Carr seals Penn State win with perfect pass
With ninth-seeded Penn State trailing by a point and the clock ticking off the final 10 seconds, almost everyone in Madison Square Garden was waiting for Big Ten Conference leading scorer Tony Carr to launch a game-winning shot attempt against secondseeded Ohio State.
It was a no-brainer, until Carr decided otherwise.
Carr found Josh Reaves for a game-winning dunk with 3.1 seconds to play and Penn State may have punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a 69-68 victory over Ohio State in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament on Friday night.
“It was ‘Fist Two’, basically try to get the mismatch and I was just trying to make a play,” Carr said. “And Josh basically made the play. He made a great cut. I was just out there dribbling around. Josh made a great play. And I thank God I found him.”
It was a great ending in more ways than one.
The Nittany Lions (22-12) scored the final five points in beating the 13th-ranked Buckeyes for the third time this season and advancing to today’s semifinal against the winner of the quarterfinal between third-seeded and No. 8 Purdue and 14th-seeded Rutgers.
The game-winning play was set up when Shep Garner made a crucial steal from conference player of the year Keita Bates-Diop with 21 seconds to play.
Penn State elected not to call a timeout and coach Patrick Chambers called out a play.
“I just noticed my man wasn’t looking at me so I took advantage of that,” Reaves said. “And Tony just shows how much of a great player he is to find an open man in a time like that. I was just fortunate enough to make the dunk.”
DAVIDSON 63, RHODE ISLAND 61 >> Jon Axel Gudmundsson’s driving layup with 3.1 seconds left lifted the Wildcats to an upset over the No. 17 Rams.
It was the second loss of the week for Rhode Island, which was coming off a shocking 30-point home defeat on senior night against unranked Saint Joseph’s on Tuesday night.
PURDUE 82, RUTGERS 75 >> Carsen Edwards and Vincent Edwards each scored 26 points and the No. 8 Boilermakers fought back another upset bid, beating the Scarlet Knights to advance to the Big Ten semifinals.
Corey Sanders scored 23 points, including a baseline jumper in the closing minute to pull Rutgers within 78-75. Sanders scored 74 points the three-game run by the last-place Scarlet Knights. But that was all for Rutgers.
MICHIGAN STATE 63, WISCONSIN 60 >> The No. 2 Spartans found a way to win their 13th straight game and advance to the Big Ten semifinals.
Cassius Winston hit a go-ahead jumper with 7:17 to play and Michigan State beat the ninth-seeded Badgers at Madison Square Garden.
“I was disappointed in my team, maybe in myself, too,” Izzo said. “I just didn’t think we played well. But like some of my equipment men and guys like that said to me: ‘When has it been any different with Wisconsin?”’
Miles Bridges led the Spartans (29-3) with 20 points and Winston finished with 17 in advancing to the semifinals Saturday against No. 15 Michigan, a 77-58 winner over Nebraska.
Michigan State also got big plays down the stretch from Matt McQuaid and conference freshman of the year Jaren Jackson Jr. in beating Wisconsin (15-18) for the third time this season. The last two have been tough.
The Badgers, who had won five of their last seven games, had a chance to tie late.
But the Spartans played tough defense and Brad Davison’s long, contested 3-pointer from beyond the top of the key never hit the rim.
Women
SOUTH CAROLINA 73, TENNESSEE 62 >> A’ja Wilson had 24 points and 12 rebounds in just 19 minutes, and the eighth-ranked Gamecocks beat the No. 12 Lady Vols in the Southeastern Conference quarterfinals.
TEXAS A&M 75, LSU 69 >> Chennedy Carter scored 27 points, a team record, to help the No. 15 Aggies reach the SEC semifinals with a win over the No. 24 Tigers.
NORTH CAROLINA STATE 51, DUKE 45>> Chelsea Nelson had an Atlantic Coast Conference Tournamentrecord 22 rebounds and scored 15 points in the No. 23 Wolfpack’s win over the No. 18 Blue Devils in the quarterfinals.
LOUISVILLE 73, VIRGINIA TECH 70 >> Myisha Hines-Allen had 21 points and 10 rebounds and the No. 4 Cardinals held off the Hokies.