#WhatIf tournament: Duke eliminated

Editor’s note: Review-Journal sports reporter — and college basketball guru — Adam Hill chronicles the What If Tournament that he began with his Selection Sunday unveiling of the 68 teams. Monday: results of the second half of the round of 32:

Freshman Vernon Carey stepped to the line to shoot two free throws with eight-tenths of a second remaining and Duke trailing Richmond by one point in a round-of-32 game in the What If Tournament.

It’s the kind of situation players dream about on the playground. But it quickly turned into a nightmare.

Carey, a 67 percent free-throw shooter who was at the line after a questionable call on a potential game-winning layup attempt on the baseline, badly missed the first free throw.

Richmond coach Chris Mooney called timeout to make Carey think about the second free throw, and the strategy paid off. It went off the side of the rim, and the Blue Devils were ousted 77-76.

Carey had an otherwise sensational game with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Tre Jones added 19 points and nine assists.

Blake Francis finished with 17 points to lead five Spiders in double figures. Richmond shot 37 percent from the field, but limited Duke to 4 of 25 from 3-point range.

The Spiders, the 11th seed in the West Region, were one of the big winners in Sunday’s action.

South Region

■ (1) Baylor 62, (9) Marquette 57 — Jared Butler scored all eight points for the Bears during an 8-3 run to close the game after the Golden Eagles tied the score 54-54 with 3:12 remaining.

Butler hit four free throws during the run and finished with 13 points. The sophomore guard also grabbed five rebounds to help overcome a 26-point effort by Marquette’s Markus Howard.

Koby McEwen and Brendan Bailey combined to go 0 of 9 on 3-pointers for the Golden Eagles.

■ (13) North Texas 70, (5) Auburn 67 — Javion Hamlet caught a long inbounds pass from Thomas Bell just across midcourt, took one dribble and launched a 35-footer at the buzzer that banked off the glass and through the net to lift the Mean Green to the upset.

Austin Wiley had made 1 of 2 from the line for the Tigers to tie the game and set the stage for Hamlet’s heroics.

Samir Doughty scored 18 points for Auburn. North Texas’ Umoja Gibson went 6 of 18 from the field and turned the ball over five times but finished with 16 points.

■ (3) Villanova 68, (6) Brigham Young 66 — Justin Moore scored 17 points and made two free throws to put the Wildcats ahead by five before Jake Toolson’s meaningless 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Collin Gillespie had 16 points and six assists for the Wildcats.

Yoeli Childs scored 23 points for BYU. T.J. Haws was limited to seven points in 22 minutes because of early foul trouble.

■ (10) Texas Tech 90, (15) Texas State 48 — The Bobcats shot 28 percent and were eliminated after pulling off a first-round upset of Florida State.

T.J. Holyfield led five Red Raiders in double-figure scoring with 17 points as coach Chris Beard led Texas Tech to a third straight Sweet 16.

West Region

■ (1) Gonzaga 87, (9) Rutgers 72 — Filip Petrusev dominated in the paint, making 10 of 13 shots and scoring 22 points for the Bulldogs.

Geo Baker had 10 assists for the Scarlet Knights but went 4 of 14 from the field.

Joel Ayayi and Killian Tillie each scored 14 for Gonzaga.

■ (4) Oregon 78, (5) Butler 64 — Payton Pritchard went 5 of 7 on 3-pointers and finished with 27 points and nine assists for the Ducks.

Kamar Baldwin paced the Bulldogs with 23 points but went 0 of 6 on 3-pointers.

Anthony Mathis scored 14 for Oregon, which shot 53 percent.

■ (2) San Diego State 65, (10) Oklahoma 63 — The Aztecs advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2014.

San Diego State survived when Oklahoma’s Austin Reaves missed a shot from the corner at the buzzer. De’Vion Harmon used a screen to get by K.J. Feagin and down the lane for a good look, but instead passed to Reaves.

Malachi Flynn made all nine of his free throws and had 23 points and six assists for the Aztecs.

Reaves finished with 23 points, as former UNLV coach Lon Kruger lost to his ex-Mountain West rival.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.