Creighton outlasts Oregon in 2OT to advance in NCAA tournament - ESPN

PITTSBURGH — Before the second overtime began, Greg McDermott looked over at Dana Altman, and the two coaches and close friends shared a smile.

«We were both in disbelief about what was transpiring in front of our eyes,» McDermott said.

They weren't alone.

Steven Ashworth and Ryan Kalkbrenner made 3-pointers in the second overtime as Creighton edged past Altman, the Bluejays' former coach, to move into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament with an 86-73 victory over Oregon on Saturday night.

The 3 by the 6-foot-1 Ashworth and a rare one by the 7-1 Kalkbrenner, a defensive specialist, helped the third-seeded Bluejays (25-9) score the first 15 points of the second OT to finally put away the 11th-seeded Ducks (24-12) and end a game that contained enough mayhem for more than one March.

«Epic game,» said McDermott, who took over at Creighton for Altman in 2010 and got his 325th career win, two away from Altman's school record. «Not sure I've been part of one quite like it in 35 years.»

Ashworth scored 21 points, Trey Alexander added 20, Kalkbrenner put up 19 and Baylor Scheierman had 18 for Creighton, which will make its third Sweet 16 appearance in four years when it faces No. 2 seed Tennessee on Friday in the Midwest Regional in Detroit.

«It's a great feeling,» said Alexander, one of the returnees from Creighton's Elite Eight team from a year ago. «We love this group of guys. We love rocking and rolling together. We love everything that comes with the road trips and us just being able to have another week with each other.

»We're going to try to stay in the moment and just continue play at a level that we feel like we can play at. From there, we'll just kind of let the dominoes fall where they do."

It took balance, big shots,