Hebard’s late basket, blocked shot doom Temple

DURHAM, N.C. >> Ruthy Hebard hit the biggest shot of the year for Oregon — then got her hand on the final shot of Temple’s season.

“I was kidding Ruthy, this might be the best 5 seconds of her life,” Ducks coach Kelly Graves said.

Hebard hit a jumper with 5.5 seconds remaining, then blocked the Owls’ layup at the buzzer to preserve Oregon’s 71-70 victory Saturday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Hebard finished with 23 points and Sabrina Ionescu added 16 points to help the 10th-seeded Ducks (21-13) win a wild game — featuring three lead changes in the final 30 seconds — and advance to Monday night’s second round.

Alliya Butts scored 28 points and Feyonda Fitzgerald added 16 for the seventh-seeded Owls (248), in the tournament for the first time since 2011. Fitzgerald put Temple up, 70-69, with a jumper with 14.3 seconds remaining.

Oregon called a timeout and dialed up a play the Ducks had repeatedly run for Ionescu. This time, Graves said, he wanted the ball in Hebard’s hands.

Mallory McGwire delivered a perfect high-post pass to Hebard, who hit the go-ahead jumper from the edge of the lane.

“I just felt that they were going to give (Ionescu) some added attention, and that Ruthy might be open kind of slipping to the basket,” Graves said. “Both defenders kind of went with Sabrina.”

The Owls were out of timeouts so they inbounded the ball to Fitzgerald, who then raced coast-to-coast but Hebard got a piece of her last-gasp layup attempt at the buzzer.