1 + 1 + 1 + Arizona = Final Four : Southeast: Wildcats survive some bad decisions to defeat Providence in overtime.

Mind-boggling decision making outlasted blow-your-top New York-style street ball on Sunday as Arizona overcame itself and God (Shammgod) in overtime to defeat Providence, 96-92, in a Southeast Regional final game that should have been played on asphalt with net-less rims.

Arizona’s seat-of-its pants victory at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center before a less-than-capacity crowd of 13,721--translation: all the Kansas fans went home--sends the Wildcats to next week’s Final Four in Indianapolis and quiets the Lute Olson bashers who kept reminding him of first-round tournament exits in 1993 (Santa Clara) and 1995 (Miami of Ohio).

“Three Final Fours in the last 10 years--what, that’s not too bad,” Olson countered.

Arizona lives to play another day because it survived two extraordinary, come-from-ahead white knucklers in the regional.

The Wildcats nearly surrendered a 13-point lead to Kansas on Friday and then squandered a 10-point lead with 3:40 left Sunday.

The Friars might have won the game had they not been busy racking up three second-half technical fouls that led directly to six Arizona points.

Shoot, Providence almost won anyway.

In a breakneck final two minutes of regulation that resembled a Marx Brothers skit, Arizona let a seven-point lead disappear and then watched Providence guard Corey Wright miss a possible game-winning shot at the buzzer.

Luckily for Arizona, junior guard Miles Simon scored four of his game-high 30 points in overtime and Jason Terry made a clutch free throw with 20 seconds left to extend his team’s lead to four and ultimately send the Wildcats to the nets with scissors.

Arizona accepted the madcap win and then joyously fled the state.

“We made some horrible decisions at times,” Olson said.

Not as horrible as some made by Providence, which let its lip-smacking street game--three starters hail from Brooklyn--derail a possible Final Four journey.

“Our best attribute turned out to hurt us: emotion,” Coach Pete Gillen said.

Emotion overload started early in the second half when Austin Croshere was called for an intentional foul on Arizona’s A.J. Bramlett.

Croshere later became embroiled in the game’s biggest mess/turning point. Not only did Croshere, the team’s leading scorer, foul out with 9:16 left, the play’s aftermath led to double technicals on Arizona’s Donnell Harris and Providence’s Ruben Garces. Those fouls offset, but Jamel Thomas was cited for a technical for bumping an Arizona player after the whistle.

A big deal?

Arizona was leading, 61-55. After Bennett Davison made his two free throws resulting from the Croshere foul, Simon sank one of two technical shots and then, with the Wildcats retaining possession, made a quick three-pointer to extend the lead to 12.

“Our emotions took over, we made some bad decisions,” Gillen said. “I thought that was the difference in the game.”

With Croshere out, the Friars’ hopes appeared doomed, especially when Jason Murdock picked up a technical with 6:50 left that led to four more Arizona free throws.

Yet, the Friars had one, manic rush left in them.

It didn’t hurt that Arizona’s top inside player, Bramlett, who had plucked 43 rebounds in three previous games, fouled out with 7:31 left.

Shammgod, Providence’s herky-jerky point guard, aggressively attacked the Wildcat underbelly, scoring 11 of his 23 points in the last 6:20 of regulation.

With Bramlett out, the Friars dominated the inside. With 1:58 left, Garces followed two misses with a tap-in to cut the lead to 83-78.

After a Derrick Brown free throw trimmed the deficit to 85-81 with 1:02 left, Arizona’s Michael Dickerson inexplicably rushed down court and fired a quick shot, neglecting to run time off the clock.

Providence rebounded and drew a quick foul on the other end. When Garces made one of two with 47 seconds left, it was an 85-82 game.

Then it was Simon’s turn to rush a shot, which was blocked.

“I think we took a couple of quick shots in the last seconds,” Dickerson said. “I know I did.”

After the Simon block, Providence’s Wright penetrated the lane and passed in the corner to Thomas, whose three-pointer with 15 seconds left tied the game.

Davison’s ensuing inbounds pass was deflected by Brown to Shammgod, who missed a short jumper. Davison and Brown battled for the loose ball underneath, with the officials ruling the ball was knocked out of bounds by Davison with 3.9 seconds left.

That set up an inbounds pass to Wright, who was not the intended receiver. The plan was for Shammgod to inbound to Brown, but Arizona took that option away with a defensive switch.

Wright, only a 35% shooter, did not come close on his attempted game winner.

“It was a good shot,” Shammgod said of Wright’s attempt. “It just came up short.”

As did Providence, which nearly turned a season of infighting and player sniping into a movie of the week.

“I’ll remember how nobody said we’d be here,” said Croshere, a senior from Santa Monica Crossroads High School.

Shammgod will remember the final seconds in regulation, the flight of Wright’s shot as it arced toward the basket.

“I’ll just remember being so close,” the sophomore said, “three point nine seconds, and not getting it done.”