INDIANAPOLIS, April 3 (UPI) -- Duke, Butler advance to NCAA title game
INDIANAPOLIS, April 3 (UPI) -- Gordon Hayward scored 19 points and made a critical shot block Saturday, pacing Butler to a 52-50 win over Michigan State in an NCAA Tournament semifinal game.
Hayward scored Butler's only field goal in the final 12 minutes and made a key defensive play on Michigan State's Draymond Green in the closing seconds as the Bulldogs (33-4) continued their Cinderella run to Monday's NCAA Tournament championship game against Duke, which beat West Virginia 78-57 in Saturday's second semifinal game.
With Butler leading 50-49, Hayward got a hand on Green's shot in the lane and Ronald Nored gathered in the loose ball. He was fouled with 6.1 seconds left and hit both free throws to make it a 3-point game.
Butler fouled MSU's Korie Lucious with 2 seconds remaining. Lucious made the first and intentionally missed the second but Hayward pulled down the defensive rebound to clinch the win, the Bulldogs' 25th straight.
MSU (28-9) turned the ball over 16 times. Durrell Summers led the Spartans with 14 points and 10 rebounds while Green and Lucious chipped in 12 apiece in the loss.
