Heslip’s 3s lift Baylor to 80-63 win over CU

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)—With his 3-point goggles on, the bucket never looked quite so big for Brady Heslip. Because of that, the future’s looking as bright as those uniforms for the Baylor Bears.

Heslip, the kid who grew up playing H-O-R-S-E with his dad in Canada, made a big splash in America on Saturday, going 9 for 12 from 3-point range and lifting the third-seeded Bears to a pullaway 80-63 victory over No. 11 Colorado in the NCAA tournament.

“When they set great screens and they make passes that are on target and on time, it just makes it easy for me,” Heslip said. “Especially if I’m in rhythm and feeling good shooting.”

He was, and because of it, Baylor (29-7) will bring the highlighter-yellow uniforms down to Atlanta for a South Regional semifinal against Xavier or Lehigh next Friday.

Heslip, in the meantime, will enjoy his status as Baylor’s newest star.

He celebrated a few of his makes by pinching together his thumb and forefinger on each hand, putting the circle over his eye and lifting the other three digits in the air. The 3-point goggles.

While all this was going on, he began trending on Twitter—and in the postgame Q&A, we learned that he chews Doublemint gum, has been a gym-and-driveway rat in his hometown of Burlington, Ontario since he was 3 and is the nephew of one-time Canadian hoops star and Toronto Raptors head coach Jay Triano.

“Ever since I was growing up, they never forced it on me,” Heslip said of his hoop-loving family. “It was just something that I fell in love with.”

The nine 3s and 27 points were his career highs—and in this game, Baylor needed every one of them.

He made six from behind the arc in the first half to keep his cold-shooting teammates close. Then, he helped break open a tight game late. His 3-pointer with 6:56 was on the front side of Baylor’s 19-3 run to close the game. And it was contagious. Shortly after that make, Pierre Jackson (15 points, 10 assists) jacked one up from three feet behind the arc. Swish. Anthony Jones also made one.

But Heslip, not to be outdone, sandwiched No. 9 in between those—leaving him only two short of the NCAA tournament record set by Jeff Fryer of Loyola Marymount in 1990. Those nine also matched the number put up by Purdue’s Courtney Moses in the women’s tournament a few hours earlier.

“When he came in, we knew how good of a shooter he was,” Baylor forward Quincy Acy said. “Every time I went to the gym at night, I would see him in there. Sometimes twice a day. He works for it. I know whenever he gets hot, he can outshoot anybody.”

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Georgetown moves on 74-59 over Belmont

By TOM WITHERS, AP Sports Writer
13 hours, 24 minutes ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—For a whole year Georgetown had to live with its failure last March, a second straight early-round NCAA exit. It haunted the Hoyas, angered them, drove them.

On Friday, they made sure it didn’t happen a third time.

Jason Clark scored 21 points, Otto Porter added 16 and Georgetown’s ruthless defense bottled up Belmont’s shooters all over the floor in a 74-59 win Friday, advancing the Hoyas in the NCAA tournament after first-game knockouts the past two years.

“It was so good to get that first game,” said Hoyas center Henry Sims. “But we didn’t come here just to win one game.”

No, the Hoyas plan to hang around this March.

Sims had 15 points, and the third-seeded Hoyas (24-8) shot 61 percent from the floor—70 percent in second half—to advance to Sunday’s third round of the Midwest Regional and a matchup with No. 11 seed North Carolina State, which beat San Diego State in the day’s opener at Nationwide Arena.

Georgetown’s previous two seasons ended with embarrassing opening-round losses to Virginia Commonwealth and Ohio, scrappy mid-majors who made the big, bad Hoyas look silly. This time around, Georgetown played like the Georgetown of old, using inside muscle and a swarming defense that choked the life out of the Bruins.

“They’re well taught, and they’ve got great athletes,” Belmont coach Rick Byrd said of the Hoyas, who went 12-6 in the Big East. “If Syracuse is better than that, I’m glad we didn’t play Syracuse.”

Georgetown was enough. More than enough.

The Bruins had their 14-game winning streak stopped and fell to 0-5 in NCAA appearances. Belmont had to shoot well to pull off the upset. The Bruins had a few good looks but went just 10 of 27 on 3-pointers.

Blake Jenkins scored 17 to lead Belmont, but senior Kerron Johnson, the Bruins’ leading scorer, had just 4—10 below his average.

“We forced a couple of shots inside instead of kicking it out to shooters like we’re normally pretty good at,” guard Drew Hanlen said. “Sometimes we tried to make the hero play instead of just a smart play.”

Leading by nine at half, Georgetown never let Belmont get closer than six in the second half.

Sims controlled the inside and Clark handled things outside for the Hoyas, who look like a team capable of making a deep tourney run.

After Belmont got within 58-49 on Hanlen’s 3-pointer with just under six minutes left, Georgetown went on a 13-2 run to end any doubt—along with Belmont’s season.

When the final horn sounded, the Hoyas looked relieved. And with good reason. Their season was still alive.

“Finally got the monkey off our back,” guard Markel Starks said.

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