SWEET SUCCESS
Late Xavier surge led by Bluiett stuns No. 2 Arizona 73-71
SAN JOSE — Trevon Bluiett and Xavier spoiled an all-West Coast duel in the West Regional final of the NCAA tournament.
Bluiett could not miss in the first half against Arizona, then went cold as Allonzo Trier and the Wildcats seemingly took control Thursday night.
But Bluiett led a comeback from an eight-point hole with less than 4 minutes left and the 11th-seeded visitors from Cincinnati stunned the No. 2 Wildcats 73-71, denying Arizona its first trip to the Final Four since 2001.
Bluiett scored five of his 25 points in a 10-2 burst that tied the score, then fed Sean ‘OMara for the go-ahead layup with 44 seconds left.
Xavier (24-13) and top-seeded Gonzaga (35-1) will meet Saturday at SAP Center for the West Regional title. The winner will become a first-time Final Four team.
Tipoff for the regional final is 3:09 p.m.
The Musketeers will be underdogs, but junior guard J.P. Macura said Xavier will play with confidence.
“We’re not backing down from anybody,” he said. “If you have that mentality you can beat anybody.”
Coach Sean Miller praised his Wildcats (32-5) for a special season that included a Pac-12 regular-season co-title and conference tournament championship. But he added, “Our goal is always to challenge for a Final Four, and we pulled up short.”
Miller, who spent five seasons at Xavier before landing at Arizona, saluted Chris Mack, his successor.
“I think their coach is awe-
some. He had his way with us tonight. We could not guard them,” Miller said. “Our team never established great confidence against the zone. The game never really felt good, and that’s on me.”
Xavier shot 53 percent while Arizona converted 43 percent, including just 7 of 27 tries from the 3-point arc.
Mack said his team got through “the eye of the nee- dle” to reach the Elite Eight after a late-season skid that threatened its postseason chances.
“I think our guys earned a lot today, but they had already earned that in my book the way they battled back from a six game losing streak,” Mack said.
Arizona led 69-61 when Parker Jackson-Cartwright made two free throws with 3:45 left. Trier triggered the Wildcats’ second-half surge, scoring 15 straight points, including three 3-pointers.
But Bluiett, scoreless for nearly the first 13 minutes of the second half after scor- ing 18 points in the first half, sparked Xavier’s decisive rally.
He hit a 3-pointer with 3:22 left and the Musketeers outscored the Cats 102 over 90 seconds, knotting the score at 71-all when he made two free throws with 1:54 left.
The game was still tied with less than a minute left when Mack first set up one play during a timeout, then opted instead for a play that worked earlier. He had Bluiett, his two-time All-Big East junior, feed O’Mara, who rolled in the layup to put Xavier in front.
O’Mara missed two free throws with 22 seconds left but Arizona failed to connect on its final six shots, four of those by Trier, whose potential game-tying 3-point try with 7 seconds left was off-target.
Malcolm Bernard scored 15 points for Xavier and Macura scored 14.
Trier, who scored just four first-half points, led the Wildcats with 19. Dusan Ristic added 17 but Finnish freshman Lauri Markannen, pegged as a potential NBA draft lottery pick, shot 3 for 9 and scored just nine points.