City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Saint Joseph’s had top-seeded Oregon on the ropes.

The eighth-seeded Hawks were minutes away from being the first team in the NCAA Tournament to knock off a No. 1 seed, after a second half-run had them up seven on the Ducks with under six minutes to play in a second-round matchup in Spokane.

It wasn’t enough.

Oregon found its footing just in time, getting clutch late 3-pointers from freshman Tyler Dorsey and sophomore Dillon Brooks to survive and advance with a 69-64 win.

It was not the prettiest game of the tournament thus far, nor the wildest finish on a day that saw all of the following: Wisconsin's Bronson Koenig hiting an off-balance, game-winning 3-pointer to beat Xavier; Notre Dame’s Rex Pflueger giving his team a victory over Stephen F. Austin with a last-second tip-in; and Texas A&M closing a 12-point gap in the 35 seconds of regulation only to take out Northern Iowa in double-OT.

In the final game of the second round, both St. Joe's and Oregon (30-6) shot just under 40 percent from the floor and were a combined 10-for-39 (25.6 percent) from 3-point range, and there were quite a few stretches were both teams seemed to have a lid on the bucket.

Despite that, St. Joe’s (28-8) had its chances.

Freshman Lamarr Kimble, who finished with 11 points put his team up by two with 2:13 remaining, after a 23-6 run had erased a 10-point deficit to put the Hawks up seven with 5:35 remaining.

But after Dorsey and Brooks each connected from long range to put Oregon up by two with 1:22 left, two turnovers in the final minute sealed the Hawks’ fate.

With the shot clock running low, senior Papa Ndao passed up on an open look at a 3-pointer, causing a shot clock violation with 48 seconds remaining. Then, with the clock counting towards 10 seconds and the deficit three, star junior DeAndre’ Bembry fumbled away his handle, costing the Hawks a game-tying look yet again.

Two more foul shots by Dorsey sealed the victory.

Bembry finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds but was 5-of-15 from the floor as he was constantly hounded by the Oregon defense.

Sophomore guard Shavar Newkirk and senior wing Aaron Brown added 10 each for the Hawks.

Brooks, a 6-7 sophomore forward, had a dominant game for Oregon with 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting, while Elgin Cook (18) and Dorsey (14) joined him in double figures.

Oregon will take on No. 4 Duke in the regional semifinals--also known as the Sweet 16--on Friday night in Anaheim.