Monday, March 21, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) The players in the Butler locker room celebrated their latest stunning upset in the NCAA tournament by screaming, exchanging high fives and hugging each other.

How sweet it is: Pittsburgh's Lamar Patterson attempts a shot over Butler's Matt Howard during the third round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday in Washington. Butler won 71-70 to advance to the Sweet 16. AP PHOTO

Across the arena, Pittsburgh forward Nasir Robinson sat in front of his locker with his shoulders slumped. His voice was barely audible.

"I take the blame, man. I take the blame for the loss," Robinson said, referring to the pivotal play in Butler's 71-70 victory over the top-seeded Panthers on Saturday night.

Matt Howard made one free throw with 0.8 seconds left to cap a wild final sequence that enabled No. 8 seed Butler (25-9) to advance to the round of 16 and deal Pittsburgh its latest painful exit from the NCAAs.

Each team had a chance to win it from the foul line in the last 2 seconds. After Butler's Shelvin Mack inexplicably fouled Gilbert Brown near midcourt with 1.4 seconds left, Brown made the first try to tie it.

He missed the second, and Howard was fouled by Robinson while grabbing the rebound — a foul even more unnecessary than the one that preceded it.

"I've been playing basketball my whole life and I know I shouldn't have done that. It was a stupid play," Robinson said. "It wasn't the ref's fault. It was my fault."

Robinson tried to answer another question, but got choked up and just shook his head side to side before putting a towel over his head.

When Howard grabbed the rebound of Brown's miss, it appeared the game was headed to overtime because the Bulldogs were out of timeouts. Then Robinson stuck his arm into the fray.

"I was really surprised," Howard said. "I felt his arm come across mine, so I just threw the ball to the rim."

Howard made the first shot, then intentionally banged the second attempt off the rim.

And soon after that, Butler was rejoicing at midcourt.

Florida 73, UCLA 65

In Tampa, Fla., Florida's little man Erving Walker came up big again, scoring 21 points and hitting several clutch shots down the stretch.

Walker scored 10 of his team's final 12 points, including four free throws in the final 33 seconds. His most significant basket was a 3-pointer with about a minute remaining. That shot gave the second-seeded Gators (28-7) a 69-65 lead and forced the No. 7 seed Bruins (23-11) into desperation mode.

BYU 89, Gonzaga 67

In Denver, Jimmer Fredette made seven 3-pointers and scored 34 points to help No. 3 seed Brigham Young defeat No. 11 Gonzaga and move to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament for the first time in 30 years.

Wisconsin 70, Kansas St. 65

In Tucson, Ariz., Jordan Taylor hit two big free throws and blocked Jacob Pullen's 3-point attempt in the closing seconds, lifting fourth-seeded Wisconsin over No. 5 Kansas State.

EAST REGIONAL

Kentucky 71, West Virginia 63

In Tampa, Fla., two days after his only basket helped the fourth-seeded Wildcats survive their tourney opener against Princeton, Brandon Knight led an 11-0 run coming out of halftime and made six free throws in the final minute to close out a victory over fifth-seeded West Virginia.

Kentucky (27-8) advanced to the East regional semifinals in Newark, N.J., against either No. 1 seed Ohio State or eighth-seeded George Mason.

WEST REGIONAL

SDSU 71, Temple 64 (2OT)

In Tucson, Ariz., Billy White had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Kawhi Leonard sealed San Diego State's exhausting, double-overtime victory against Temple with a steal and a slam dunk in a third-round thriller.

White sank the go-ahead jumper and Leonard made two free throws as the second-seeded Aztecs (34-2) finally put away the pesky Owls (26-7).

UConn 69, Cincinnati 58

In Washington, Kemba Walker scored 33 points and the Big East finally advanced a team to the round of 16 when Connecticut beat conference foe Cincinnati.

SOUTHWEST REGIONAL

Richmond 65, Morehead St. 48

In Denver, the program that made its name by bouncing everyone from Barkley to Boeheim out of the tournament in a string of upsets the last few decades defeated No. 13 seed Morehead State to advance to the round of 16 for the first time since 1988.

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