PORTLAND, Ore. — Gabe York calmly jogged along the baseline.
Ohio State’s Amir Williams looked over his right shoulder, and Marc Loving pointed at him.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson drove toward the rim and the defense collapsed, freeing up York.
The Wildcats’ sharpshooter waited long enough to set his feet, square up, catch the ball, file his taxes, brush his teeth, eat a sandwich and then — finally — fire away.
“I don’t think I’ve been that wide open all year on some of those attempts I had,” he said.
York couldn’t miss. It was his first three-pointer of the game, giving Arizona a 7-5 lead as the junior helped the Cats break Ohio State’s zone defense.
“He had that hand,” said Hollis-Jefferson after the Wildcats’ 73-58 win over Ohio State in the NCAA tournament’s round of 32. “It was shaking, and he was ready.”
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T.J. McConnell did the same thing.
Drive, collapse, kick.
York three.
Then Stanley Johnson. Drive, collapse, kick.
York three.
“He’s the same as me,” Johnson said. “We just keep swinging at strikes, and hope we hit them. Tonight, he was hitting them.”
One more time from McConnell.
Heat check.
The last three-pointer, giving Arizona a 52-39 lead, was York’s fifth of the game, a career high. He finished with 19 points.
It was as if York was back on the playgrounds in West Covina, California, firing away, can’t miss.
“It brought me back,” York said, “and I was just so happy.”
Said UA coach Sean Miller: “We needed him, and he delivered.”
This is the same York who was held scoreless against Texas Southern on Thursday, and who scored one point against Wisconsin in last year’s Elite Eight.
This isn’t the York who sat the bench two years ago in the Sweet 16, when the Wildcats lost to the Buckeyes at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
That all weighed heavily on York’s mind all week, all season, all offseason, and his whole Arizona career.
“When I didn’t score on Thursday, I wanted to take it as a personal challenge, just to be better,” he said. “I know I’m not someone who can’t score in a college basketball game.
“It’s just a credit to how hard I’ve worked over the last couple of years. Even from my freshman year, people telling me I was never going to be able to play here, to playing 28, 29 minutes tonight.”
After the game, York intended to make a few phone calls. First to Kevin Parrom, then Mark Lyons, and then Nick Johnson. All three are ex-teammates who, York says, have always supported him.
They weren’t the “people” who doubted him. Those people were on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
York used to check those after every game, every practice, to see what people were saying.
A few weeks ago, York deleted his social media accounts altogether. Since, he has played some of the best basketball of his college career.
That’s what made Saturday so special and, frankly, so strange. As the clock wound down, #FiredUp — a sponsored message from Jim Beam — was the top trending topic on Twitter. Steve Nash, the former Phoenix Suns guard who announced his retirement Saturday morning, was second.
Gabe York was in third.
“It’s just,” York said, “hard work does pay off.”
