NCAA Tournament - Lamont Butler hits buzzer-beating game-winner to lift San Diego State over FAU, into National Championship Game
Yahoo Sports college basketball writer Nick Bromberg takes you through 5-seed San Diego State’s incredible last-second victory over 9-seed Florida Atlantic in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.
Video Transcript
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NICK BROMBERG: San Diego State is playing for its first national title thanks to Lamont Butler's buzzer-beater. Butler hit a jumper from the wing as time expired to give the Aztecs a 72-71 win over Florida Atlantic on Saturday night. Butler's shot came after SDSU elected not to foul and extend the game on FAU's last offensive possession and after the Aztecs didn't use their final timeout after grabbing the rebound off a Johnell Davis miss with eight seconds left.
San Diego State was down 14 points five minutes into the second half as Butler shot completes the fifth-largest comeback in Final Four history. The Aztecs got the lead down to two with less than 10 minutes to go. And a stretch of eight offensive rebounds in just over two minutes led to a 65-65 tie with 4:24 to go. San Diego State's Matt Bradley scored 21 on Saturday and made four threes in what was his best game of the tournament.
Bradley scored just eight points on 3-of-17 shooting in SDSU's wins over Alabama and Creighton last weekend but started off hot early on Saturday. Butler finished with nine points as SDSU went 9-of-18 from three. Even though the Owls are not playing for the national title, they also end the season with the most wins of anyone in college basketball at 35-4. And their loss also means that teams seeded at number nine or lower are still winless in nine Final Four appearances.
