 rebounds; Cole Swider 10 points.
OKLAHOMA — Kristian Doolittle 16 points, 15 rebounds; Austin Reaves 15 points; Brady Manek 10 points.
GAME NOTES — Villanova out-rebounds Oklahoma 43-33. The Wildcats led 34-29 at halftime before outscoring the Sooners by seven in the second half.
FIRST ROUND
AT SPOKANE
1 GONZAGA 96, 16 BOSTON U. 88
GONZAGA — Filip Petrusev 21 points, 8 rebounds; Corey Kispert 18 points; Killian Tillie 17 points; Ryan Woolridge 13 points.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY — Walter Whyte 24 points, 11 rebounds; Max Mahoney 17 points, 13 rebounds; Javante McCoy 15 points, 6 assists.
GAME NOTES — Top-seeded Gonzaga almost blew it, giving up an unheard-of 56 points in the first half and trailing 56-44 at the break. But they turned it around in the second half, outscoring the Terriers 52-32 in the final 20 minutes to get the win.
AT SPOKANE
8 LSU 95, 9 MARQUETTE 83
LSU — Skylar Mays 22 points; Trendon Watford 21 points, 9 rebounds; Ja’vonte Smart 17 points, 7 assists; Emmitt Williams 12 points, 11 rebounds.
MARQUETTE — Markus Howard 31 points; Jamal Cain 17 points; Sacar Anim 13 points; Brendan Bailey 11 points.
GAME NOTES — LSU outscored Marquette 21-13 in the final five minutes of the first half, including a Charles Manning jumper to beat the first-half buzzer and stretch the lead to 47-42. Marquette surged to briefly take a 1-point lead early in the second half before. But LSU responded with a run of its own to go back up by 8 and never trailed again.
AT SPOKANE
5 OHIO STATE 68, 12 LIBERTY 58
OHIO STATE — Luther Muhammad 15 points; Kaleb Wesson 11 points, 11 rebounds; Kyle Young 10 points, 8 rebounds.
LIBERTY — Caleb Homesley 11 points; Darius McGhee 10 points.
GAME NOTES — Ohio State’s defense held Liberty to 39 percent shooting. Ohio State’s biggest lead was 13 points.
AT SPOKANE
13 BELMONT 78, 4 OREGON 73
BELMONT — Adam Kunkel 21 points; Tyler Scanlon 13 points; Nick Muszynski 13 points; Grayson Murphy 11 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists.
OREGON — Chris Duarte 17 points; Payton Pritchard 16 points.
GAME NOTES — In the tournament’s first major upset, Belmont took the lead on a Murphy jumper with 9:26 to play in the first half and never trailed again. Murphy also beat the halftime buzzer with a 16-foot jumper that put Belmont up 11 at the half.
AT GREENSBORO
6 ILLINOIS 82, 11 ARIZONA STATE 77
ILLINOIS — Ayo Dosunmu 28 points; Kofi Cockburn 14 points, 12 rebounds; Trent Frazier 11 points; Andres Feliz 11 points.
ARIZONA STATE — Rob Edwards 19 points, 7 rebounds; Alonzo Verge 15 points; Taeshon Cherry 14 points; Kimani Lawrence 10 points.
GAME NOTES — Illinois trailed by 5 at halftime but outscored Arizona State 44-34 in the second half. Arizona State’s biggest lead was 11 points late in the second half.
AT GREENSBORO
3 DUKE 91, 14 BRADLEY 85
DUKE — Tre Jones 19 points, 7 rebounds; Wendell Moore 15 points, 7 rebounds; Cassius Stanley 15 points; Vernon Carey 12 points, 9 rebounds; Matthew Hurt 12 points.
BRADLEY — Ja’Shon Henry 19 points, 8 rebounds; Elijah Childs 18 points, 8 rebounds; Darrell Brown 12 points; Danya Kingsby 12 points; Koch Bar 12 points.
GAME NOTES — Duke led 41-34 at halftime and extended its lead to as many as 20 points in the second half before the pesky Braves closed the gap late.
AT ALBANY
10 OKLAHOMA 77, 7 IOWA 76
OKLAHOMA — Austin Reaves 22 points, 8 rebounds; Kristian Doolittle 14 points, 12 rebounds; Brady Manek 12 points.
IOWA — Luka Garza 10 points, 13 rebounds; Joe Wieskamp 12 points; Jack Nunge 10 points.
GAME NOTES — For the tournament’s first magic moment, Kristian Doolittle hit a fadeaway jumper from the left wing as time expired to give Oklahoma the one-point victory. Iowa had taken the lead when Nunge made an open, one-handed shot with 56 seconds to go. The teams traded possessions before Manek missed a 3-point attempt from the right corner with 12 seconds left. However, Doolittle came up with the huge rebound and cleared, beginning the sequence that led to his heroic buzzer-beater.
AT ALBANY
2 VILLANOVA 87, 15 LITTLE ROCK 72
VILLANOVA — Jermaine Samuels 20 points; Collin Gillespie 17 points; Justin Moore 15 points; Jeremiah Robinson-Earl 11 points, 10 rebounds.
LITTLE ROCK — Marcus Johnson Jr. 15 points, 6 rebounds; Deondre Burns 14 points; Jalen Jackson 12 points.
GAME NOTES — Villanova led by as many as 19 points early in the second half.
