San Diego State edges Creighton for 1st Final 4 berth after last-second foul

Darrion Trammell converted a go-ahead free throw after he was fouled on a floater with 1.2 seconds left, and San Diego State muscled its way into its first Final Four, grinding out a 57-56 victory over Creighton on Sunday in the NCAA tournament's South Region final.

Lamont Butler scored 18 points and Trammell had 12 for the fifth-seeded Aztecs (31-6), who slowed down the high-scoring, sixth-seeded Bluejays (24-13) and became the first Mountain West Conference team to reach the national semifinals.

The experienced Aztecs, in their sixth season under coach Brian Dutcher, will play the surprising East Region champion, ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic, on Saturday in Houston for a spot in the national title game.

With the game tied at 56-all on San Diego State's final possession, Trammell drove toward the free-throw line, elevated for the shot and was fouled by Canadian Ryan Nembhard. Trammell missed the first free throw but converted the second.

Creighton's Baylor Scheierman threw the ensuing inbound pass the length of the floor. San Diego State's Aguek Arop and Creighton's Arthur Kaluma both jumped for it and the ball deflected out of bounds. Officials reviewed the play and determined that time had expired, and the celebration was on for the Aztecs.

Scheierman had tied the game at 56-all when he stole an inbounds pass and converted a layup with 34 seconds remaining.

Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 17 points and Scheierman and Arthur Kaluma had 12 apiece for the Bluejays, who went two of 17 from three-point range.

Nembhard finished with seven points, four rebounds and an assist.

San Diego State shot 38 per cent but got clutch baskets from Nathan Mensah, whose jumper gave the Aztecs a 56-54 lead with 1:37 left, and Arop, who made two straight shots to put San Diego State ahead 54-50 with 3:03 remaining.

Creighton, which beat San Diego State in overtime in the first round of last year's NCAA tournament, fell just short of joining Big East rival UConn in the Final Four.

Kaluma played against his brother, San Diego State's Adam Seiko. Their parents sat a few rows up at midcourt, sitting quietly before joining Seiko to celebrate.

Miami rallies past Texas to book 1st trip to Final 4

Jordan Miller and Isaiah Wong rallied Miami from a 13-point second-half deficit, Norchad Omier made two big free throws and an even more important steal down the stretch, and the fifth-seeded Hurricanes stunned No. 2 seed Texas 88-81 on Sunday to reach the Final Four for the first time in school history.

Miller finished with 27 points, going seven of seven from the field and 13 of 13 from the foul line, while Wong scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half to beat the Longhorns, who had been the top remaining seed in a topsy-turvy NCAA tournament.

Now, after falling short in the Elite Eight a year ago, the fifth-seeded Hurricanes (29-7) are headed to NRG Stadium in Houston for a date with No. 4 seed UConn on Saturday night.

Miami and Texas were tied 79-all when Omier, who is known for his bruising style of play, was fouled by the Longhorns' Brock Cunningham while going for a loose ball. He made both of the foul shots to give the Hurricanes the lead, then stole the ball from Canadian Longhorns star Marcus Carr at the other end, and Wong made to more free throws with 34 seconds left.

Miller kept drilling foul shots down the stretch to ice the Midwest Region title for the Hurricanes.

Carr scored 17 points to lead the Longhorns (29-9) while also adding six assists and two rebounds.