Seattle, WA –The second round of the NCAA Tournament in Seattle featured matchups betweenNo. 4-seed Maryland vs. No. 12-seed Colorado State followed by No. 5-seed Oregon vs. No. 4-seed Arizona.
In the first game Derik Queen scored on a bank shot from the side of the basket to give Maryland a thrilling 72-71 win over Colorado State. His shot came right after Jalen Lake had given the Rams a one-point lead with four seconds remaining. In the nightcap, Arizona came back from a 15-point first half deficit to beat Oregon 87-83. Caleb Love was outstanding for the Wildcats, finishing with 29 points (5-of-7 3’s) and added nine rebounds and four assists. Jackson Shelstad led the Ducks with 25 points.
Colorado State got off to a good start in the opening game, going on a 16-2 run to pull out to a 22-10 lead. The Rams’ Lake hit his first three shots, including two three-pointers. Queen kept the Terrapins in it, scoring 10 of their first 14 points, including two 3’s. Colorado State maintained the lead through the half led by Nique Clifford’s 12 points, four rebounds and three assists. They went into halftime with a 37-30 lead. Queen had 12 points for Maryland but didn’t see the ball much after he scored his 10 early points. Julian Reese grabbed seven rebounds for the Terrapins.
Maryland came back quickly in the second half and took a 57-54 lead on five quick points from Selton Miquel, a long three-pointer and a basket after a steal. The Rams came right back with six straight points, with a Bowen Born basket on a drive giving them a 60-57 lead. The Terrapins tied the game at 64 after a Rodney Rice lay-in after a nice Queen block at the rim. They then took the lead on two Resse free throws. Maryland extended the run to 9-0 after a short Resse jumper. Clifford ended that run with two free throws, cutting the margin to 68-66 with 1:36 left. Lake then tied the game at 68 on a jumper. Reese was then fouled after pulling down an offensive rebound, making both free throws to give Maryland a 70-68 lead with 22 seconds remaining. That set the stage for Lake’s three-pointer and then Queen‘s winning shot.
Queen led the Terrapins with 17 points while Reese added 15 points and 11 rebounds. Clifford led the way for Colorado State with 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Lake added 13 points, making 3-of-6 3’s. Maryland advances to face Florida in the Sweet Sixten on Thursday evening.
In the second game Oregon got off to a hot start, running out to a 19-4 lead and led 24-10, helped by 10 points by Shelstad before Arizona came roaring back. They were helped by strong offensive rebounding from Tobe Awaka, who had a double-double at halftime. The Wildcats went on a 32-14 run to end the half to take a 42-38 lead into the break.
Arizona extended their lead to 11 points (56-45) before Oregon battled back. A Shelstad jumper cut the lead to 72-70. The Ducks had a chance to tie the game late, but TJ Bamba missed on a shot after penetration. Oregon got within 81-80 on a lay-up by Shelstad but Arizona was perfect at the free throw line, making six in a row to end the game.
The Ducks came into the game with their best free throw shooting team in the past 11 years but that wasn’t the case tonight. They shot only 12-of-22, leaving ten points at the line. That, combined with their poor first half rebounding, was the difference in the game. Awake finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds for Arizona. Arizona moves on to face Duke on Thursday in the East Regional in New Jersey.
This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner ofr NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.
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