GAMEDAY Mens Basketball
San Diego State 57, Creighton 56
By GARY B. GRAVES
AP Sports Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Darrion Trammell converted a go-ahead free throw after he was fouled on a floater with 1.2 seconds left, and San Diego State muscled its way into its first Final Four, grinding out a 57-56 victory over Creighton in the NCAA Tournament's South Region final.
Lamont Butler scored 18 points and Trammell had 12 for the fifth-seeded Aztecs (31-6), who slowed down the high-scoring, sixth-seeded Bluejays (24-13) and became the first Mountain West Conference team to reach the national semifinals.
With the game tied at 56-all on San Diego State’s final possession, Trammell drove toward the free-throw line, elevated for the shot and was fouled by Creighton’s Ryan Nembhard. Trammell missed the first free throw but converted the second.
Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman threw ensuing the inbound pass the length of the floor. San Diego State’s Aguek Arop and Creighton's Arthur Kaluma both jumped for it and the ball deflected out of bounds. Officials reviewed the play and determined that time had expired, and the celebration was on for the Aztecs.
Scheierman had tied the game at 56-all when he stole an inbounds pass and converted a layup with 34 seconds remaining.
Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 17 points and Scheierman and Arthur Kaluma had 12 apiece for the Bluejays, who went 2 of 17 from 3-point range.
March 26, 2023
| Creighton | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| A. Kaluma | F | 37 | 4-8 | 3-4 | 1-3 | 3-5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| R. Kalkbrenner | C | 37 | 8-17 | 1-1 | 0-1 | 3-6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 17 |
| B. Scheierman | G | 38 | 3-10 | 5-5 | 1-4 | 2-9 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 |
| T. Alexander | G | 37 | 4-11 | 0-0 | 0-5 | 0-5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| R. Nembhard | G | 35 | 3-8 | 1-1 | 0-3 | 0-4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| F. Farabello | 6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| S. Mitchell | 4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| F. King | 3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| M. Miller | 3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 200 | 22-55 (.400) |
10-11 (.909) |
2-17 (.118) |
9-37 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 11 | 56 | |
| San Diego State | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| K. Johnson | F | 27 | 2-4 | 1-1 | 0-1 | 2-5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| N. Mensah | F | 19 | 3-8 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 1-6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| D. Trammell | G | 31 | 5-14 | 1-2 | 1-4 | 1-5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 |
| L. Butler | G | 29 | 8-11 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 1-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 18 |
| M. Bradley | G | 20 | 1-8 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2-4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| A. Seiko | 23 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| J. LeDee | 20 | 3-9 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 3-6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
| M. Parrish | 16 | 0-6 | 0-0 | 0-5 | 1-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| A. Arop | 14 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
| Totals | 199 | 25-66 (.379) |
4-6 (.667) |
3-13 (.231) |
13-37 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 57 | |
