NCAA TOURNAMENT Saint Joseph's by a fingertip
SPOKANE — Friday night’s final NCAA tournament first-round game at the Spokane Arena was decided by fingertips and milliseconds.
After a lengthy video review, officials determined an apparent game-tying dunk by Octavius Ellis of Cincinnati just a fraction of a second too late, and the eighth-seeded Saint Joseph’s Hawks celebrated a 78-76 victory over the ninth-seeded Bearcats before a night session crowd of 11,274 —nearly all of which stuck around to the thrilling end.
“In a small way, I wish it hadn’t ended like that,” Saint Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli said. “I wish it would have ended with Isaiah’s 3, and us getting a stop. At least what I could see, it was the right call.”
“I have no comment on the officiating,” Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said.
The play capped a wild last few seconds.
With Saint Joseph’s leading 75-74, the Hawks’ Aaron Brown had a 3-pointer blocked by Ellis. Troy Caupain grabbed the ball and fed ahead to freshman Jacob Evans for a stuff shot that put Cincinnati ahead 76-75, forcing a timeout by Saint Joseph’s with 14.7 seconds left.
The Hawks got the ball to DeAndré Bembry, who scored 20 of his 23 points in the first half, but had been double-teamed throughout the second half. From the right wing, he tossed the ball across to the left wing to senior forward Isaiah Miles, who drilled a 3-pointer with seven seconds left to put the Hawks up 2.
Cincinnati rushed the ball up the floor, and fed the ball underneath to Ellis, who dunked the ball just as the buzzer sounded and the light behind the basket went on.
One official ruled the basket good, then after officials looked at the replay for a few minutes, said it was no good. According to a statement from the NCAA, officials ruled Ellis still had his fingertips on the ball when the clock hit 0.0.
When the official waved off the basket, Saint Joseph’s celebrated, and Cincinnati players were in disbelief.
“I’m not happy,” said Caupain, a junior guard. “I’m very upset the game ended the way it ended.”
“I feel terrible for my team,” Cronin said. “They fought back from being down early, playing with one of our best players on one leg, (Gary) Clark, from an ankle injury suffered last week. Quadri Moore played the best game of his career for us for eight minutes, and then blew his ankle. And Shaq Thomas has got a torn groin. That being said, we still had a chance to win against one of the hottest teams in the country. Kids found a way to battle back through playing four-guard lineups that we haven’t played all year.”
Saint Joseph’s (28-7) advances to play top-seeded Oregon (29-6) on Sunday around 6:45 p.m. at the Arena.
Miles scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half, including the game-winning 3.
“It’s an amazing feeling, but I definitely want to credit DeAndré for looking for me,” Miles said of the final play.
Senior guard Aaron Brown scored 11 of his 13 after intermission for Saint Joseph’s, which led by as much as 12 in the second half. Bembry, a 6-6 junior forward, had all five of his assists in the second half.
Evans, a 6-6 freshman, scored 17 of his 26 points in the second half. He hit three 3s and scored 11 points in an 18-5 run that put the Bearcats up 71-68 with 5:06 remaining.
Coreontae DeBerry, a 6-9, 265-pound senior who probably could find a job in the NFL if hoops doesn’t work out, scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half for Cincinnati (22-11).
The finish was a bright end to a day that started lousy for the Martelli family. Phil received a call early Friday morning from his son, Phil Jr., who had been fired as assistant coach at University of Delaware. Then dad coaches in a well-played game with a thrilling, albeit controversial, finish.
“Look, I’m not cliche-ish, but if that isn’t everything that this tournament’s about, including the agony,” Phil Martelli said.