ST. LOUIS, March 14 (UPI) -- Greg Harrington hit a running shot in the lane with 14 seconds left Thursday to give 12th-seeded Tulsa a 71-69 upset win over No. 5 Marquette in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament.
After Marquette had rallied from a 14-point deficit, Harrington drove the right side of the lane and watched the ball bounce off the front and back of the rim and into the net for the deciding basket.
"I've made some and I've missed plenty," said Harrington, who scored 12 points and led Tulsa to a second-round encounter with fourth-seeded Kentucky. "I was fortunate enough to get a very good look."
"It's an old-school shot that used to be famous in the '50s or 60s, that running one-hander," Tulsa coach John Phillips said. "We've seen him do it before, so I know it's not luck. It's a senior stepping up and making the big play."
Harrington is Tulsa's only senior, but not its only player with experience winning.
Despite their seeding, the Golden Hurricane (27-6) are second in the nation with 85 victories over the past three seasons. They won the National Invitation Tournament in 2001.
"After Sunday's announcement, we knew we would be in for an absolute war," Marquette coach Tom Crean said. "They are by far the quickest team we faced all year."
"Once you start playing, it's just basketball, and that's what we focus on doing, is winning the game," said Harrington, who thought his team's experience was inconsequential. "We were just lucky enough to get the win."
Marquette (26-7) fought back in the second half, but came up short in its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1997.
"This one hurts, it hurts bad," forward Odartey Blankson said. "They were a good team, but we messed up too much."
Both teams shot just over 45 percent from the field, but Tulsa controlled the boards, 37-28, and recorded seven blocks.
After each team struggled from the floor and neither led by more than four points, the Golden Hurricane took a 34-30 lead at halftime, then used a 12-2 run to build a 53-39 cushion with 12:06 remaining.
Antonio Reed started the burst with two of his 18 points and Marqus Ledoux capped it with a dunk in transition off a block by Jack Ingram.
Tulsa still led by 10 with under 8 1/2 minutes left, but Marquette scored 18 of the next 24 points for a 67-65 lead with 3:11 remaining. Cordell Henry had seven of his 17 points during the run.
"When we got up 14, I looked at the clock and saw there was 10 minutes to go," said Ingram, who had nine points, six rebounds and three blocks. "We knew they were going to make a run."
Harrington followed with a pair of free throws to tie it. After Henry missed a three-pointer, Kevin Johnson scored inside to give the Hurricane a 69-67 edge.
Oluoma Nnamaka countered with a layup for Marquette and stole Harrington's interior feed. But Henry missed another jumper, giving Tulsa the decisive possession.
Reed was off with a three-pointer on the other end, but Dante Swanson grabbed the offensive board. Following a timeout with 32 seconds left, Harrington hit the game-winning shot.
"After the last timeout, we came out to play, and my thoughts were, 'I don't see how we should lose this game,'" said Johnson, who had 14 points and four blocks. "We know we're better and we were very confident that we could win this game."
On its final possession, Marquette never attacked the basket and wound up having to settle for a 35-foot jumper by freshman Travis Diener, who threw up an airball. The Golden Eagles were left stunned as the ball went out of bounds at the
buzzer.
"There's only one word to describe this game," said Marquette's Jon Harris, who had 10 points. "It's devastating."
