3/22/24 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Friday
22 March 2024 Sports
Damian Lillard had 30 points and 12 assists and had two late steals as the Milwaukee Bucks capitalized on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s return to beat the Brooklyn Nets 115-108 on Thursday night.
Antetokounmpo had 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists after missing two games because of an issue with his left hamstring. The Bucks rested Khris Middleton a night after he played 33 minutes in a 122-119 loss at Boston, as they continue to manage his workload in his recovery from a sprained left ankle.
Mikal Bridges scored 24 points, Nic Claxton had 22 and Cam Thomas 21 for the Nets, who made a big second-half comeback but still lost their fifth straight.
After trailing by 20 points late in the second quarter and 18 early in the third, the Nets pulled ahead by outscoring the Bucks 21-6 over the first five and a half minutes of the final period.
Cam Johnson made a 3-pointer with 6:58 left to put Brooklyn ahead 87-88, giving the Nets their first lead since 11-9. Dennis Smith Jr. followed with a steal and a basket to make 90-87 with 6:41 remaining.
Antetokounpmo made a 3-pointer to tie it with six minutes left, and the game went back and forth from there.
It was tied at 96 when Lillard got a steal and started a fast break which led to Antetokounmpo scoring on the other end of the floor while getting fouled. Antetokounmpo hit the ensuing free throw to complete a 3-point play with 3:36 remaining.
Milwaukee extended the lead to five on two occasions, but the Nets cut it to 103-101 on Bridges’ 3-pointer with 2:17 left.
After Antetokounmpo missed a shot, the Nets had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead. Dennis Smith Jr. drove into the lane, but Lillard stole the ball, headed upcourt and found Malik Beasley open for a corner 3-pointer that made it 106-101 with 1:37 remaining.
Lillard then sealed the victory by scoring the game’s next five points, including a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left.
Over his last three games, Lillard has averaged 31 points and 11.3 assists. He has scored at least 30 points in each of those games.
Up Next, the Bucks host the Thunder on Sunday night.
Marquette is determined to do more with a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament than it did last year.
The Golden Eagles squandered their high seed a year ago, losing in the second round to 10th-seeded Michigan State.
Their first task is to beat No. 15 seed Western Kentucky in the first round of the South Region on Friday.
“I think we found that edge all season,” senior forward Oso Ighodaro said Thursday. “When we’re playing at our best, we have it and that’s something that we’ve been really focusing on during this two-game tournament.”
Standout point guard Tyler Kolek is expected to return from a six-game absence because of an oblique strain. The nation’s top playmaker has practiced this week and coach Shaka Smart indicated that he’ll play, although Kolek acknowledged his recovery has had obstacles.
Teammate Kam Jones had to help him out of a chair after a class. Kolek also struggled to close a car door. Fortunately for Marquette, he looked pretty fluid shooting 3s during practice on Thursday.
The Golden Eagles went 3-3 without Kolek, including last week’s 73-57 loss to defending national champion and No. 1 overall seed UConn in the Big East Tournament championship game. Smart, eyeing the big picture, held Kolek out as a precaution.
“He just wasn’t quite ready in terms of going through all the things he needed to go through,” Smart said. “I think the biggest challenge for him (Friday) is going to be the psychological part of coming back to playing after three weeks of not playing. He’s a very, very thoughtful, intentional, serious person and player, and he wants to get everything right.”
Western Kentucky is making its first March Madness appearance since 2013 and seeking its first tournament win since 2012 in the First Four.
The Hilltoppers staged a remarkable turnaround after closing the regular season on a four-game slide. They regrouped to win the next three and claim their first Conference USA Tournament championship in coach Steve Lutz’s first season.
The No. 14 seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies used a memorable 3-point shooting performance by Jack Gohlke to stun No. 3 seed Kentucky, 80-76, in the biggest upset of this NCAA men’s tournament so far.
Oakland got off to a bad start after it missed its first seven shots of the day. But it shook it off with an outstanding 3-point performance, hitting 15 of 31 shots from beyond the arc, including 10 by Gohlke, to defeat the team that was the best 3-point shooting squad in the country.
The stunning loss is another disappointing postseason showing for Kentucky, which has a 1-3 record in its last three tournaments with two first-round exits, as No. 2 and No. 3 seeds.
The win over the eight-time national champions was monumental for the Golden Grizzlies as it’s their second NCAA tournament win but first in the field of 64.
The Golden Grizzlies were powered by Gohlke, who came off the bench with a 32-point performance. He came close to the record for most 3-pointers made in an NCAA Tournament game, which is 11 by Jeff Fryer of Loyola Marymount in 1990. He became the fifth player in NCAA Tournament history to make 10 3-pointers in one game.
When asked how his team pulled off the win, Head Coach Greg Kampe looked at Gohlke and shrugged.
“This guy right here, he had no conscious. We talked all week. Just go shoot it, baby. You’re the best. He’s the best, and he proved it to the world tonight,” Kampe said.
Entering Thursday, Gohlke was third in Division I with 3.6 made 3-pointers per game, and his 37% 3-point shooting percentage was 66th in the country.
The Jayhawks led by as many as 22 points in the second half, but Samford surged back and cut the deficit to one point with 20 seconds left.
Kansas tried to move the ball around and got it up to guard Nicolas Timberlake and he went for a dunk as Samford’s A.J. Staton-McCray contested it. A foul was called on Staton-McCray, to the objection of the Bulldogs.
When the CBS broadcast showed a replay, Staton-McCray appeared to block the ball without touching Timberlake. Broadcasters Brad Nessler and Brendan Haywood both agreed it was a bad call, but the call couldn’t be reviewed.
So, instead of it being a block with Samford potentially getting the ball back down by one, Timberlake got two free throws. He made both to make it a 92-89 game and Samford couldn’t tie the game on the next possession, and the Jayhawks won 93-89.
Social media users weren’t happy with the foul call, and the TBS studio crew continued to discuss the missed call after the game.
“Bad call, too. They missed it. It happens. It shouldn’t happen in these moments,” Kenny Smith said.
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