Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Canes’ season ends in heartache
Ryan hits two free throws in last five seconds to give ASU 57-55 win.
CORAL GABLES — It has become for the Hurricanes, a painful, troubling trend.
Year after year, Miami has put together talented, mature teams that have notched big regular-season wins and have then struggled to get past the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
Those struggles continued Sunday, in heartbreaking style.
In the game’s final 45 seconds, the fourth-seeded Hurricanes missed two jumpers under the basket and turned the ball over in a series of costly miscues that allowed fifth-seeded Arizona State to escape with a 57-55 win.
For the Sun Devils, the win means a berth in the Sweet 16. For the Hurricanes, the loss means more March misery, Miami failing to get past either the first or second round of the NCAA Tournament in each of the last five seasons.
Sunday’s loss also marked the second time in three years Miami has seen a lowerseeded team end the Hurricanes’ season on their home floor.
“I think we played a heck of a basketball game and it’s really tough to lose like this at home,” said Miami guard Laura Cornelius, who had a team-high 15 points.
Cornelius fought back tears and continued, “This season has definitely been one of the fun seasons I’ve ever played in my life. I’d go to war, any day, with my teammates. I love my seniors. I love every single person on this team. We played our hearts out. We had a wonderful season with some great wins and tough losses, but overall, we loved each other along the way. Right now, it’s hard to look back at that.”
Making Sunday’s loss more painful is the fact that not only did the Hurricanes let a fourth-quarter lead slip away, they had opportunities late to win — or tie — it.
With the game tied at 55 with 44 seconds left, forward Beatrice Mompremier — a first
team All-ACC selection and Miami’s leading scorer — missed under the basket. The Sun Devils (22-10) got the rebound and had two opportunities to take the lead, but missed both and with 10 seconds left, Miami’s Mykea Gray — who is all of 5 feet 4 — emerged with a rebound that put Miami again in the position to take the lead.
Instead, Endia Banks turned the ball over on the inbounds pass and Arizona State’s Ryan Robbi got the steal that set up her eventual game-winning free throws.
Still, Miami (25-9) had another opportunity late, with senior Emese Hof getting the ball under the basket with five seconds left. But she, like Mompremier, missed and Arizona State’s players mobbed each other in celebration while the Hurricanes fought back tears and thanked the Watsco Center crowd for their support.
“I think our last two shots were Bea and Emese, if that’s correct? I executed plays for exactly that purpose,” Hurricanes coach Katie Meier said. “You know, call me an idiot. I know they weren’t having a great game, but my God, you’re crazy if I’m not going to those two kids in that moment and I did. Both of them went in and out. I love both calls. I’d do it again.”
As dramatic as the final seconds were, the Hurricanes will also likely be haunted by how they let the Sun Devils chip into a second-half lead which grew to as many as eight in the third quarter and stood at five in the opening minutes of the fourth.
In the postseason, opponents have exploited Miami’s perimeter defense, using 3-pointers to frustrate the Hurricanes. In the ACC Tournament, Syracuse hit a tournamentrecord 14 shots from beyond the arc to end Miami’s run in Greensboro.
And on Friday night in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, Florida Gulf Coast connected on 12 3-pointers to rally from a double-digit deficit.
In the fourth quarter Sunday, Arizona State did the same, hitting three 3-pointers to erase Miami’s lead and rally every time Miami seemed to grab the momentum.
Ultimately, the Sun Devils — who typically shoot 32 percent from 3-point range — hit 50 percent of the shots they took from there in the fourth.
“Arizona State ran a couple things and got a couple shots that weren’t their star players,” Meier said. “Those weren’t their headliners, right? That happens. We were struggling from the three and we were struggling inside and we still had the ball to win or tie.”
Cornelius was one of two Hurricanes to finish in double figures, along with Mykea Gray, who had 13 points. Mompremier had a career-high 22 rebounds, which ranks tied for sixth in NCAA Tournament history and third most in alltime Miami history.