Beat the clock

Cal tops N.C. State in OT on Midgley's late 3-pointer

Richard Midgley hit 3-of-6 from 3-point range, including the game-winner. AP

Consider California freshman Richard Midgley a hoops pioneer.

Midgley, who grew up in Burgess Hill, England, swished a 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds left in overtime Thursday, sending the Golden Bears to a 76-74 win over North Carolina State in the first round of the East Regional.

The Wolfpack had just taken a 74-73 lead on a Scooter Sherrill's 3-pointer with 12.8 seconds left when Midgley took a pass from Joeuys used to pick on me [in England] because I played basketball, not soccer," said Midgley, who played two years of high school basketball in California. "But I picked the right sport, I guess."

Ninth-seeded North Carolina State had a chance to win the game, but Sherrill missed from the top-of the key as time expired.

SI.com's Mike Lewis The North Carolina State Wolfpack stopped Cal’s Richard Midgley the first two times he tried to win his first game in the NCAA tournament. But Midgley, who moved to the United States from his native England as a teenager to pursue his basketball career, wasn’t going to give up so easily. FULL STORY

California (22-8), a No. 8 seed, advanced to the second round for the second straight year and will play No. 1 seed Oklahoma on Saturday.

Midgley could have been remembered for two potential game-winning layups that were blocked in the final minute of regulation, when he dared drive the lane.

"If I'm wide open, I'm confident I'm going to hit my shot," said Midgley, who finished with 11 points. "I wasn't worried about what happened earlier in the game."

Neither was Shipp, who led California with a game-high 24 points but turned to Midgley when the game was on the line.

Shipp, who scored California's first four points in overtime, drew two Wolfpack defenders with a move inside before kicking it back out to Midgley.

"He'll get a lot of attention for all the points he scored but there's something about trusting your teammates," California coach Ben Braun said. "He certainly trusted the freshman."

Thursday, March 20, 2003 Tournament Central | Live Scoreboard

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• Brackets: Main | Experts' picks

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• Tourney Pickoff: Friday

• Closer Look: Gonzaga-Cincinnati

• Closer Look: California-N.C. State

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Thursday's Games

Midwest

No. 3 Marquette 72, No. 14 Holy Cross 68 No. 6 Missouri 72, No. 11 S. Illinois 71 No. 5 Wisconsin 81, No. 12 Weber St. 74 No. 13 Tulsa 84, No. 4 Dayton 71

West

No. 9 Gonzaga 74, No. 8 Cincy 69 | Closer Look No. 1 Arizona 80, No. 16 Vermont 51 No. 10 Arizona St. 84, No. 7 Memphis 71 No. 4 Illinois 65, No. 13 Western Kentucky 60 No. 11 C. Michigan 79, No. 6 Creighton 73 No. 5 N.Dame 70, No. 12 UW-Milw. 69 | Closer Look No. 2 Kansas 64, No. 15 Utah St. 61 No. 3 Duke 67, No. 14 Colorado St. 57

East

No. 8 Cal 76, No. 9 N.C. St. 74, OT | Closer Look No. 1 Oklahoma 71, No. 16 S.C. St. 54

South

No. 5 UConn 58, No. 12 BYU 53 | Closer Look No. 4 Stanford 77, No. 13 San Diego 69

Friday's Games

Midwest

No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 16 IUPUI, 12:30 pm No. 8 Oregon vs. No. 9 Utah, 3 pm No. 2 Pittsburgh vs. No. 15 Wagner, 7:10 pm No. 7 Indiana vs. No. 10 Alabama, 9:40 pm

East

No. 3 Syracuse vs. No. 14 Manhattan, 12:15 pm No. 7 St. Joseph's vs. No. 10 Auburn, 12:25 pm No. 6 Oklahoma St. vs. No. 11 Penn 2:45 pm No. 2 Wake Forest vs. No. 15 ETSU, 2:55 pm No. 4 Louisville vs. No. 13 Austin Peay, 7:20 pm No. 5 Mississippi St. vs. No. 12 Butler, 9:50 pm

South

No. 1 Texas vs. UNC-Asheville, 12:30 pm No. 8 LSU vs. No. 9 Purdue, 3 pm No. 7 Mich. St. vs. No. 10 Colorado, 7:10 pm No. 3 Xavier vs. No. 14 Troy State, 7:25 pm No. 2 Florida vs. No. 15 Sam Houston, 9:40 pm No. 6 Maryland vs. No. 11 UNC-Wilm., 9:55 pm

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"I tried to create and go to the basket," Shipp said. "I looked up and Richard was wide open and made the play."

The loss was a disappointment for North Carolina State (18-13), which appeared headed to the second round after Sherrill made his 3-pointer.

Josh Powell, who scored 17 points and made one of the key blocks on Midgley at the end of regulation, thought the Wolfpack had it won when Sherrill's shot swished through.

"It was a great emotion. We were going back to play defense, but they made a great shot," Powell said.

California used it size advantage at the start of the game, jumping to an 11-3 lead on Gabriel Hughes' dunk early in the first half.

North Carolina State looked tentative early against the bigger Golden Bears, missing several point-blank looks. The Wolfpack finally loosened up with pair of quick-strike 3-pointers from Sherrill and a tomahawk dunk by Powell.

North Carolina State took its first lead at 66-65 in regulation. The Wolfpack led 71-70 in overtime before Shipp muscled over three defenders for a putback off a missed 3-pointer with 50.2 seconds left.

Brian Wethers hit a free throw to give California a 73-71 lead. The consecutive 3-pointers by Sherrill and Midgley closed it out.

"It was a great 3-point shot by Scooter, but we afforded them too many second chance opportunities," Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek said.

 

Related information

Stories

Seth Davis' Hoop Thoughts: Top seeds will all find their way to New Orleans Expert Brackets: Our writers pick the 63 games SI's Tim Layden: The soothing power of sports Stewart Mandel: War makes for strange beginning NCAA Closer Look: California vs. N.C. State

Stats

California-N.C. State Box Score

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