At Washington, 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.
Jimmer, BYU roll past Gonzaga
At Denver, Jimmer Fredette made seven 3-pointers and scored 34 points to help No. 3 seed Brigham Young defeat No. 11 Gonzaga 89-67 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).
San Diego State goes 2OT to beat Temple
At Tucson, Billy White had 16 points and 13 rebounds and Kawhi Leonard sealed San Diego State’s exhausting, 71-64 double-overtime victory over Temple with a steal and a slam dunk in a third-round NCAA tournament thriller Saturday.
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, which was coming off a 66-64 last-second victory over Penn State in the second round. San Diego State, never an NCAA Tournament winner before this season, advanced to the West regional semifinals Thursday in Anaheim, Calif..
Walker keys Florida’s win over UCLA
At Tampa, Fla., Florida’s little man Erving Walker came up big again, scoring 21 points and hitting several clutch shots down the stretch as the Gators beat UCLA 73-65 in the NCAA tournament Saturday.
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.
UCLA wasted chances from the free-throw line, much like it did Thursday against Michigan State. The Bruins survived that one. They had no such luck against Florida.
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.
Knight lifts Kentucky by West Virginia
At Tampa, Fla., freshman Brandon Knight scored a career-high 30 points and Josh Harrellson delivered eight of his 15 during a pivotal stretch of the second half, helping fourth-seeded Kentucky beat No. 5 seed West Virginia 71-63 in the NCAA tournament Saturday.
Knight made six free throws in the final minute as the Wildcats (27-8) pulled away to advance to East regional semifinals against either No. 1 seed Ohio State or eighth-seeded George Mason. It’s the second trip to the round of 16 in as many seasons under coach John Calipari.
West Virginia, which reached the Final Four a year ago by beating Kentucky in the regional final, led 41-33 after closing the opening half on a 22-7 run. But Kentucky scored the first 11 points coming out of the break and eventually wore down the Mountaineers (22-12).
12th-seeded Spiders beat Morehead St.
At Denver, 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 with a 65-48 win over No. 13 Morehead State.
The Spiders (29-7) will play the winner of Kansas-Illinois in the Southwest regional semifinals next Friday in San Antonio.
Richmond shut down 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.
For a rare change, Richmond entered the game as a favorite, a departure from the usual underdog role the team has assumed in the tournament.
