10 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 19, 1999
Gonzaga continues cinderella run
PHOENIX (AP) - Gonzaga's wild NCAA
ride is one more upset from a trip to the Final
Four.
The scrappy Bulldogs, on Casey Calvary's
tip-in with 4.4 seconds to go Thursday night,
surged into the NCAA West Regional final,
edging Florida 73-72.
"This is unbelievable," said Calvary, who
last hit a game-winning shot "in the third or
fourth grade. We've dreamed about this since
we were little and now that we're there, we
have to take advantage of it."
The 10th-seeded Bulldogs of the over-
looked West Coast Conference trailed by
three when Jeremy Eaton made a layup and
Florida's Brent Wright then traveled with 15.4
seconds left.
Quentin Hall drove to the basket and
missed, and Calvary, who had 10 points in the
second half, tipped it home. p
Florida's Eddie Shannon missed an off-bal-
ance 3-pointer at the buzzer, sending Gonzaga
to within one step of its first Final Four.
AP PHOTO "We were blessed today," Gonzaga's Matt
Santangelo said. "It was not a pretty game,
but we showed the heart and character of the
team. It's like getting a new life and we'll
savor it and then come ready to play
Saturday."
That will be against Conecticut, which
fought off pesky Iowa last night.
Again, Gonzaga, just the fifth 10th seed
ever to get this far - none has made the Final
Four - will be an underdog.
That doesn't bother the Bulldogs a bit.
"This team has great character and they are
great kids," coach Dan Monson said. "There
are a lot of teams at home with better basket-
ball ability, but we get through that with
chemistry and character."
Florida is one of those highly skilled teams
no longer in the tournament. The Gators made
one critical error down the stretch when
Wright walked, and it was enough to decide
the game.
"It just hurts inside that I let the team
down," Wright said. "It's just real sad.
"I thought the ref gave me a timeout, but it
was too late." Freshman Mike Miller's layup
put Florida on top 69-68, and Santangelo tied
it with a foul shot.
Greg Stolt, the Gators' career 3-point
leader, was wide open for his fourth 3 of the
night with 45.7 seconds remaining, setting up
the frantic finish.
"We were rushing going too fast at times,"
Gators coach -Billy Donovan said. "The
turnovers hurt us."
Gonzaga showed surprising strength inside
in the second half, making things easier for it
guard-oriented offense. Several times, Florida
didn't deny entry passes, setting up inside
shots for the Bulldogs. When the Gators did
sag, it opened the outside for Richie Frahm,
while Calvary was the main beneficiary
underneath.
Gonzaga, which also looked like it was lose
ing control in its second-round upset of
Stanford, went on a 15-5 spurt. Unlike against
the second-seeded Cardinal, however, the
Bulldogs couldn't pull away and needed some
last-second heroics by Calvary to stay alive.
"This is awesome," Calvary said.
"Awesome."
No.1 CONNECTICUT 78, No. 5 IowA 68
Tom Davis' career at Iowa ended as his
Hawkeye's couldn't overcome 12 first-half
points by Connecticut's Khalid EI-Amin.
Gonzaga goes gonzo after knocking off highly regarded Florida last night on a put-back by Casey
Calvary. The Bulldogs are just the fifth No. 10 seed to ever make the Elite Eight.
Johnnies come early, use
big first half to oust Terps
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -
Mike Jarvis didn't realize just
how good St. John's was in the-
first half.
The Red Storm scored 20
straight points over the final 7:11
of the first half Thursday night
and Went on to beat Maryland 76-
62 to reach the final of the NCAA
South Regional.
"The first half was incredible,
particularly the defense," Jarvis
said. "Until I was told at halftime
we had a 20-0 run, I didn't know
how good a run it was."
St. John's (28-8) never trailed
after going inside to Bootsy
Thornton late in the first half. The
Red Storm had suffered through
an.early-4-of- 18 shooting slump
before consecutive baskets by
Thornton started what became
the game-deciding run.
Thornton, who finished with
17 points, converted a nifty pass
from Ron Artest into a basket and
a 20-19 lead with 7:11 left.
"I wasn't expecting to be up 19
or 20. 1t gave me confidence in
my team. There is no way we
could do that except as a team,"
Artest said.
After a Maryland miss,
Barkley fed Thornton for another
inside shot. As St. John's scored
20 straight points to take a 38-19
halftime lead, Maryland missed
its last 10 shots and had its lowest
scoring half of the season.
"They didn't get a chance to
run what they wanted to run,"
Thornton said. "We took away a
lot of what they wanted to. I think
that's why they got frustrated."
St. John's plays Ohio State on
Saturday for a trip to the Final
Four.
Maryland (28-6) finally came
alive midway through the second
half, but it wasn't enough to avoid
having its season end in the round
of 16 for the fourth time in six
years.
"That is small consolation
what happened in the first half,"
said Maryland coach Gary
Williams. "We would have liked
to have lost giving it our best shot
offensively and defensively. It just
got out of hand in the first half
and that really cost us."
Things ended with another pre-
mature exit from the Big Dance
for Maryland. The Terrapins have
made 13 NCAA Tournament
appearances since advancing to
their last regional title game, in
1975.
"I'm very disappointed," said
Williams, who has 399 career
victories. "I always am when the
season is over, but especially
tonight. I think we had a special
group that had a chance to
advance."
The pressure was on Maryland
to make it to the Final Four. But
Jarvis, who took George
Washington to the round of 16 in
1993, has tried to take pressure
off his young team by telling
them to have fun and enjoy their
"fantastic voyage" through the
tournament.
They must have really enjoyed
themselves against Maryland.
No. 4 OHio STATE 72, No. I
AUBURN 64
The Buckeyes used nine
straight points down the
stretch to make Auburn the
first No.1 seed to fall in a tour-
nament filled with upsets.
AP PHOTO
St. John's coach Mike Jarvis didn't realize how good his team's first-half run was - but he beleives it
now, and so does Maryland, which was eliminated last night.
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ST. LOUIS (AP) - The Midwest
Regional was supposed to feature a
rematch of last year sNCAA title
game, before Miami (Ohio) crashed
the party.
The No. 10 seed that spoiled a
Kentucky-Utah repeat Friday night is
about a two-hour drive from
Lexington, Ky., and light years away in
terms of reputation. Coach Charlie
Coles did a lot of chuckling when
asked whether any of his players had
also been recruited by the No. 3 seed
and defending national champion.
Coles, whose school is in Oxford,
Ohio, said somebody has made a big
mistake if he and Kentucky coach
Tubby Smith ever end up in the same
place checking out prospects.
"No, huh-uh, no, huh-uh," Coles
said. "We never really cross paths. If I
see Tubby out recruiting someone,
then I'm in the wrong gym. Nothing
against our players, but that's just the
way it is."
That even goes for tournament dar-
ling and likely NBA lottery pick Wally
Szczerbiak, who has totaled 67 points
in Miami's first two NCAA victories.
Szczerbiak is averaging 24.3 points,
8.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists.
"I wasn't recruited by Kentucky at
all," Szczerbiak said.
Miami (24-7) has tied a school
record for victories and is in the round
of 16 for the first time since 1978. Few
outside of Oxford, Ohio can name any
of the other four starters.
Everybody knows about Kentucky
(27-8), which is the defending nation-
al champion and has been in the title
game the last three years. The Wildcats
have been to 41 NCAA Tournaments,
more than any other team, and this is
their fifth straight appearance in the
round of 16.
Kentucky also has won 17 in a row
against Miami, with the last loss in
1927.
"The fact we've been here and been
so successful gives us confidence,"
forward Scott Padgett said.
Duke will
crush 12th
seed easily
TOURNEY
Continued from Page 9
from both the inside and out, as well a
board with some of the best.
It'll take another Herculean effort
from Najera to upend the Spartans, but
then again, Michigan State has been
prone to some slow starts.
SURE THING: National-champ-in-
waiting Duke over No. 12 Southwest
Missouri State ....big.
I'm not even going to elaborate on
this.
PARTING SHOTS: The dream of al
those Cinderellas in the first and second
rounds make for a bitter reality as we
prepare for a slate of Sweet 16
blowouts.
Oh well ... it was fun while it lasted.
Guess we'll just have to wait for the
Final Four to see some close games.
TODAY'S GAMES: Predicted winners
in bold.
East Region Semifinals, at
Continental Airlines Arena, Eas
Rutherford, N.J.
No. 1 Duke vs. No. 12 Southwest
Missouri State;
No. 6 Temple vs. No. 10 Purdue
Midwest Region Semifinals, at Trans
World Dome, St. Louis
No. 1 Michigan State vs. No. 13
Oklahoma
No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 10 Miami
(Ohio)
Predicted East Region Final:
No.1 Duke vs. No. 6 Temple
Predicted Midwest Region Final
No.3 Kentucky vs. No. 13 Oklahoma
Wrestling
16th after
first day
WRESTLERS..
Continued from Page 9
intimidate him.
In the quarterfinal round Hroat
faces first seed Carl Sanderson fr
Iowa State, but says that he won't adjdst
his strategy to face the favorite.
12th-seeded Stan Greene of Fresno
State upset Joe Warren, the fifth seedat
133 pounds, in the second round.
Warren was one of Michigan's top
hopes for an individual title but will
have to deal with a cruel reality.
The best Warren can do now s a
third place finish.
Seniors Corey Grant and Frank
Lodeserto and freshman Matt Brink
lost two matches yesterday and therfore
were eliminated from the champi-
onship.
Michigan currently sits in 16th place
with 13 points, 17 points behind the
leader, Iowa.
Oklahoma State is second with 29.5,
and Minnesota is third with 29.
"It's gonna be a hell of a race,"
Minnesota coach J Robinson said"l
just have to focus on what you can .
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