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Final Four: Gonzaga beats UCLA at buzzer, Baylor routs Houston

Jalen Suggs APTOPIX NCAA Final Four UCLA Gonzaga Basketball
Posted at 6:21 AM, Apr 04, 2021
and last updated 2021-04-04 06:21:03-04

GONZAGA 93, UCLA 90 (OT)

Gonzaga has given fans the NCAA championship game they wanted with a shot for the ages.

Jalen Suggs banked in a shot from near midcourt at the buzzer, giving the heavily favored Zags a 93-90 overtime victory against upstart UCLA.

Gonzaga, the No. 1 overall seed, will play second-seeded Baylor for the title Monday night. Those teams were 1-2 in The Associated Press Top 25 most of the season. The Bears manhandled Houston 78-59 in the other national semifinal.

Johnny Juzang scored 31 points for UCLA, including a tying basket with 3.3 seconds left. But Suggs took the inbound pass, dribbled just past midcourt and launched the shot. It banked in after the buzzer sounded.

Gonzaga is 31-0 and the first team since Indiana State in 1979 to carry an undefeated record into the national title game. Indiana was the last undefeated champion in 1976.

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BAYLOR 78, HOUSTON 59

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Baylor cruised into the NCAA championship game and a much-anticipated final against No. 1 Gonzaga.

Jared Butler didn’t score in the second half, but the second-ranked Bears didn’t need any more points from their All-American guard after he scored 17 to help them take a 25-point halftime lead in a 78-59 victory over Houston.

It’s the second trip to the championship game for Baylor. The other was in 1948, when the Bears lost to Kentucky 58-42. This is Baylor’s first trip to the Final Four since 1950, when only eight teams were in the tournament.