Zags will face Tar Heels for title
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Their star guard was outstanding. Their big men dominated inside.
Still, it came down to some last-second strategy for Gonzaga to move on to the NCAA tournament championship game for the first time.
Nigel Williams-Goss scored 23 points, Gonzaga’s 7-footers combined for 27 and the Zags kept South Carolina from taking a game-tying shot in a 77-73 win Saturday night in a matchup of first-time teams at the Final Four.
“Just an awesome, awesome basketball game, with just how hard both teams competed,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “It took everything we had to hold them off and come back.”
Gonzaga senior Przemek Karnowski and freshman Zach Collins took care of things inside on both ends of the court, combining for 18 rebounds. Collins also had a career-high six blocks.
“That’s my job, is to go in and rim-protect,” said Collins, who had 14 points and 13 rebounds. “I had four fouls today. But I thought, you know, getting those blocked shots would help us.”
Gonzaga (37-1), which won the West Regional as a No. 1 seed, will face North Carolina for the title on Monday night. The Tar Heels beat Oregon 77-76 in Saturday’s second semifinal and are in the title game for the second straight year.
“To be playing the last game of the year, that’s crazy cool,” Few said.
For seventh-seeded South Carolina (26-11), which made a giant-slaying run through the bracket to win the East Regional, the season is over. The Gamecocks competed until the end, though.
Williams-Goss missed a shot with 12.7 seconds left and South Carolina rebounded and called a timeout, trailing 75-72. South Carolina passed the ball around and Gonzaga fouled Sindarius Thornwell before he could shoot with 3.5 seconds left.
Thornwell made the first free throw and missed the second on purpose in hopes of his teammates grabbing an offensive rebound. Killian Tillie rebounded for Gonzaga, was fouled and made two free throws to cement the game.
“We had been practicing it all year, and we always want to foul under six (seconds),” Few said. “Josh Perkins did a job being really patient and not fouling on the shot. The second part is you’ve got to get the rebound, and that’s what’s been difficult for us at times. They executed great.”
Williams-Goss, a second-team All-American, paced the Bulldogs to a 14-point lead in the second half, but it disappeared quickly as the Gamecocks went on a 14-point run to grab a 67-65 advantage with about seven minutes to play.
“When things got tough, we banded together and pulled through,” said Williams-Goss, who had six assists and a brief injury scare after turning an ankle underneath the basket.
“There was no way I was going to come out of the game. This is the last two games of the season. Now we’re 40 minutes from a championship.”
Collins and Karnowksi accounted for the next seven points, including a 3-pointer by Collins and a thundering dunk by Karnowski.
South Carolina still wasn’t done. The seventh-seeded Gamecocks scored five straight to get within 74-72 with just more than two minutes left.
“Since the beginning of the season, that’s what we worked for, moments like this,” South Carolina sophomore Chris Silva said. “And we try to do our best to respond the way we learn how to respond.”
P.J. Dozier led the Gamecocks with 17 points. Thornwell, the leading scorer in this year’s NCAA tournament by averaging 25.8 points per game during the first four rounds, finished with 15 points on 4-for-12 shooting after starting slow.
The Gamecocks entered the tournament having last won a game in 1973, but coach Frank Martin’s program got everyone’s attention with enough March Madness to take it into April.
“There’s something powerful when you impact others. And what these kids have done is pretty special,” said Martin, tears in his eyes. “And they’ve impacted our community in an unbelievable way, which is worth so much more than the score of a game.
“There’s a lot of young kids that want to be the next Sindarius Thornwell, Justin McKie — and I don’t get to coach them anymore, but they’re part of my life forever.”