ST. LOUIS — The standout game of the morning session needed five more minutes to finish Friday, as No. 7 Kentucky fended off No. 10 Santa Clara, 89-84, in an overtime classic extended into the extra period by Otega Oweh’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
A game that delivered perhaps the moment of the first round of this year’s NCAA Tournament set a high bar for excitement here in St. Louis.
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Here are three reasons why:
Broncos navigate rocky first half
Santa Clara (26-9) battled early against Kentucky’s length and reach, particularly at the offensive end. Herb Sendek’s team struggled to manufacture quality offensive possessions, at times flirting with fading away from their first-round matchup here in the Gateway City.
But one of the country’s best rebounding teams locked in defensively, cleaned the glass with the same intention as its SEC counterpart and weathered that storm.
By halftime, no one was shooting the ball particularly well, but Santa Clara had managed to drag the Wildcats into a defensive struggle.
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Despite foul trouble that limited dynamic freshman Allen Graves, the Broncos nursed a hard-earned halftime lead, 31-29, into the locker room, in front of an outnumbered but enthusiastic band of Santa Clara fans making the trip east.
Sash Gavalyugov arrives
With Graves quieted by fouls, and Kentucky doing the same defensively to Christian Hammond, Santa Clara’s leading scorer, the Broncos turned to Sash Gavalyugov. The Villanova transfer from Bulgaria answered that need time and again.
In the flow of the offense or against isolated defenders, Gavalyugov poured in 16 crucial points, hitting important shots either side of the deficit.
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When Otega Oweh (35 points, 28 after halftime) came alive after the break and injected life into Kentucky’s offense, it was often Gavalyugov answering that momentum. And when the Wildcats (22-13) left gaps in transition or in the halfcourt, Gavalyugov took advantage.
Together with leading scorer Elijah Mahi (20 points, five rebounds), the former Villanova Wildcat kept swinging back every time Kentucky looked like pulling away. As the second half wore on, survival began turning into threat. Santa Clara transformed from the chaser to the chased, leading by four at the under-8 timeout.
Otega Oweh’s excellence saves the day
No player quite defined the second half like Kentucky’s leading scorer.
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Good in the first half, Otega Oweh was borderline unplayable in the second. He scored those aforementioned points every way imaginable, adding eight rebounds and seven assists as he pulled Santa Clara’s defense back and forth on a string. Corner 3s, finishing through contact, transition dimes — Oweh’s fingerprints were all over the game by the time it reached full boil inside the final two minutes.
He hit no more important shot the last one of regulation. With just more than two seconds left and no timeouts to set up anything more structured, Oweh let fly a running 3-pointer just moments after Allen Graves’ own 3 had given Santa Clara the lead.
Oweh’s answer banked in off the glass, drawing a roar from the Enterprise Center and sending the game of the afternoon session into overtime.
There, the Wildcats eventually pulled ahead for good following a pair of crucial blocks. Twice, Gavalyugov tried to answer with stepback 3s, and twice, Brandon Garrison blocked him, opening a door to the second round the Wildcats gladly walked through.
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Fittingly, they sealed their win thanks to Oweh’s free throws — no player so defined the game as the senior from New Jersey.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Otega Oweh buzzer-beater saves Kentucky from Santa Clara upset
