Dunking on LeBron James made him a sensation on YouTube.
Now Jordan Crawford is making a name for himself on a more traditional stage, putting together consecutive big games to lead Xavier into the second week of the NCAA Tournament.
Crawford scored 27 points, including a breakaway dunk with just over two minutes remaining, to help the sixth-seeded Musketeers beat Pittsburgh 71-68 on Sunday night in Milwaukee.
“I know I’m not taking it for granted, and I know my teammates aren’t taking it for granted,” Crawford said. “I love the fact I’m getting a chance to do this, and hopefully we can take it further.”
Crawford had 28 points Friday to bail the Musketeers out of a poor first-half shooting performance to beat Minnesota in the first round.
Crawford previously was best-known among basketball fans for dunking on James at an offseason basketball camp. Crawford spent the past few days downplaying his big moment.
But because he sat out a season after transferring from Indiana, that clip was pretty much the only thing fans knew about him.
“It was tough,” Crawford said of sitting out. “But I went through it all and I fought through it, and now I get to play with my team.”
Bests: Stepping up at right time
Orange moving on.
Big East player of the year Wes Johnson, right, scored a career-high 31 points and had 14 rebounds to lead top-seeded Syracuse over Gonzaga.
Ivy pride.
Cornell, a 12-seed, became the lowest seed to advance to the round of 16 in this year’s tournament with an 87-69 win over Wisconsin. Cornell is the first Ivy League team to get that far since Penn 31 years ago.
Stuffed stat sheet.
Evan Turner had a game-high 24 points, nine rebounds and nine assists — and nine turnovers — to lead Ohio State over Georgia Tech.
The Associated Press
Worsts: There were some ugly moments
Then there were two.
Eight of the 16 Big East schools received NCAA Tournament bids. After the first two rounds, two remain: No. 1 seed Syracuse in the West Regional and No. 2 West Virginia in the East.
Shooting gone awry.
Missouri’s upset bid fell short against West Virginia, mainly because of poor shooting. The Tigers shot 33 percent (20-of-61) from the field and 60 percent (12-of-20) from the free-throw line.
Sloppy, sloppy.
Georgia Tech had 21 turnovers in its loss to Ohio State, which had 18 of its own, nine by player-of-the-year hopeful Evan Turner.
The Associated Press
Tough way to end
Bouldin’s career over.
Senior Matt Bouldin, a ThunderRidge High School grad, entered Gonzaga’s game against top seed Syracuse as the team’s leading scorer at 16 ppg.
But he struggled in the 87-65 loss, going 3-of-13 from the field, missing all six shots he took from beyond the arc. He finished with eight points.
“It’s been a great ride,” Bouldin said. “It hurts. I’m sad, but I’m happy in some ways. Four best years of my life so far.”
Legend of Coach K
Resume grows.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski reached a regional semifinal for the 19th time. This week in Houston, his team will attempt to send him back to the Final Four for the 11th time.
The Blue Devils last reached the Final Four in 2004, not that their coach feels as though they’ve let him down lately.
“You know, I hate when somebody compares those teams of the last couple years with our national championship teams, and they say they underachieved,” Krzyzewski said. “Are you kidding me? They won 30, 29 games.”
Jayhawk love
Four of 10 picked Kansas.
In ESPN’s bracket, more than 2 million — 42.2 percent of all entrants — picked the Jayhawks, who were upset in the second round, to win the national title.
The Associated Press
