SportsCollege Sports

Actions

Final Four: Gonzaga beats UCLA at buzzer, Baylor routs Houston

Jalen Suggs APTOPIX NCAA Final Four UCLA Gonzaga Basketball
Posted
and last updated

GONZAGA 93, UCLA 90 (OT)

Gonzaga has given fans the NCAA championship game they wanted with a shot for the ages.

Jalen Suggs banked in a shot from near midcourt at the buzzer, giving the heavily favored Zags a 93-90 overtime victory against upstart UCLA.

Gonzaga, the No. 1 overall seed, will play second-seeded Baylor for the title Monday night. Those teams were 1-2 in The Associated Press Top 25 most of the season. The Bears manhandled Houston 78-59 in the other national semifinal.

Johnny Juzang scored 31 points for UCLA, including a tying basket with 3.3 seconds left. But Suggs took the inbound pass, dribbled just past midcourt and launched the shot. It banked in after the buzzer sounded.

Gonzaga is 31-0 and the first team since Indiana State in 1979 to carry an undefeated record into the national title game. Indiana was the last undefeated champion in 1976.

----------

BAYLOR 78, HOUSTON 59

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Baylor cruised into the NCAA championship game and a much-anticipated final against No. 1 Gonzaga.

Jared Butler didn’t score in the second half, but the second-ranked Bears didn’t need any more points from their All-American guard after he scored 17 to help them take a 25-point halftime lead in a 78-59 victory over Houston.

It’s the second trip to the championship game for Baylor. The other was in 1948, when the Bears lost to Kentucky 58-42. This is Baylor’s first trip to the Final Four since 1950, when only eight teams were in the tournament.