A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2022
SPORTS
NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
NCAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Gonzaga rallies to reach Sweet 16 Ducks fall to
Belmont in 2 OT
BY TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Drew
Timme gathered his Gonzaga
teammates at midcourt, pointed
at the scoreboard showing a
10-point halftime deficit for the
top overall seed and expressed a
few choice words.
Timme’s goal was to spark his
teammates with words. He did it
with his play on the court, too.
Or as Memphis coach Penny
Hardaway said, “the Drew
Timme effect came into play.”
Timme scored 21 of his 25
points in the second half, and
Gonzaga rallied from a 10-point
halftime deficit to beat No. 9
seed Memphis 82-78 on Satur-
day night, March 19, in the sec-
ond round of the NCAA Tour-
nament.
Trailing at the half for only
the fourth time this season,
Gonzaga leaned on its star ju-
nior to reach its seventh straight
Sweet 16. The Bulldogs (28-3)
will face No. 4 seed Arkansas
in the West Region semifinals
on Thursday, March 24, in San
Francisco.
“What I said was, no matter
what happens, no matter what
the score is, win or lose, this
could very well be the last 20
minutes of basketball you ever
play, and go out with no regrets,”
Timme recalled.
That was the G-rated version.
But his point was made and the
Bulldogs responded.
Andrew Nembhard added
23 points, Rasir Bolton scored
17 and Gonzaga never trailed
after a basket from Timme and
Bolton’s 3-pointer with 10 min-
utes remaining that made it
61-57.
Timme made 10 of 16 shots
and grabbed 14 rebounds.
“The way we came out fight-
ing in the second half I thought
it was more who we are,” Gon-
zaga coach Mark Few said. “And
then we just did a great job
down the stretch executing all
our late game stuff.”
Memphis (22-11) didn’t go
away despite Gonzaga’s surge.
The Tigers pulled even at 66 on
DeAndre Williams’ basket. Af-
ter Nembhard’s 3 put the Bull-
dogs up 76-69, the Tigers still
made it a one-possession game
“They had every oppor-
tunity to fold, and when
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — it got really hot, a lot,
The Belmont Bruins made and they just always had
history a year ago with the an answer,” Brooks said.
program’s first women’s
“They always fought. They
NCAA Tournament win.
found a way. They made
They found a way to top a play. That’s our team.
that.
That’s what we’ve been.
Destinee Wells knocked That’s who we are. It was
down a pair of free throws really cool to be in that at-
with 1:02 left in double
mosphere. Great perfor-
overtime, and Belmont
mance.”
knocked off No. 5 seed
After Wells split two free
Oregon 73-70 Saturday,
throws with 4.5 seconds
March 19, for the Bruins’
left, Oregon had a final
second straight win as a
chance. But Sedona Prince’s
12 seed to open an NCAA long 3 bounced off the rim
Tournament.
as the Bruins rushed the
Belmont (23-7) upset
court to hug each other and
14th-ranked Gonzaga in
Prince hung her head in
the sterile Texas bubble
dejection.
with no fans on hand last
Oregon had the ball for
year in the NCAA Tourna- much of the final minute
ment. This time, the Bru-
in the second overtime and
ins won their 13th straight couldn’t get a shot to fall.
and 19th in 21 games with
The Ducks won a jump
a victory made all the more ball situation with 29.8
precious by being able
seconds remaining. They
to celebrate immediately
kicked the ball out to
in the arena with family,
Endiya Rogers whose 3 hit
friends and fans.
off the far rim, and Madi-
“It’s so hard to rank them son Bartley got the rebound
because last year we made with 6.5 seconds left to start
history,” Belmont senior
the Belmont celebration.
forward Conley Chinn
Oregon coach Kelly
said. “It was the first time it Graves said his Ducks had
had been done in our pro- plenty of chances and cred-
gram. But I mean, just to-
ited Belmont.
day, you kind of can’t get it
“It just seemed like we
did not make that right play
better than that. That was
other than the shot at the
pretty sweet.”
end of regulation when we
They will play fourth-
needed to,” Graves said.
seeded Tennessee, an 80-
The Bruins led 50-44
67 winner over Buffalo,
with 5:02 left in the fourth
on Monday in the second
before Oregon rallied with
round.
a 9-3 run capped by Te-
This was the first dou-
Hina Paopao’s 3 from the
ble-overtime game in the
NCAA Tournament since left corner with 7.9 sec-
onds left tied it at 53. All
Dayton and St John’s in
Pac-12 forward Nyara Sa-
the first round in 2013.
bally blocked Nikki Baird’s
This was a thriller from
3-point attempt at the
start to finish with 10 ties
buzzer to force overtime.
and Wells’ go-ahead free
Both teams had a chance
throws was the seventh lead
change and the only time
to win at the end of the first
Belmont led in the second overtime tied at 64. Sabally
overtime.
missed a layup in the final
Belmont coach Bart
seconds before she blocked
Brooks loved how his Bru- a couple inside chances by
ins never quit.
Bartley before the buzzer.
BY TERESA M. WALKER
Associated Press
Sean Meagher/The Oregonian-TNS
Memphis center Jalen Duren (No. 2) fights for a rebound against Gonzaga forward Drew Timme as the Tigers
and Bulldogs meet in the second round of the men’s NCAA Tournament at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon,
on Saturday, March 19, 2022.
with 32 seconds left on Lester
Quinones’ 3-pointer.
Nembhard, the only con-
sistent free-throw shooter for
Gonzaga on the night, made
four at the foul line in the final
25 seconds.
“We hung in there long
enough. But we couldn’t get the
shots, we couldn’t get the stops,
and they did,” Hardaway said.
Williams scored 14 points for
Memphis but sat a big chunk of
the second half with foul trou-
ble. Tyler Harris had 11 of his 13
points in the first half and Qui-
nones finished with 10.
The matchup between fu-
ture NBA lottery picks Chet
Holmgren of Gonzaga and Ja-
len Duren of Memphis never
fully materialized because of
foul trouble. Duren finished
with seven points and seven re-
bounds but played just 19 min-
utes and sat for more than 10
minutes of the second half after
picking up his fourth foul.
Holmgren had nine points,
nine rebounds and four blocks
before fouling out in the final
seconds.
For a while, Memphis looked
willing and able to spoil what
was essentially a Gonzaga home
game a 6-hour drive from its
campus. Memphis dominated
the latter stages of the first half
and built a 41-31 lead at the
break as nervous energy filled
Moda Center.
“We knew we could go out
there and play with those guys,”
Williams said. “The crowd got
into it, they were very resilient.
They played together. They were
poised. And like coach said,
they showed us the bar.”
Timme erupted to start the
second half, scoring the first 11
points for the Bulldogs and in
the process helping land Du-
ren and Williams in foul trou-
ble. Timme knocked down a
3-pointer, hit a pair of tough
jumpers and scored on a slick
baseline reverse to erase a
big chunk of Memphis’ half-
time lead.
From there, he got help
from Bolton and Nembhard.
The trio combined for 42 of
Gonzaga’s 51 points in the sec-
ond half.
“I just want to step up for
my team in those types of mo-
ments,” Nembhard said. “I
know they have ultimate confi-
dence in me, coaching staff has
ultimate confidence in me so I
just want to step up and make
those kinds of plays for us.”
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