WICHITA, Kan. _ The ball clanked off the backboard and rim, and Trey Kell pulled his jersey over his face. Malik Pope grabbed the ball and walked around with it aimlessly, helplessly. Devin Watson untucked his jersey and looked skyward. Heads hung, shoulders slumped, tears welled in eyes.
March Sadness.
San Diego State's magical journey through February and March came to a frustrating, crushing end in the rolling prairies of central Kansas, as the Aztecs fell way behind Houston and caught up before losing, 67-65, on Thursday night at Intrust Bank Arena.
What looked like a routine rout became one the best games of this, or any, NCAA Tournament, with a furious back-and-forth finish, with one crazy shot topping the last, with inevitable thrills for one team and heartbreak for the other.
Watson made a 3-pointer to tie it with a minute left after Houston had led by 13 and seemed in complete control. The fun was only beginning.
Houston guard Rob Gray, who the Aztecs simply could not stop all night, made a contested 3 at the other end for a 65-62 lead.
Then Watson made another 3 to knot it at 65.
Then Gray drove to his less preferred right side, ducked between Trey Kell and Malik Pope, and scooped a layup that spun off the backboard and barely rolled over the rim into the net with 1.1 seconds left.
SDSU called timeout and set up its "Home Run" play, which resulted in a decent look for Kell from 25 feet at the buzzer.
It missed, and the nine-game win streak was over. The season was over. The magic was over.
This became a game of two things: whether SDSU could make its free throws (and it shot 35), and whether it could stop Gray.
The Aztecs finally started making freebies after missing five straight and being 7 of 15 at one point. That got them back in the game.
But they couldn't stop Gray, and that lost it. Gray, who began his career at a junior college in Texas, finished with 39 points on 12-of-25 shooting, including 4 of 6 behind the arc. The taller Kell was on him most of the time, and most of his shots were contested.
No one else on Houston (27-7) scored in double figures.
Jalen McDaniels led SDSU (22-11) with 18 points and nine rebounds after being in first-half foul trouble. Pope had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Kell had 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists
The frustrating part, of course, is the Aztecs will be kicking themselves with the foot they shot themselves in.
If you had told the SDSU coaches that they'd escape the first half without surrendering an offensive board to one of the nation's top rebounding teams, they probably would have figured they were ahead.
They didn't, and they weren't.
The problems were pretty much everywhere. The Aztecs closed the half by missing 11 of their final 12 shots. They were 2 of 10 overall behind the arc. They had 10 turnovers after averaging 10.7 for the entire 40 minutes during their nine-game win streak. They were 7 of 13 from the line after shooting 72.1 percent all season, their second best in the last 39 years.
Watson shot 0 of 5 in the half. Kell was 2 of 7 and was the primary defender on Gray, who had 16 first-half points. McDaniels picked up two quick fouls and played only eight minutes. Fellow freshman Matt Mitchell got three fouls and played seven.
The Aztecs were still within 33-29 with 2:17 left in the half, and Pope had another free throw coming. But he missed it, and they closed the half by doing this on their final four possessions: pass out of bounds, another missed 3, two missed free throws by Pope and a missed bank (contested) layup by Kell.
The dagger came from Gray 10 seconds earlier, when he drained a deep 3 in Kell's face to push the halftime lead to 39-29.
This, against an SDSU team that two games ago scored 55 in the first half against No. 22 Nevada and led by 30.
It didn't immediately get better. The Aztecs started the second half with the ball, and Watson quickly drew a shooting foul. And missed both free throws.
Two possessions later, Pope plowed into the lane and was called for a charge, his third foul.
Coach Brian Dutcher had a decision to make, and opted to keep his senior captain in the game. Pope stayed foul free, and his Aztecs clawed their way back into the game.
They did it, of all places, at the free-throw line. The Aztecs kept drawing fouls, getting into the bonus with 13:13 to go, and made seven straight to cut a 13-point deficit to 53-48 midway through the second half.
From there, the Aztecs drew closer and closer until the wild final minute.
