KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Arizona's Jaden Bradley answered a tying 3-pointer by Iowa State guard Tamin Lipsey with a fall-away jumper at the buzzer, sending the second-ranked Wildcats to an 82-80 victory over the No. 7 Cyclones in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals Friday night.
Bradley finished with 15 points, and Anthony Dell'Orso matched a career-best with six 3-pointers and scored 26 points for the tournament's top seed. The Wildcats (31-2) advanced to play No. 14 Kansas or fifth-ranked Houston in Saturday night's championship game.
Ivan Kharchenkov also had 17 points for Arizona. Tobe Awaka added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
It looked as if the game was headed to overtime after Lipsey, who had been 1 for 10 from the field, drilled a 3-pointer from the wing with 15.2 seconds to go. Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd chose not to call a timeout and Bradley calmly walked the ball up the floor, then drove to his right and hit the winner before his teammates jumped from the bench on top of him.
Milan Momcilovic matched a career-high eight 3-pointers and scored 28 points for the No. 5 seed Cyclones (27-7). All-Big 12 forward Joshua Jefferson had 21 points, Killyan Toure added 12 and Lipsey finished with eight points and seven assists.
The Wildcats were able to weather a 14-5 run by Iowa State to start the game, and even pulled ahead 37-34 with a 9-0 run of their own late in the first half. But the Cyclones took the momentum into halftime when Momcilovic hit a trio of 3-pointers over the final 1:23, including a buzzer-beater after an Arizona turnover with a couple seconds on the clock.
That was just the start of the fireworks between two teams capable of winning the national championship.
They traded blows throughout the second half, and at one point, Dell'Orso and Momcilovic traded 3-pointers on four consecutive trips down the floor, sending a Big 12 Tournament single-session record crowd of 19,450 into a frenzy.
That was nothing compared to the eruption when Bradley hit the bucket that sent Arizona to its second straight title game.
Up next
Arizona lost at third-seeded Kansas before winning the rematch on its senior night a couple of weeks ago. The Wildcats beat the second-seeded Cougars in their only regular-season meeting on Feb. 21 in Houston.
Iowa State is hoping for a No. 2 seed and first- and second-round games in St. Louis for the NCAA Tournament.
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