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Ridley's layup at the buzzer lifts Texas past Arizona State

Mar 21, 2014 - 6:18 AM Milwaukee, WI (SportsNetwork.com) - Cameron Ridley's putback at the buzzer lifted the Texas Longhorns to an 87-85 triumph over Arizona State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Texas (24-10) trailed by a point in the latter stages when Ridley's putback layup made it 82-81. After empty possessions both ways, Arizona State (21-12) point guard Jahii Carson drove baseline and dropped off a pass to Jordan Bachynski, whose thunderous dunk put the Sun Devils in front with less than a minute remaining.

With 32 seconds to play, Jonathan Holmes rebounded a Javan Felix airball and converted a layup plus a foul for an 85-83 Texas lead. Holmes was whistled for a foul on the other end, and Jonathan Gilling knotted the score at 85-apiece, setting up Ridley's heroics.

On the final touch, Holmes hoisted a deep 3-pointer that missed long off the backboard. After a scramble for the loose ball, Ridley came up with it and released his lefty layup, just over Bachynski's outstretched arm as the buzzer sounded.

"I expected John to make it, but, I mean, I went to the glass as hard as I could and the ball came to me," said Ridley. "I tried to get it up as quick as I possibly could and it went in."

Ridley paced the seventh-seeded Longhorns with 17 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots. Texas will face No. 2 Michigan in the Midwest Region round of 32 on Saturday.

Martez Walker hit 9-of-10 from the stripe and scored a career-best 16 points for Texas, while Demarcus Holland hit a perfect 6-of-6 from the field for 14.

"It was a great, great college basketball game," said Texas head coach Rick Barnes.

Bachynski netted a game-high 25 points for ASU, with Carson and Jermaine Marshall contributing 19 and 17 points, respectively. Jonathan Gilling had 12 of his 15 bench points in the second half.

"They're a great team," said Bachynski. "They played hard, they rebound well, they shot the ball well, and it was a tough game."

The Longhorns turned a 41-36 halftime lead into a double-digit advantage before the first media timeout of the second half. A pair of Holland free throws less than three minutes in capped Texas' 8-2 run.

The margin reached 14 points after two Holmes free throws before Arizona State made its run near the midpoint of the period. Bachynski hit two from the line and Marshall potted a jumper for a 10-point game.

The Sun Devils then got within seven on Marshall's three-point play and five after Bachynski made two more free throws. Then, Gilling caught fire.

The junior from Denmark hit three 3-pointers over the next three minutes, the last of which at 6:19 cut Texas' lead to 73-70.

It was 80-77 when Marshall came off a screen and drilled a triple from the right wing to tie it. The Sun Devils then took their first lead since the 12:58 mark of the first half when Bachynski drew a foul and split the ensuing free throws.

Texas led by as many as nine points during the first half, 30-21, but ASU ran off seven straight to keep it close.

Game Notes

Texas outscored Arizona State 42-30 in the paint and 18-6 in transition ... Isaiah Taylor, Holmes and Felix all had 11 points for UT ... Both teams had 17 assists. Carson had nine for ASU.