PITTSBURGH (AP) — Steven Ashworth and Ryan Kalkbrenner made 3-pointers in the second overtime and Creighton edged past its former coach, Oregon’s Dana Altman, to move into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament with an 86-73 win on Saturday night.
The 3s by the 6-foot-1 Ashworth and a rare one by the 7-1 Kalkbrenner helped the third-seeded Bluejays (25-9) score the first 15 points of the second OT to finally put away the 11th-seeded Ducks (24-12).
Ashworth scored 21 points, Trey Alexander added 20 and Kalkbrenner 19 for Creighton, which will make its third Sweet 16 appearance in four years when it faces Tennessee next week in the Midwest Regional in Detroit.
It took balance, big shots, clutch free throws and poise for the Bluejays to overcome Oregon's 1-2 punch of Jermaine Couisnard and N'Faly Dante.
Couisnard, who had 40 points in the first round against South Carolina — his former school — had 32 and Dante added 28 points and 20 rebounds.
It was the second OT game of the night in PPG Paints Arena after North Carolina State ended Oakland's Cinderella run with a 79-73 victory in the first game.
The game pitted the two winningest coaches in Creighton history — Altman and Greg McDermott, who are close friends, occasional golfing buddies and the reason why the Bluejays are a mid-major power and March menace.
For two hours, their teams went toe-to-toe with neither giving an inch. There were 14 lead changes, nine ties and about as much drama as you can pack into a tournament game.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
