ANAHEIM, Calif. — Gonzaga senior guard Josh Perkins sat at the postgame podium with tears in his eyes, realizing the disappointment that comes with the end of a season and a college career.
Texas Tech had beaten Gonzaga, 75-69, Saturday afternoon at the Honda Center for a trip to the Final Four and a key mistake by the normally reliable Perkins contributed to the Red Raiders victory.
After Zach Norvell made a lay-up with 10 seconds remaining to cut the Texas Tech lead to 71-69, Red Raiders guard Matt Mooney took the ball and attempted to inbound it. While Mooney was standing out of bounds holding the ball, Perkins swatted at the ball, hitting Mooney on his arm, drawing a technical foul.
Davide Moretti, a 91 percent foul-shooter, made both of the technical fouls and Texas Tech retained possession, which led to two more free throws by Jarrett Culver for the final margin of victory.
Perkins regretted his mistake.
“He was ball-faking a lot, and I thought he ball-faked in front of me and I instinctively reached in,” Perkins explained. “Bonehead play. Something I will think about forever. Unfortunately, that happened.”
Mooney said it was his intention to inbound the ball to Moretti “because he’s one of the best free-throw shooters in the country.” It just didn’t quite work out the way he planned.
“I was trying to get it to Davide and Perkins reached his hand in and tried to grab the ball while I had the ball out of bounds. He hit my arm and the ref saw it and made a good call. I’ve never seen that happen before.”
It proved a devastating play for Gonzaga and an awful memory for Perkins, the Zags’ career assist leader with 712.
“We’ve been an incredible program and had an incredible run with him at the helm,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said of Perkins. “He’s hung in there and kind of been a lightning rod over the years because our program garners so much attention and he’s handled it with grace.”
Perkins, who had 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, looked like he might be a hero when he drained a running 3-pointer to cut the Texas Tech lead to 69-67 with 22 seconds remaining. But six free throws in the final 19 seconds helped Texas Tech earn its first trip to the Final Four.
“We never doubted that we would win that game,” Perkins said. “Unfortunately, I got that tech on that violation.”
Now his college career is over.
“It’s been the best five years of my life,” Perkins said.
Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said he was glad he had Mooney inbounding the ball on that play.
“I just trust him,” Beard said. “He’s got big-time nerves. You can’t rattle him. He’s a confident guy.”
That simple play helped Texas Tech reach it first Final Four.
“It’s huge for our program, our city, for us personally and for our families and friends,” Texas Tech center Norense Odiase said. “It means the world to work so hard and it pay off.”
