San Diego State basketball just keeps making hoops history.
The San Diego State Aztecs beat the Creighton Blue Jays 57-56 in the Elite 8 of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. With the win in the South Regional Final, SDSU's season will continue with a trip to the Final Four in Houston, TX.
This will be the first Final Four appearance in school history.
San Diego State will play Florida Atlantic Saturday in the Final Four.
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Aztec senior guard Darrion Trammell made a free-throw with 1.2 seconds left to give SDSU a 57-56 lead.
In the first half Creighton grabbed the early lead by finding holes inside the Aztec's defense with repeated baskets in the paint. The Blue Jays biggest lead was 26-18, but Jaedon LeDee, Lamont Butler and Darrion Trammell kept the Aztecs in the game. Those 3 players were the only Aztecs to score more than 2 points in the first 20 minutes, Butler scored 9, Trammell 7 and LeDee 6. SDSU went into half trailing 33-28.
San Diego State opened the 2nd half on a 6-0 run to take a 34-33 lead, their first lead since 5-4. Creighton countered with a 8-0 run to regain a 41-34 lead, before the lead swung back to the Aztecs with a trammel jumper to make it 46-45 with under 8 minutes to play.
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From then on the teams traded baskets and the lead, the quality of play raising as the clock ticked down.
With under a minute to play, senior center Nathan Mensah hit a jumper from just inside the free-throw line to give the Aztecs a 56-54 lead. But, the Aztecs turned the ball over on an in-bounds pass in the backcourt that lead to Creighton bucket and a tie game.
This was rematch of a first round match-up in last years NCAA Tournament, a game that Creighton won in overtime after rallying from a 8 point hole in the final 3 minutes of regulation.
San Diego State reached the Elite 8, with NCAA Tournament wins over Charleston, Furman and Alabama.
The win over #1 ranked and #1 seeded Alabama was historic because SDSU had never beaten a team ranked #1 in the nation and had never been to the Elite 8 until taking down the Crimson Tide Friday in Louisville.
San Diego State improves its season record to 31-6 overall.
