KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Second-ranked Arizona and seventh-ranked Iowa State traded shot-for-shot down the stretch in their Big 12 Tournament semifinal Friday night, and it seemed almost inevitable that whichever team had the ball last would win.
It wound up in the hands of Wildcats guard Jaden Bradley with a few seconds left in a tie game.
He made the inevitable happen.
Bradley drove to his right as Cyclones guard Killyan Toure guarded him tightly, created just enough space to get off a jumper from the wing, and watched it splash through as his teammates engulfed him to give Arizona a heart-stopping 82-80 victory. The Wildcats will face No. 5 Houston in the final. The Cougars beat No. 14 Kansas 69-47 in the second semifinal.
“It was a great game. An epic battle. And I respect Iowa State so much,” said Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd, whose team is headed to its second consecutive Big 12 title game. “I thought they played really well today. Their shot-making was different than when we played them 10 days ago. They’re a good team and were a good version of themselves and they really made us dig deep.”
The Wildcats (31-2) certainly showed off their depth with Anthony Dell’Orso matching a career-best with six 3-pointers and scoring 26 points off the bench. Bradley finished with 15, Ivan Kharchenkov had 17 points and Tobe Awaka added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Together, they made up for an off-night by All-Big 12 guard Brayden Burries, who was 0 for 7 from the field and had just three points, and likely first-round draft pick Koa Peat, who finished with four points while turning the ball over four times.
“We’ve got so many guys that can get it going any night,” Bradley said.
He’s one of them.
The game seemed to be headed to overtime after Iowa State guard Tamin Lipsey, who had been 1 of 10 from the field and battling a sore groin, hit a 3-pointer from the wing with 15.2 seconds to go. Lloyd chose not to call a timeout and Bradley calmly walked up the floor with the ball, moving his teammates where he wanted them as if he was one of the coaches.
Then he drove to his right. Toure went with him. And with just enough air on his shot, it swished for the win.
“A lot of times we would call a timeout late from a defensive standpoint,” Cyclones coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “Look, at the end of the day, Killyan guarded Bradley as perfect as you can guard him. Bradley is a winning player, a fierce competitor.”
It was a fitting finish to a dramatic showdown between two teams capable of winning the national championship.
Milan Momcilovic matched a career high with eight 3-pointers and led the Cyclones (27-7) with 28 points. All-Big 12 forward Joshua Jefferson had 21 points, Toure finished with 12 and Lipsey had eight points along with seven assists.
It was a really intense game, and all credit to them,” Jefferson said. “They just hit a tough shot to end the game.”
The Wildcats were able to weather a 14-5 run by Iowa State to start the game, and even pulled ahead 37-34 with a 9-0 run of their own late in the first half. But the Cyclones took the momentum into halftime when Momcilovic hit a trio of 3-pointers over the final 1:23, including a buzzer-beater after an Arizona turnover with a couple seconds on the clock.
The two teams continued to trade blows during the second half, and at one point, Dell’Orso and Momcilovic answered each other’s 3s on four consecutive trips down the floor. In all, the teams hit 11 of their final 13 shots — seven of them 3-pointers.
“It was just a real fun game,” Momcilovic said. “Down the stretch it was bucket after bucket.”
The crowd of 19,450 packed inside T-Mobile Center, a single-session record for the Big 12 Tournament, roared with every hoop, giving the game the feeling of a Final Four matchup before the NCAA Tournament even begins next week.
Arizona wound up winning. But it was hard to call Iowa State a loser.
“We have tremendous belief in the guys in our locker room, the work they do every day,” Otzelberger said. “We really respect Arizona and their program, but just like they’re a Final Four contender, so are we. We have big things ahead of us starting next week.”
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