4B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - March 16, 1998 BASKETBALL Friday's game: Michigan 80, Davidson 61 Michigan not only team to break jinx, Indiana wins too Yesterday's game: UCLA 85, Michigan 82 (Q-WIRE) WASHINGTON -- The Indiana men's basketball team had wait- ed three years to win a game in the NCAA Tournament. So in the grand scheme of things, what's an extra five minutes? Thanks to a furious second-half comeback, Oklahoma tied the game at 80 and forced overtime. Oklahoma had the momentum going into the extra period, but it didn't have the legs. The Hoosiers were physically stronger at the end and used that to their advantage. As a result, the Hoosiers posted a 94- 87 win in a NCAA Tournament first- round game at the MCI Center. Sophomore guard A.J. Guyton said his team knew Oklahoma had used up a lot of its energy just to force the game into overtime. "We thought they were lagging up and down the court," said Guyton, who connected on a game high five 3-point- ers. "We wanted to take advantage of that offensively. They were in foul trou- ble, and we wanted them to send us to the free-throw line. We lost the lead, (but) we won the game." It appeared to be a foregone conclu- sion Ithat the Hoosiers would emerge victorious when it led 74-59 with 7:48 seconds remaining in the contest. But instead of playing the way they had to establish the lead, the Hoosiers became tentative. 'We just kind of lost our mental con- centration," senior center Andrae Patterson said. "We started looking at the clock and waiting for it to wind down instead of just playing our game." Indiana coach Bob Knight knew Oklahoma would make a run. "I don't know what it is," Knight said about his team's inability to close out games. "I even said, 'We've gotten ahead by this amount too early.' We seemed to play for the clock to run out. We made a lot of really dumb plays." This is true, but Oklahoma also made a lot of great ones. The Sooners ran off the next 12 points, and suddenly, it was 74-69 with 2:02 to go. A jumper by Patterson broke the Sooners' run, and another Patterson basket made it 78-71. But no matter what Indiana did, the Sooners had an answer. After two Patterson free throws made it 80-74, junior guard Michael Johnson buried a bomb from behind the arc to cut the Hoosiers' lead to just three points. Indiana's situation reached a near cri- sis level when it couldn't get the ball past half court against Oklahoma's press and a 10-second violation was called. Things got worse when Oklahoma senior guard Corey Brewer's three-point play tied the game at 80. The Hoosiers' last chance to win the game in regulation ended when Patterson's jumper was blocked. In overtime, the Hoosiers quickly took control. A great pass from fresh- man forward Luke Recker led to a Patterson basket, and the tone was set. The Hoosiers reeled off the extra ses- sion's first six points and, despite some spotty free-throw shooting, were in con- trol for most of the overtime. The Hoosiers found many heroes in their victory. Patterson scored a game-high 26 points and was unstoppable for much of the first half. Guyton had 23 points and only committed two turnovers in 42 minutes of action. Recker was a fresh- man in title only, scoring 21 points and going a perfect three-for-three from behind the arc. Junior forward William Gladness had 12 points and grabbed six rebounds. He contributed a crucial basket in overtime, giving Indiana an 88-82 lead. Sophomore guard Luke Jimenez played a career high 34 minutes and dished out four assists, without committing a turnover. Brewer led Oklahoma with 22 points. The Sooners also got 18 points from freshman Ryan Humphrey, and Johnson chipped in 18. Both teams shot the ball extremely well. IThe Hoosiers shot a scorching season-high 59.3 percent from the field, while Oklahoma finished at 50 percent. In the first half, it appeared Indiana might shoot 75 percent for the game. The Hoosiers made seven of their first nine shots and finished the half at 62.5 percent. Until Oklahoma made its run, the Hoosiers were making the 19,288 fans at the MCI Center wonder how they ever could have everlost I1 games this season. "To get to 19 ahead, we had played 27 minutes of really good basketball," Knight said. "That's as well as we're capable of playing." After the game, Brewer was upset about the foul disparity, as Oklahoma was whistled for 27 fouls compared to 18 for IU. He might have had the support of his coach Kelvin Sampson privately, but he didn't have it pub- licly. "The officials weren't the problem," said Sampson, whose Sooners' teams have now lost in the first round for four consecutive seasons. "Indiana was our problem." MARGARET MYERS/Daily Michigan has been no stranger to first-round frustration, having won their first tournament game in four years last Friday night. But UCLA knocked the Wolverines out in last night's 85.82 victory over the Wolverines. Earl Watson, above, con- tributed 10 points and four rebounds to Michigan's downfall. Kentucky bombs Saint Louis; Duke, Syracuse also join UCLA in Sweet 16 ATLANTA (AP) - For the first time in four years, the Kentucky Wildcats aren't a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tourna- ment. It looks like they're taking it per- sonally. Second-seeded Kentucky extended its month of domination with another dou- ble-figure victory Sunday, routing No. 10 seed Saint Louis 88-61 in the second round of the South Regional. The Wildcats (31-4) scored the South first 10 points of Region the game, then destroyed the Billikens (22-11) with a five-minute stretch later in the half that was a thing of beauty. After Saint Louis cut the deficit to 19- 11 on Ryan Luechtefeld's baseline jumper, Kentucky reeled off the next 19 points, showing off every one of its myr- iad weapons. Jeff Sheppard lead the Wildcats with 18 points. All five starters were in double figures. DUKE 79, OKLAHOMA STATE 73 Roshown McLeod scored 22 points and had 10 rebounds Sunday as the top- seeded Blue Devils ignored a hostile crowd and hit the big shots down the stretch to beat Oklahoma State 79-73 in the second round of the South Regional. Duke's depth was the deciding thing. The Blue Devils led the entire second half, pushing its advantage to 11 points, and were much fresher in the closing minutes when the Cowboys got within a basket. Joe Adkins, who led the Cowboys with 20 points, hit a pair of free throws that cut it to 69-66 with 3:26 left. But Adrian Peterson, the Cowboys' leading scorer, missed a 3-pointer and a driving layup on consecutive possessions and his last four shots overall as the comeback came up short. Peterson finished with 14 points on 5- of-16 shooting. SYRACUSE 56, NEW MEXICO 46 Jim Boeheim has learned to take vic- tories any way he can get them in 22 sea- sons at Syracuse. "When you don't shoot well, it looks like an ugly game," he said Sunday after his Orangemen beat New Mexico 56-46 in the second round of the NCAA tour- nament. "But it doesn't matter how you get there," he added. "We've played a lot of beautiful games and gone home." There would be the round of 16 where Syracuse (26-8), the fifth seed, will play top-seeded Duke in the South Regional's third round at St. Petersburg, Fla., on Friday. The Blue Devils defeated Oklahoma State 79-73 in Sunday's other second-round game in Rupp Arena. The Orangemen advanced despite shooting just 34 percent (21-of-62) but turned the ball over only eight times and held a commanding 49-36 advantage in rebounds. While Syracuse wasn't exactly light- ing up the scoreboard, the Orangemen turned in a splendid defensive effort with their 2-3 zone. They held fourth-seeded New Mexico (24-8) to a season-low 26 percent shooting, including 6-of-25 from 3-point range. "We created some good shots and we missed some good shots," said New Mexico coach Dave Bliss, whose team had just nine turnovers. "It's one of those games. Syracuse is one of the best zone teams in the country, and we're not a team that performs well against a zone." Etan Thomas scored six points during a 15-6 run in the second half that put the Orangemen in control. Syracuse's Todd Burgan opened the second half with an alley-oop dunk and 18-foot jumper from the left wing to give the Syracuse a 28-18 lead with 18:45 to go. New Mexico rallied with a 12-6 run behind Clayton Shields' two 3-pointers and Kenny Thomas' two free throws and short hook shot to close to 34-30 at 14:05. Twenty seconds later, Jason Hart ignited Syracuse's decisive run with a 3 from the top of the key. Thomas con- tributed two free throws, a dunk and layup as the Orangemen opened a 49-36 lead with 8:47 left. New Mexico got no closer than 53-46 on David Gibson's two free throws at 2:38. Burgan finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Thomas had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Surrounded by defenders all game, Kenny Thomas made only 4-of-16 shots and led New Mexico with 12 points and 12 rebounds. "They packed it in and it was hard on me to score in there, said Thomas, the Lobos' leading scorer averaging 17.0 points per game. New Mexico's strategy early in th* game was to shoot over Syracuse's zone, and it worked for a short time as Henry hit two 3s and Long drilled another to give the Lobos a 13-9 lead. But the shots quit dropping for New Mexico while Syracuse went on an 11-0 run behind Burgan's six points to go up. 20-13. The Lobos missed four shots and turned the ball over three times during, the spurt. "We got open looks" Shields said "We just didn't knock them dow tonight." New Mexico shot just 22 percent in the first half (6-of-27) but still managed to stay within 24-18 as the Orangemen- made only 29 percent (10-of-35). "The key to winning against a zone is that you have to hit your open shots,' Bliss said. "You know you're going to get your open opportunities, which we did, but we didn't.make them when had them." And Syracuse's defense proved to be' the difference, even if it was ugly. "They weren't shooting well, we weren't shooting well but we were always in control of the game," said Syracuse guard Marius Janulis, who. missed 8 of 12 shots and finished with 10 points. AP PHOTO Kentucky's Scott Padgett celebrates during the Wildcats' 88-61 victory over Saint Lhis-last night. Spartans out-executc West Virginia, Mateen Cleaves had 27 points, nine rebounds rebounds as the Huskies (20-9) and ive assists to lead the Spartans (22-7). the second round for the first tim Michigan State went on a 7-0 run late in the MacCulloch scored 17 points second half to take a 61-54 lead in the final minutes of the second half, inclu ninute. row as the Huskies opened a 6 - Steve Goodrich scored 18 points to lead coasted. Princeton (27-2), which had its 20-game win- Jarod Stevenson scored 21 pc ning streak snapped. seeded Richmond (23-8). NORTH CAROLINA 93, UNC-CHARLOTTE 83 CONNECTICUT 78, INDIANA 68 in a tournament full of surprise upsets, North If this year's Indiana Hoosiers Princeton as ngton move on advanced past e since 1984. in the first 10 ding nine in a 4-48 lead and oints for 14th- had as much from the edge of disaster for the second consec- utive game, before West made his 3. Baker hit two-three-pointers in the last 1:02, the second putting Cincinnati up 74-72 before Jarrod West hit the game-winner with 0.8 sec- onds left to send West Virginia to the Sweet 16, their first since 1963. MARYLAND 67, ILLINOIS 61 Obinna Ekezie, scoreless until the final six minutes of the game, hit a game-tying jumper .U..S ,, :a__>._ -