Otega Oweh's buzzer-beater saves Kentucky in 89-84 overtime win over Santa Clara in March Madness

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Otega Oweh rescued Kentucky with a buzzer-beater from just inside half court to force overtime, then hit the tiebreaking free throws in the extra period as the seventh-seeded Wildcats beat No. 10 seed Santa Clara 89-84 on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

In an electrifying finish to regulation that defines the words “March Madness,” Santa Clara's Allen Graves drained a 3 from the right wing with 2.4 seconds left to put the Broncos ahead 73-70. Oweh received the inbound pass, pushed the ball up the court and pulled up to the left of the midcourt logo to launch his desperation heave. The ball was midair when the buzzer sounded, and it banked in for the tie.

“As he raised up, he said, ‘That’s a bucket,’ and then threw it off the glass,” second-year Kentucky coach Mark Pope said.

Oweh said he was just trying to get the ball out of his hands in time.

“It's March,” he said. “I feel like that's just what happens. You know, it's crazy.”

“I was just praying for it to go in. I was about to cry if he missed that shot,” added teammate Mouhamed Dioubate. “I was just hoping the shot went in. I didn’t want the season to end already.”

Oweh scored a career-high 35 points and had eight rebounds and seven assists for the Wildcats (22-13), who will face No. 2 seed Iowa State, a 108-74 winner over 15th-seeded Tennessee State, in the second round in the Midwest Region.

Oweh’s two free throws with 1:12 remaining in overtime put Kentucky in the lead to stay in its 63rd NCAA Tournament appearance, the most in the country.

Brandon Garrison twice blocked 3-point attempts by Sash Gavalyugov in the final minute of overtime, following the first with a breakaway, two-handed dunk that stretched Kentucky’s lead to 83-79. His second block led to more free throws for the Wildcats.

Teammates credited the 6-foot-10 Garrison for suggesting in a huddle that they switch on screens, declaring that he'd be able to handle the matchup with the 6-3 guard Gavalyugov.

“I don’t know where you get this drama, I don’t know where you get this this transformation of emotions to just from despair to thrill to despair to thrill in a matter of four seconds,” Pope said. “But we got that a bunch.”

Christian Hammond led Santa Clara (26-9) with 20 points and Graves scored 17.

“It was a really euphoric high, followed by a tough one to swallow,” said Broncos coach Herb Sendek, a 600-game winner making his return to the tournament for the first time since 2014 with Arizona State.

Graves put Santa Clara ahead 70-68 when he caught Elijah Mahi’s airballed 3-pointer and made the putback with 1:33 to play, just before the shot clock expired. After a miss by Oweh, Graves had another point-blank attempt that missed, and Oweh was able to scramble for the ball on the floor as Kentucky called timeout.

Oweh tied it with a layup with 9.9 seconds left to set up the wild finish. Adding to the fast-moving drama, neither team was granted a timeout in the closing seconds.

“I unequivocally called timeout. But they didn’t grant it,” said Sendek, asserting that officials should have recognized that a coach might want to set up his defense after Graves’ 3-pointer. “I mean, I think the video evidence is clear. And anybody is able to pull it up.”

Santa Clara was seeking its first tournament win since 1996, when future NBA MVP Steve Nash was a senior.

“It hurts how it all ended, but I’m just thankful, man,” Mahi said. “God bless, I’m just thankful.”

Dioubate scored 17 points for Kentucky. Denzel Aberdeen, a transfer from Florida’s national championship team last season, added 16.

Collin Chandler and Aberdeen connected on back-to-back 3s to begin a 13-4 burst as the Wildcats attempted to build a lead in the second half. Aberdeen’s second 3-pointer in the stretch put Kentucky ahead 51-44 with 12:21 to play, but Gavalyugov immediately responded with a 3 of his own to ignite a response.

After a high-arcing 3-pointer from Mahi, Gavalyugov hit a jumper and another 3 to put Santa Clara ahead 59-55 with 7:56 remaining.

The long-range shooting was quite the turnaround from the first half, when both teams struggled with matching 4 for 15 marks from behind the arc. The Broncos led 31-29 after closing the half with a 10-3 stretch that featured seven points from Mahi.

Oweh, a transfer from Oklahoma and the younger brother of Washington Commanders edge rusher Odafe Oweh, broke the Kentucky record for points in a player’s first two seasons. It had stood since the Wildcats’ 1951 national championship season and was held by All-America center Bill Spivey, who would later face point-shaving allegations.

“It’s been life-changing. It’s a testament to the guys that are around me,” said Oweh, who has 1,237 points at Kentucky. “That wouldn’t have happened without them.”

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Kentucky's Otega Oweh (00) celebrates after making a basket as teammate Kam Williams (3) and Santa Clara's Elijah Mahi (8) watch during the second half in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 20, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Ali Overstreet)

PARIS (AP) — When Iran erupted in nationwide protests at the end of 2025, Shayan Ghadimi's mother returned to the country from Paris to see the uprising for herself.

Her absence — and the struggle to stay in touch through the bloody crackdown that followed and now the Iran war — hang over the family. Like many Iranians outside the country, they will mark the normally festive Persian new year, known as Nowruz, with heavy hearts — or not at all.

Ghadimi's 70-year-old mother had watched the early protests on TV. “We could see the market closed, the people in the street. She said, ‘I want to be there,’” the 41-year-old Ghadimi said of her mother, as she prepared to serve lunches in the spice-scented restaurant she runs in Paris.

“Now, she is all alone ... with no way to stay in contact, watching the sky. I cannot imagine the state she is in,” Ghadimi said.

An Iranian cultural center in Paris that organizes music events for Nowruz says it's in mourning. In the United States, some Iranian American communities also canceled or scaled back festivities.

Nowruz, or “new day” in Farsi, coincides with the spring equinox and is celebrated from Afghanistan to Turkey. Iranians of diverse faiths mark Nowruz — which is rooted in Zoroastrian tradition dating back millennia — despite occasional efforts by hard-liners to discourage it.

Shakiba Edighoffer, grocery shopping in Paris for Nowruz, said she and Iranian friends are on a “kind of emotional roller coaster” as the war rages. Israel and the United States are attacking Iran's leaders and military while the Islamic Republic fires missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf Arab states.

“You hear news about this or that leader of the Islamic Republic being eliminated … about executions or bombings,” the makeup artist said.

With communications largely severed, trying to find out how family and friends are faring under bombardments is stressful.

Celebrating Nowruz “helps us cope, at least a little, with the psychological pressure,” Edighoffer said. “All these oppressors want is for us to be sad, to forget our millennia-old Persian and Iranian traditions."

"We must not give them that victory.”

Too scared to venture far from her Tehran neighborhood, the Iranian woman said she had nearly forgotten it was Nowruz.

There are no decorations in the streets, and the only reminder was when she spotted her friend’s mother holding a hyacinth, a flower associated with spring.

“That’s how distracted I’ve been. I only found out by chance,” said the woman in voice messages to The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The traditional family shopping trip to the market about 9 kilometers (5 1/2 miles) away, was out of the question, she said.

So for the traditional new year spread, Haft-Seen, she had to use what was available at home. A central tradition of new year celebrations, Haft-Seen involves seven items that include garlic, vinegar, sumac, apples and sprouting greens — symbolizing new beginnings and hope.

“Why do you want to set it up, just forget it!’" the woman recalled her mother saying. But determined to distract from the grim mood, the family made do.

When it was all over, one tradition remained the same. She and her mother burned espand — aromatic seeds — meant to ward against the evil eye.

Some of the diners who come to Ghadimi's Paris restaurant for flame-grilled kebabs and spiced rice to celebrate hope the war will bring a new dawn. Other can't see past the deaths and destruction wrought by Israeli and U.S. strikes.

“I have people in tears. I have people who cry for joy. They say, ‘Did you see? They are coming. We are going to be saved.' Others say, ‘Our country is being destroyed,'” she said.

Since her mother returned to Iran in January, they've only managed to speak to each other twice.

“Quite honestly, I don’t try anymore. Because it stresses me out, if I try calling and can't get hold of her,” she said. “My sister calls 100 times a day and can't reach her.”

Her mother had a return ticket and had promised to be back for Nowruz.

But when they last spoke, about a week ago, her mother said those plans had changed. Having lived through the 1979 Islamic Revolution, she wants to see Iran's next chapter.

“I am staying here until the end,” her mother told her.

Associated Press journalist John Leicester contributed.

Forough Jafari hugs a visitor at a dedicated memorial space for the lives lost in Iran during the Pomexpo Norooz Bazaar in New York, on Saturday, March 14, 2026, for the upcoming Nowruz, Iranian/Persian New Year's day. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

Hand written messages are posted on a tree, part of a dedicated memorial space for the lives lost in Iran, during the Pomexpo Norooz Bazaar in New York, on Saturday, March 14, 2026, for the upcoming Nowruz, Iranian/Persian New Year's day. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

Shayan Ghadimi talks with customers in her restaurant in Paris, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Alexander Turnbull)

Shayan Ghadimi talks with customers in her restaurant in Paris, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Alexander Turnbull)