No. 3 Kansas gets a narrow OT win against Wisconsin
Kansas' Bobby Pettiford Jr. stood all the way out near midcourt, almost on the Battle 4 Atlantis logo, when he saw his teammate launch a shot for the lead with only a few seconds left in overtime.
He sprinted all the way under the basket just in time to see a loose rebound pop to him. Pettiford then made a twisting reverse layup with 0.2 seconds left to give No. 3 Kansas a 69-68 win against Wisconsin on Thursday in a tournament semifinal game in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
Pettiford's layup marked his only points of the game, capping a thriller that saw Wisconsin rally from 15 down early in the second half.
Trailing 68-67, Kansas' final play appeared stuck when Jalen Wilson had to kick out a pass to Zach Clemence beyond the 3-point arc with about 5 seconds left. Clemence launched the long 3 that banged off the basket, but Wilson kept the play alive by tipping the ball enough to keep Tyler Wahl from snagging the rebound.
The ball went right to Pettiford.
“I had kind of a good angle but I mean, kind of a little bit of luck and skill at the same time,” he said. “So I just kind of hoped it went in.”
Wilson scored 29 points and had 14 rebounds for the reigning national champion Jayhawks (60), and Kevin McCullar Jr. had 18 points and nine rebounds — and a 3 with 11.8 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Wahl led the Badgers (4-1) with 23 points and 10 rebounds. He scored 14 points in the second half.
His last score was a spinning drive for a layup and the 68-67 lead with 21 seconds left in OT.
NO. 1 NORTH CAROLINA 89, PORTLAND 81 ❯❯ Pete Nance scored 28 points, Caleb Love added 23 and the Tar Heels survived an unexpected test from the Pilots in the opening round of the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Ore.
UNC (5-0) needed a late 14-3 run to finally pull away from one of the tournament's host schools. Love had 16 points in the first half and reached the 1,000-point mark in his career, becoming the 80th North Carolina player to reach that milestone.
Nance picked up the slack after halftime with 20 points.
Moses Wood led Portland (4-3) with 21 points. NO. 8 DUKE 54, OREGON STATE 51 ❯❯ Kyle Filipowski had 19 points and 14 rebounds as the Blue Devils pulled out a win in the opening game of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament.
Ryan Young added 11 points and 15 rebounds off the bench for Duke (5-1).
Jordan Pope led Oregon State (3-2) with 14 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
NO. 20 UCONN 83, OREGON 59 ❯❯ Tristen Newton scored 23 points, leading the Huskies over the Ducks at the Phil Knight Legacy tournament.
Jordan Hawkins added 18 points for UConn (6-0).
Kel'el Ware led the Ducks (2-3) with 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench. N'faly Dante contributed 15 points.
Newton scored 21 points in the first half on 5-for-6 shooting from 3-point range as UConn to a 3928 lead at the break.