Who knew a Muse song blaring from the speakers at NRG Stadium would be the motivation one team needed to get back to sending them to the national title game?
Of all the games in March Madness that drive madness, the setup for this one proved just how unpredictable this tournament really is.
The buildup was not in vain – the San Diego State Aztecs and Florida Atlantic Owls fell and the game ended on a buzzer-beating Lamont Butler shot to send SDSU to the national title game.
They are waiting for the winner in Miami and UConn.
Here a crowd of more than 70,000 people sat at NFL Stadium in Houston, Texas – to watch Florida Atlantic and San Diego State play in the Final Four for the first time in both schools’ history.
San Diego State edged out Florida Atlantic to advance to the national championship game
Lamont Butler hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer to seal the 72-71 Final Four win
Conference USA—a group that hasn’t sent a team to the Final Four since 2008—saw their Florida Atlantic Booms reach the school’s Final Four. Meanwhile, the San Diego State Aztecs became the first-ever representatives from Mountain West to reach this stage.
FAU opened the scoring thanks to redshirt rookie Nick Boyd – who drained a three-pointer in a spot known for his size and depth that proved difficult for the shooters. Davis quickly followed that up with a bowling of his own.
SDSU went three possessions without a basket until Matt Bradley dropped three of his own. He added another over a minute later – proving that he was beginning to shed the cobwebs that plagued him in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight.
In a media timeout under 16:00, big man Nathan Mensah hit a layup and drew one, which he hit to put SDSU up nine. Bradley threw his third three-pointer of the night at 15:14 of the first period to deflect the knife further, but put another dagger in the sweet spot to go up 14-7.
FAU’s Elijah Martin broke a four-minute drought scoring for the Owls on a corner kick as Boyd hit a hat-trick to bring the game to 14-10 as the game had less than 14:00 left to start.
The game went back and forth as we approached the halfway point of the first half. In the under-12 media timeout, the Owls had cut the deficit to just one with a Michael Forrest pass followed by Boyd’s 3-pointer – his third of the night – to make it 16-15 of the Aztecs.
It should be noted how good the SDSU team is usually at avoiding fouls. They didn’t commit their first game until 11:09 in the first half. FAU had collected three at that point. SDSU’s first shooting error came at the 10:34 mark. This will not be the case as we progress into the game.
It was a shooting error at 10:34 that helped FAU regain the lead with two kills from Johnell Davis to go up 19-17. Another SDSU shooting error before the game had passed 10:00 put Florida Atlantic two more points on the plate.
A jump from Jonelle Davis (R) helped Florida Atlantic get off to a great start
SDSU had not scored a point since 11:27. Lamont Butler broke that drought at the 9:33 mark and followed that up with a quick 3-pointer to go up 22-21.
But FAU stayed at it – young transfer guard Jalen Gaffney hit a shot from distance to go up 26-24. SDSU’s Mensah responded with a layup to tie the game just after 7:00.
Over about three minutes, Florida Atlantic took a 10-2 lead to go up 36-28. Brian Greenlee’s long-distance dagger put the Owls back at the 6:36 mark and Martin extended the lead with five minutes left in the game. The FAU fans in the crowd made themselves known that Butler’s volley didn’t quite reach the rim.
Giancarlo Rosada led by 10 points at 2:28. San Diego State couldn’t buy a bucket because they went more than three minutes without scoring until a birdie by Ajik Arup broke the drought at the 1:19 mark.
But even then, Alijah Martin drove back down the court, hit the basket and drew a foul – but missed. In the final minute of the first half, Kechad Johnson grabbed a three-goal for SDSU, and both teams missed jumpers to go into the half with a score of 40-33 in favor of FAU.
Boyd’s fourth deep-range shot of the night opened the second half scoring as both teams struggled to hold onto the ball and he missed six shots combined in the first minute and a half.
With both teams still going into the second half, SDSU began to regain their scoring touch – but the Owls continued to hold serve every time. By the second half under 16 timeouts, FAU maintained their lead at nine points.
But in an atypical way, the Aztecs began to get into more and more deadly trouble. An elbow by SDSU’s Micah Parrish on Brandon Weatherspoon led to calls for a technical foul—which the officials gave after review.
Nicholas Boyd (R) made a three-point bucket hit to help FAU make a statement early on
Kechad Johnson made a three-point shot to keep the lead before halftime
A sixth Aztec foul came with just 15 minutes left in the second period as Martin was hacked with a 3-point shot. He drained all three free throws to lead the Owls to 14 points, 54-40.
SDSU has once again gone through a prolonged drought. After Darrion Trammell’s jumper at 17:21, the Aztecs didn’t hit another basket until Arop hit a jumper at 14:37.
Half of the FAU building was roaring in their approval. Never before have fans in blue and red Boca Raton been on a stage this big. It’s time to suck it up and not be blinded by the spotlight.
That’s when the drought began.
The Aztecs’ first point guard, Matt Bradley, was the game’s leading scorer with 11 points in the first half
The Owls went to the foul line several times to go up 56-42, but were unable to get a shot from the field. They went the first half shooting over 50% from the field, but only stood at 27% until the 12:00 mark. By the time the second half was over, FAU would only hit a third of their shots for that half.
SDSU saw their opening and dug in their nails to stay in the game. In a media timeout with less than 12:00 left, they came back to make it a 58-51 contest. Since Arop hit his aforementioned mutant, the Aztecs have gone on a 9-4 run to keep themselves in it.
During that time, the speakers in the arena began blaring “Uprising” by the Muse – a rallying cry used by the Aztecs in their home games at Viejas Arena. SDSU fans became deafened as they shouted the chorus’ final lines: “We shall prevail.” The spirited band that traveled with the team also played an a cappella version of the song and once again the Aztec faithful made their voices known.
San Diego State’s deficit was cut to two at the 9:05 mark as Bradley hit both of his free throws to score 19 points on the night. 60-58. We had a ball game.
Alija Martin got a perfect feed to bring home the jam at 8:52. Both teams missed chances as Gideon Leddy put a bucket to put it back into a two-point game. Martin responded with a deep putt at 7:44 to go up five.
Darion Trammell (right) brings the ball up the field against Brian Greenlee (left)
Aztecs cheerleaders root for San Diego State in the first half of the Final Four game
But SDSU just couldn’t stop the pollution. FAU was in the bonus at the 13:53-second mark and made the double bonus at 6:03 after Mensah made his fourth foul, his team’s tenth.
The Aztecs kept close – but they were still a long way from taking the lead. At 5:00 it was a 65-62 game. Attempts to connect them were futile. The Aztecs were unable to score after they were awarded the offensive rebound from a missed free throw. Bradley’s 3-point attempts ended.
A controversial foul call put FAU’s Vladislav Goldin in a bind. The big man remained relatively silent throughout the game – grabbing five points, three rebounds and four fumbles with 4:43 minutes into the game. With Arop on the line with two strikes, he hit the first but missed the second. Bradley rebounded. Arup caught the feed and took a perfect jump. 65-65. drawn game.
The building—which was about 90% occupied—began to fill with nervous energy so powerfully that it felt like a gust of wind in the closed stadium.
Parrish went to the goal line and missed two free throws. Goldin turned the ball over, on the field, the Aztecs went before they missed an obvious layup – but they came back to the line as the clock read 2:05. It was another dubious call. No one at FAU seemed to touch an Aztecs player as Bradley sank just one of his two free throws. 67-66 when we got to under two minutes.
Martin committed his fourth foul on a drive that gave the ball back to San Diego State. The Aztecs traveled the ball, again failing to accomplish anything.
Jonell Davis drained his free throws to make it 68-66 at the 1:20 mark. The Aztecs broke an FG drought of over three minutes with a Jaedon LeDee strike to make it 69-68 with less than a minute left.
Martin popped out of a timeout and hit a beautiful, acrobatic reverse pass to extend the lead to 71-68. timeout again. Leddy hit a basket to make it 71-70. timeout again. FAU brought the ball up the court and called another timeout with 17.5 seconds left in the game, 11 seconds on the shot clock, and that one-point lead still remained.
Dusty Mae, the Owls’ head coach, was watching from the sidelines during halftime
San Diego State’s Nathan Mensah (R) defends the Aztecs against Alija Martin (L)
Down the court came the owls. Davis’ shot missed, and the Aztecs grabbed the board. Time goes by down and down the pitch they went to. The ball was caught in the hands of Lamont Butler, who drove the right wing and tried to cut through the paint on the inside. It was blocked by Boyd, so he backed off and put in a jump shot.
The bell rang. Butler covered it. Bedlam.
Despite not leading since 11:24 of the first half, San Diego State did. They were on their way to their first ever national championship.
In fact, the Aztecs won.
Lamont Butler (R) dribbles the ball against Florida Atlantic goalkeeper Boyd
