PITTSBURGH — Stephen Ashworth and Ryan Kalkbrenner hit 3-pointers in the second overtime on Saturday night, and Creighton rallied past former coach and Oregon’s Dana Altman to win 86-73 and advance to the NCAA Tournament. advanced to the Sweet 16.
A 3S by the 6-foot-1 Ashworth and a rare 3 by 7-1 Kalkbrenner helped the third-seeded Blue Jays (25-9) score the first 15 points of the second OT, eventually They defeated the 11th-seeded Ducks (24-12).
“It’s an epic game. I don’t know if I’ve been a part of anything quite like it in 35 years,” said Creighton coach Greg McDermott, who took over for Altman in 2010.
Ashworth added 21 points, Trey Alexander 20 and Kalkbrenner 19 for Creighton, which will play Tennessee in the Midwest Region in Detroit on Friday, making its third Sweet 16 appearance in four years.
It took balance, big shots, clutch free throws and poise for the Blue Jays to overcome Oregon’s devastating one-two punch of Jermaine Quinard and N’Falye Dante.
Quinard, who scored 40 points in the first round game against his alma mater, South Carolina, had 32 points and Dante added 28 points and 20 rebounds.
The game was the second OT game of the night at PPG Paints Arena after North Carolina State ended Oakland’s Cinderella run with a 79-73 victory in the first game.
The game pitted Altman and McDermott, two of the winningest coaches in Creighton history, against each other. They are close friends, occasional golf buddies, and the reason the Blue Jays are a mid-major powerhouse and a March threat.
For two hours, both teams remained in a close battle without giving up an inch. It was exhilarating and tiring.
With 14 lead changes and nine ties, there was as much drama as could be crammed into a tournament game.
The Ducks, whose duo of Quinard and Dante won the Pac-12 Tournament title, looked strong despite trailing by three points in the first overtime after Ashworth’s two free throws gave Creighton a 71-68 lead. Ta.
But Quinard, a lithe senior guard from East Chicago, Indiana, came down and calmly made a long 3-pointer in front of the Oregon bench to tie the game.
Creighton had one last chance in the first OT, but Alexander missed a short baseline jumper just before the horn, and Saturday night’s doubleheader in Pittsburgh was extended until Sunday morning.
The second OT was all Creighton.
After Ashworth led off with a 3-pointer and Quinard missed a layup, three-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year Kalkbrenner received a pass behind the line and made his 53rd 3-pointer of the season. I let it happen.
Then, after Quinard’s miss, Creighton’s Jasen Green, who had nine rebounds, made a putback dunk and the Blue Jays almost clinched a spot in the Sweet 16.
Ashworth then made another 3-pointer to seal it, giving Creighton an 86-71 lead.
Oregon, which attempted just five free throws, had a chance to come back late in regulation, but Dante missed Oregon’s first shot from the line with 26.4 seconds left, giving the Ducks a two-point lead.
Creighton’s Baylor Shireman, who played the full 50 minutes, then made a contested 10-footer in the lane to tie the game, but Quinard missed an off-balance drive in the final second, sending his team into OT. did.
One of the major subplots of the game was Altman’s on-court reunion with Creighton. He spent his 16 seasons there, helping turn around a program in disarray and putting the Omaha, Nebraska, school on the map.
His successor, McDermott, continued that, and the Blue Jays, now one of the most consistent winning teams in the country, have outgrown any mid-major label.
By March, it will be this big.
And with two more wins, the Blue Jays will earn a spot in the Final Four, which they missed out on last season when they lost by one point to San Diego State in the regional final.
