Buzzer Beater Lifts the Longhorns
MILWAUKEE - The last game of the day at the Bradley Center turned out to be the closest, as Cameron Ridley's buzzer-beating putback of a Jonathan Holmes missed jumper gave Texas, the No. 7 seed in the Midwest Region, a thrilling 87-85 victory over stubborn Arizona State.
The Longhorns held on after blowing a 14-point lead with 12 minutes 11 seconds to play.
A dunk by Jordan Bachynski, Arizona State's 7-foot-2 center, put the Sun Devils ahead, 83-82, with 44 seconds left, but Holmes and Ridley each put back missed shots to help Texas prevail. Ridley had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Longhorns (24-10), who face second-seeded Michigan on Saturday.
Texas led, 61-47, but a 17-5 run by Arizona State cut that margin to 2 after Jonathan Gilling hit a 3-pointer with 8:15 left. The Sun Devils wasted a chance to the lead with about five minutes left when Gilling muffed a Jahii Carson pass he wasn't expecting. The ball deflected out of bounds near midcourt, and Javan Felix sank a 3-pointer for Texas to make the score 76-72.
Jermaine Marshall finally tied the score for Arizona State with a fallaway 3-pointer, his fourth of the game, with just over three minutes to play.
Once Arizona State took that last one-point lead, Holmes maneuvered inside to put back a Felix airball out of the left corner and draw a foul, adding the free throw to make the score 85-83. Marshall then misfired on another stepback 3-pointer. Gilling and Holmes tangled for the rebound, with Holmes called for the foul. Gilling made both free throws with 16.2 seconds left.
Six players scored in double figures for Texas. Bachynski finished with 25 points and Carson had 19 for the Sun Devils (21-12).
It marked a noteworthy return to tournament play for Texas, which qualified in each of Coach Rick Barnes's first 14 seasons in Austin until last year's 16-18 finish, a season rife with infighting and other problems. And the game was a reunion of sorts: Arizona State Coach Herb Sendek was an assistant on Barnes's staff at Providence in 1988-89.
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