ILLINOIS 90 • UA 89

Illini overcome 15-point deficit in overtime win

ROSEMONT, Ill. - Once again, the NCAA Tournament has proven that no lead is big enough, and no lead is safe, at least until the final buzzer sounds.

No. 1 seed Illinois, playing with a virtual home-court advantage just a car ride from its Champaign, Ill., campus, overcame a 15-point Wildcat lead with 4:04 left to send the game into overtime, and eventually won 90-89. [Read article]

ROSEMONT, Ill. - Up 15 with a four minutes and four seconds left to play.

Up eight with 63 seconds left to play.

Then everything went wrong, and any hopes of a trip to the Final Four went down the drain.

There were turnovers, missed free throws, balls thrown away, defensive lapses, and the result left the Illini cutting down the nets and some of the Wildcats crying.

What top-ranked Illinois may have called a miraculous comeback, the Wildcats may call it the biggest breakdown in school history. [Read article]

'hot sauce' on fire

Adams stepped up during Madness

ROSEMONT, Ill. -

In what might have been his final run in an Arizona uniform, junior forward Hassan Adams had the tournament of his life.

Whether he stays - something his mom told the Wildcat he would do because he likes college - or whether he leaves - something Arizona men's basketball head coach Lute Olson said would not surprise him - Adams played some of his best basketball in this year's NCAA Tournament. [Read article]

Wild play abounded like Easter eggs yesterday for the No. 2 Arizona softball team.

The Wildcats (26-2) overcame seven walks by Alicia Hollowell to capitalize on six Louisiana-Lafayette errors and win 10-3 at Ragin' Cajuns Park.

Caitlin Lowe hit an inside-the-park grand slam in the sixth inning and finished 2-for-4 for Arizona, which scored eight unearned runs off starter Brooke Mitchell (17-6). [Read article]

The usual stars shined brightly for the Arizona track teams during Saturday's Jim Click Shootout, as eight athletes won a combined 10 individual events.

In addition, the Wildcats added or improved upon 18 more NCAA West Regional qualifying marks.

"It was an exceptional meet in all areas, especially the throws and the sprints," Arizona head coach Fred Harvey said.

For the second-straight week, the throwers continued to lead their team, posting 11 of the 18 total qualifiers with rival UCLA in attendance. [Read article]

Cats take two of three from Huskies

The No. 13 Arizona baseball team won its first Pacific 10 Conference series over Washington, but once again failed to find an answer to its third starter problem.

The Wildcats (19-10, 2-1 Pac-10) fell 16-8 Saturday to the Huskies (14-10, 1-2) after winning a 6-5, 12-inning thriller Friday and opening the series with a 13-6 win Thursday.

Freshman David Coulon (2-1) failed to nail down the third starter spot Saturday, giving up four runs in two innings while walking four and hitting three batters. [Read article]

Yes, it happened. It wasn't just a bad, bad dream.

The Arizona men's basketball team's meltdown in the last four minutes of regulation against Illinois allowed the Illini to tie it up at 80 and send the game into overtime. The Illini won 90-89 to advance to the Final Four.

As freshman Jawann McClellan said after the game, Arizona was the better team for 36 minutes of regulation.

So, those four nightmarish minutes aside, every major player for the Wildcats had at least one great game, if not two, over the weekend in Chicago. [Read article]

The No. 19 Arizona gymnastics team finished second yesterday at the Pacific 10 Championships in Berkeley, Calif., matching its best ever finish and tallying their highest road score of the season (195.925).

"It was a great effort," said Gymcats head coach Bill Ryden. "We didn't leave anything out there."

The Gymcats placed behind No. 3 UCLA (197.1), but finished above No. 12 Oregon State (195.125), Stanford (194.6), No. 23 Washington (194.5), No. 25 ASU (192.975) and California (163.55). [Read article]

The No. 6 Arizona men's club lacrosse team dodged another bullet Friday night, avoiding a second-straight overtime game with 7-6 victory over No. 20 Chapman at Murphy Stadium.

With six minutes left in the fourth quarter and the score tied 5-5, the Laxcats (7-2, 2-0 Western Collegiate Lacrosse League) were forced to dig deep once again. Senior attackman Dave Sherman beat the Chapman defense down the right side of the field and ran straight for the pipes. He found junior attackman Greg Polheber slashing from the left point and fed him the go-ahead goal. [Read article]

Arizona men's club rugby head coach Dave Sitton and his squad did not back down Saturday in the face of losing a 20-year winning streak, as the Ruggers overcame ASU 22-21 at Estevan Park.

The win was Arizona's 21st straight against ASU, dating back to 1985.

With less than five minutes to go in the game, senior wing Aaron Land scampered into the end zone from 15 yards out to score the winning try. [Read article]

Men outplayed in Los Angeles

The No. 45 Arizona men's tennis team had hoped to do better in their rematches against No. 9 Southern California and No. 5 UCLA.

Their hopes were dashed away quickly by the 7-0 and 6-1 respective whippings they received.

USC (7-7, 2-4 Pacific 10 Conference) started off their win Saturday by taking the doubles point away from Arizona.

The No. 15 team of senior Colin O'Grady and junior Roger Matalonga defeated USC's Drew Hoskins and Adam Loucks, 8-4. [Read article]