Coach Joe Scott had good reason to think his Denver Pioneers should have been playing Tuesday night in Sioux Falls, S.D., for the Summit League tournament championship.
Instead, he and the Pioneers were back in Denver, trying to forget a heartbreaking 54-53 loss Monday night to South Dakota State in the tournament semifinals. The sixth-seeded Pioneers had advanced earlier with a 78-70 victory over Nebraska Omaha.
“Things like that happen in sports,” Scott said. “But it doesn’t take away how good we are, how tough we are, and how proud I am of this team.”
The Pioneers had their chance to gain the tournament championship game with one second left. Freshman guard Joe Rosga went to the free throw line for a one-and-one. Make one and the game goes to overtime. Make two and DU wins. Rosga missed.
Rosga had made 48 of his past 49 free throw attempts, including 28 in a row.
Scott was encouraged by DU’s showing this season. The Pios finished 16-15 overall, 7-9 in league play.
“We started over and the team grew and developed,” Scott said. “We got back to being the kind of team that at the end was considered to be among the best teams in the league.”
The Pioneers played most of the year with Rosga and two other freshmen in the starting lineup. Forward Marcus Byrd and guards Nate Engesser and Bryant Rucker were the only seniors.
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296, imoss@denverpost.com or @
Other college basketball news from The Associated Press:
Holy Cross earns unlikely berth in NCAA Tournament
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Malachi Alexander scored 26 points and Holy Cross capped its stunning run to the Patriot League title and an NCAA Tournament berth with a 59-56 victory over Lehigh on Wednesday night.
The Crusaders are 14-19 and failed to win a conference road game during the regular season. Once the tournament started, the Crusaders won at Loyola, beat top-seeded Bucknell, won at Army, then knocked off second-seeded Lehigh (17-15).
Men’s highlights
A bloodied Marshall Plumlee’s tiebreaking three-point play with 1:14 left helped No. 19 Duke overcome a second-half deficit against North Carolina State for the third time in three meetings, and the reigning NCAA champion edged the Wolfpack 92-89 in the ACC Tournament’s second round.
In other second-round games, Cameron Johnson scored a career-high 24 points off the bench as Pittsburgh strengthened its NCAA résumé by fending off a late run to beat Syracuse 72-71.
Dejounte Murray scored 25 points, Marquese Chriss had 18 and 10 rebounds, and Washington routed Stanford 91-68 in the opening game of the Pac-12 Tournament. Washington (18-13) entered the Pac-12 Tournament hoping to boost its slim NCAA Tournament chances.
Marcus Georges-Hunt and Georgia Tech erased an 18-point second-half deficit to beat Clemson 88-85 in overtime in the second round of the ACC Tournament.
Freshman forward Dean Wade scored a career-high 20 points, Justin Edwards added 17 and Kansas State beat Oklahoma State 75-71 in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament.
Shavon Shields scored 20 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead No. 11 seed Nebraska to an 89-72 victory over 14th-seeded Rutgers in a first-round game of the Big Ten Tournament.
Women’s highlights
LAS VEGAS — The Rams are one win from the NCAA Tournament.
Elin Gustavsson scored 18 points, and Colorado State routed New Mexico 60-42 on Wednesday to earn a berth in Friday’s Mountain West title game.
CSU (30-1) will face the winner of Wednesday’s late semifinal between Fresno State and UNLV, and a victory would give the rams Rams an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Keyora Wharry scored 15 points and Jamie Patrick added 12 for the Rams, who extended their school record for consecutive wins to 27.
The Associated Press
