Butler Stuns Top-Seed Pitt

Late free throw ruins a lot of brackets
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 19, 2011 10:01 PM CDT
Butler Stuns Top-Seed Pitt
Pittsburgh forward Nasir Robinson slams the ball through the net as Butler guard Shelvin Mack looks on during the first half of the Southeast Regional third-round NCAA tournament college basketball game, Saturday, March 19, 2011, at the Verizon Center in Washington.    (Alex Brandon)

With plenty of help from Pittsburgh, Butler found another way to pull off a stunning upset in the NCAA tournament. Matt Howard made one free throw with 0.8 seconds left to cap a wild final sequence, and No. 8 Butler shocked the top-seeded Panthers 71-70 tonight to advance to the round of 16. It's familiar territory: Butler used a string of upsets to reach the championship game last year. Butler has won 11 straight overall and is 7-1 in its last eight NCAA tournament games.

Each team had a chance to win it from the foul line in the last 2 seconds. After Butler's Shelvin Mack inexplicably fouled Gilbert Brown near midcourt with 1.4 seconds left, Brown made the first try to tie it. He missed the second, and Howard was fouled by Nasir Robinson while grabbing the rebound—a foul even more unnecessary than the one that preceded it. Howard made the first shot, then intentionally banged the second attempt off the rim for the win. (More NCAA men's basketball tournament stories.)

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