FORT WORTH, Texas — This one is gonna sting.
Up 14 in the first half … still up nine inside 2:30 to go … three straight turnovers … a missed free throw with the score tied and 6.4 seconds left in regulation … one Creighton starter fouled out and its 7-foot-1 center in the locker room with a serious injury … a three-point lead in overtime … more missed free throws … a chance to tie with 4.3 seconds left fumbled away ...
And a loss.
An agonizing, wrenching, painful, inconceivable loss.
San Diego State’s 72-69 overtime loss Thursday night at Dickies Arena sends ninth-seeded Creighton to the second round here Saturday, likely against top-seeded Kansas. And it sends the Aztecs home, staggering, shuddering, shaking their heads.
It also puts the Mountain West out of the NCAA Tournament in what may be the darkest day in the conference’s 23-year history, filled with so much hope of resurgence with four teams in the 68-team field and now none before Thursday was over.
Wyoming lost to Indiana, the ninth-place team from the Big Ten, in Tuesday’s play-in game. Earlier Thursday, Colorado State fell to Michigan, the Big Ten’s eighth-place team, and Boise State trailed by 19 at the half against Memphis before losing by 11.
That was nothing compared to the indignity suffered by SDSU, erasing what had been a remarkable season in a matter of minutes.
The Aztecs uncharacteristically collapsed in the regular-season finale at Nevada two weeks ago, leading by 18 in the second half and needing a pair of blocks in the closing seconds to secure a one-point win. They vowed they would “learn from winning” and it wouldn’t happen again.
Then it did.
A contested 3-pointer by Trey Pulliam at the shot-clock buzzer gave the Aztecs a 62-53 lead with just under four minutes remaining. The score was the same as the clock ticked inside 2:30 to go. All seemed under control.
It wasn’t. A pair of free throws made it seven … SDSU turnover … Creighton 3-pointer … SDSU turnover … Creighton layup ... SDSU turnover ... SDSU turnover ... runner in the lane.
That tied it at 60, but the Aztecs had the ball and Matt Bradley was fouled with 7.0 seconds left, sending him to the line for a one-and-one.
Flash back to Feb. 22 at Boise State, when he had a pair of free throws up one with 7.7 seconds left and missed both in what became a one-point loss. Afterward, he talked openly how the nerves got to him, how he wanted another chance.
Same result. Bradley missed, and the Aztecs averted disaster when the Bluejays couldn’t get a shot before the buzzer. Overtime.
Two things happened next. Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton’s 7-foot-1 center who had 16 points and 10 rebounds, crumbled to the floor with what appeared to be a serious injury to his left leg and was helped to the locker room. The other was that the Bluejays fouled the Aztecs on purpose.
First, it was Aguek Arop, a 45.8 percent free throw shooter this season. He missed the front end of a one-and-one.
Then it was Bradley, who made one and missed one.
Trey Alexander made a jumper, then after a Pulliam miss scored on a three-point play at the other end for a 71-69 lead. A twisting layup by Pulliam somehow rolled out, a tip by Arop bounced off the rim and the ball was tipped out of bounds by the Bluejays.
That gave SDSU the ball with 4.3 seconds left and one final chance. Bradley inbounded to Arop, then rubbed off him to take a handoff and get downhill to the rim. And lost the ball.
A free throw by KeyShawn Feazell pushed the margin to three with .8 seconds left, and a Hail Mary play by the Aztecs was broken up.
Chad Baker-Mazara led the Aztecs with 17 points, 15 of which came in a scintillating first half. But he played only five minutes, curiously, in the second half and not at all down the stretch in regulation or overtime.
Bradley had 16 points and Pulliam had 14, but they combined to shoot 12 of 33. No one else had more than six.
The killer: 10 of 17 (58.8%) at the line while Creighton was 20 of 24.
The Aztecs opened the game by making their first two shots, then missed their next five, conjuring here-we-go-again thoughts among fans, no doubt, of numerous scoring droughts this season.
Then Baker-Mazara subbed in.
Eight minutes later, the Mountain West sixth man of the year had 15 points (yes, 15), on one breakaway dunk and several pull-up jumpers off the dribble. He has the quickest release on the team, maybe on the West Coast, and four times in the first half alone he was fouled after the ball was gone — three times on made baskets.
The lead grew to 35-21 after Tahirou Diabate, on the floor with Nathan Mensah in foul trouble, scored inside. Even worse for Creighton: Alexander, the fill-in point guard after their first two had season-ending injuries, got his third foul and went to the bench.
But the Aztecs reverted to drought conditions and scored only one basket — and that was a tip-in of a miss — over their final eight possession of the half, allowing the Bluejays to creep back in. The ensuing 9-2 run trimmed the margin to a perilous 37-30 at intermission.
Perilous, because the Bluejays had six more turnovers, seven fewer shot attempts and hadn’t yet made a 3.
They stopped turning it over and started making some shots, and soon the lead was down to a nervous five. The Aztecs got it back to nine before the Bluejays made their run, playing through major foul trouble and refusing to dip into their bench.
Notable
Brothers Adam Seiko and Arthur Kaluma guarded each other when they were on the floor together. Most fans had not found their seats when the game tipped because the arena had to be completely cleared and cleaned after the first session, then everybody holding tickets for the second session let in. And they had only 43 minutes to do it … No one on the officiating crew (Brian Dorsey, Brent Hampton and Vlad Voyand-Tadal) had worked an SDSU game this season. This was the seventh Creighton game for Hampton, a Big East referee. Dorsey primarily works the ACC, and Voyand-Tadal the AAC … Keshad Johnson started despite struggling through an ankle injury in the Mountain West tournament and barely practicing this week.
