Davide Moretti opened up a late lead with the two most important 3-pointers of his life, Tariq Owens came up with a big rejection and Texas Tech caught a ride straight to Minneapolis with a 75-69 victory over top-seeded Gonzaga on Saturday.
With Texas Tech leading 68-62 and less than a minute remaining, Owens swooped over to the sideline to reject Gonzaga's NBA-bound star, Rui Hachimura, and put an exclamation point of sorts on a celebration that was just getting warmed up.
Gonzaga (33-4), which spent a good chunk of the season atop the AP Top 25, pulled within 71-69 on Zach Norvell Jr.'s putback with 11 seconds left.
But Josh Perkins reached over the end line and swatted the ball out of Matt Mooney's hand as he was inbounding for a technical. Moretti did the honors -- sinking the technical free throws, then two more after Gonzaga fouled in desperation.
Josh Perkins gets called for the technical foul after reaching over the sideline on the inbounds pass. pic.twitter.com/izpYlBMXFe
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 31, 2019
Jarrett Culver led the Red Raiders with 19 points, and Mooney, a transfer from South Dakota State, had 17.
Moretti also made all four of his free throws down the stretch to wind up with 10 of his 12 points over the final 1:50.
The first of them -- a spot-up 3-pointer from the side of the arc -- gave third-seeded Texas Tech (30-6) a six-point lead, its biggest of the night, with 1:50. Six might not seem like much. But then again, not every defense is like the one coach Chris Beard draws up, and demands, out of the transfers and second-choice players he started bringing to Lubbock when he arrived three seasons ago.
Nobody's overlooking them now.
But, as usual, the biggest stats came on defense. Texas Tech held the Bulldogs' nation-leading offense to 42 percent shooting and forced it into 16 turnovers -- nearly six more than their season average.
