Cincinnati bounced from NCAA tournament in heartbreaking fashion
The Cincinnati Bearcats came oh-so-close to wins in their final two games this season before having their hearts ripped out in each instance.
On Friday night, the Bearcats watched officials review and eventually wave off a dunk at the buzzer by senior Octavius Ellis in an NCAA tournament first-round loss to Saint Joseph’s.
The Hawks celebrated the 78-76 victory while Ellis and his teammates held their heads in their hands or looked to the sky in disbelieving fashion. The play came only a few minutes after Northern Iowa beat Texas on a buzzer-beater and capped an outrageous day of upsets and craziness in the NCAA tournament.
One week earlier, the Bearcats saw UConn’s Jalen Adams hit a miracle 70-foot shot at the end of a third overtime of a quarterfinal game in the American Athletic Conference tournament and ultimately fell to the Huskies in the fourth overtime.
It was a cruel end to Ellis’ career and it came only moments after he had made two crucial blocked shots to position the Bearcats for a win.
Cincinnati trailed by four with under two minutes to play when Ellis blocked a layup by Isaiah Miles. Later, with less than 30 seconds remaining and down by one, Ellis blocked a 3-point attempt by Aaron Brown. Troy Caupain grabbed it out of the air and passed ahead to Jacob Evans, who dunked to give the Bearcats a one-point lead.
Moments later, Miles buried a 3-pointer to give the Hawks a two-point advantage, but the Bearcats pushed the ball up the court quickly and Caupain found Ellis under the basket. Ellis grabbed the pass leaped into the air and dunked the ball a fraction of a second too late in an effort to tie the game and force overtime.
Replays showed the ball in the cylinder but still in Ellis’ hands when time expired and the light on the backboard came on.
Saint Joseph’s advances to play No. 1 seed Oregon on Sunday with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
