The Michigan Daily-Sports Monday- March 18,1991 - Page 5 ROAD TO INDIANAPOLIS Eastern needs OT to beat Penn State Spartans charitable from free throw line Associated Press SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - When it mattered most, Eastern Michigan seized its opportunities ,unday and Penn State didn't. And that's why the Hurons are in the NCAA tournament's final 16 for the first time. Lorenzo Neely scored five points in overtime as the Hurons beat Penn State 71-68 in the East Regional. There were 20 lead changes and eight ties and neither team led by more than five points. "They had some breaks but they couldn't capitalize on them," said Neely, who finished with 18 points. "We made some decent decisions when it counted. They had opportunities but we did some- thing with ours." Penn State (21-11), which hasn't advanced beyond the sec- ond round since 1954, had several opportunities, but James Brown issed two free throws in the final w63 seconds of regulation and Fred- die Barnes missed a pair 3-pointers in the final four seconds of over- time. "It's going to take a while to get over this loss," Penn State guard Monroe Brown said. "It's too hard to talk about it now. Maybe, over the summer." Eastern Michigan's Marcus Kennedy, who scored 21 points be- fore fouling out in overtime, said he was "sick to his stomach" watching the final minutes from the bench. "I was surprised and happy that my teammates came back and re- sponded well," Kennedy said. "They didn't get their heads down." Eastern Michigan (26-6) was a 9first-round loser in 1988 in its only previous NCAA appearance. The Hurons play top-seeded North Car- olina in the regional semifinals at East Rutherford, N.J. Michigan State is following last year's sur- prising performance by Ball State, another 12th-seeded team from the Mid-American Conference which advanced to the final 16. Penn State fell behind 62-58 in overtime but scored the next five Local fans take wild tourney ride Associated Press When Eastern Michigan and Michigan State went into overtime Sunday, their fans went into emo- tional overdrive. But while the Eastern faithful were savoring the Hurons' 71-68 win over Penn State in the NCAA East Regional, Michigan State fans were trying to come to terms with the Spartans' 85-84 loss to Utah in the West Regional. Eastern Michigan campus po- lice said things were quiet at the Ypsilanti school. Laura Stewart, a junior from Grand Rapids, agreed, saying: "I haven't heard of any ri- ots. Yet." * For fans whose teams won and lost, respectively, the games gen- erated strikingly similar reactions. "They almost gave me a heart attack," said Bobby Murray, one of about 10 Eastern Michigan stu- dents who watched the Hurons on TV in McKenny Union. "We made plenty of noise for 100 people." "A lot of hearts were beating awful quick back here," said Eric Rayner, a senior from Marshall who is employed at Michigan State's Kellogg Center. "We got to the point where, after the first overtime, we didn't know if we wanted to win or lose. We couldn't take any more." Eastern Michigan's basketball team won't be the only ones to benefit from the Hurons' first-ever A appearance in the NCAA tourna- points as Kennedy and Kory Hallas fouled out on back-to-back plays. Eastern Michigan then rallied with its big men on the bench. Charles Thomas scored off a blocked Penn State shot for a 64- 63 lead, and the Hurons held on as Neely and Carl Thomas each sank a pair of free throws. Roger Lewis's layup with 29 seconds left gave Eastern a 70-66 lead, and Neely made a final free throw with 10.4 seconds to go. Freddie Barnes' two free throws pulled Penn State within two points and Neely's missed free throw gave the Nittany Lions an- other chance. But Barpes missed a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 3.4 seconds remaining. After Carl Thomas traveled with the re- bound, Barnes missed a shot from deep in the corner at the buzzer. "I got fouled on the first one," Barnes said. "But both were shots we wanted." The game went into overtime after Penn State's James Barnes, an 81 percent free-throw shooter, missed the second shot of a one- and-one with 63 seconds left and the score tied at 58. Penn State got the ball back when Monroe Brown tipped away a pass for Kennedy and was fouled in the scramble. Associated Press TUCSON, Ariz. - Utah con- tinues to prove the skeptics wrong. Josh Grant scored a season-high 29 points and the Utes overcame s frigid free-throw shooting to beat Michigan State 85-84 in double overtime Sunday at the West Re- gional. The victory sends Utah to the final 16 of the NCAA tourna- ment for the first time since 1983. Although the Utes are 30-3 and ranked 10th in the nation, a lot of people didn't think they would get this far. "We feel we've been under- rated all year. This kind of vali- dates the season," said Utah coach Rick Majerus. "Thirty wins is a lot of wins." Utah won despite making only 28 of 46 free throws. "We had a lot of adversity to- day missing foul shots, but we just played through it," Majerus said. "That's what the NCAA tourna- . ment is all about. We left it all on the floor today. It's the best game I've ever been involved with in my life." The fourth-seeded Utes will AP Photo play the UNLV-Georgetown winner Georgia Tech sophomore sensation Kenny Anderson scores over Ohio on Thursday in the regional semi- State's Treg Lee (left) and Perry Carter in the Buckeyes' 65-61 victory, finals at Seattle. Fifth-seeded Michigan State (19-11) was led by Steve Smith's 28 points. "I thought maybe we earned the game as hard as we played, but Utah probably feels the same way," Spartans coach Jud Heath- cote said. "It was a great basket- ball game because there were so many great plays." Michigan State forced the first overtime at 64-64 on Matt Steigenga's driving layup and Smith's two free throws with 24 seconds left. Smith was fouled away from the ball while Steigenga was shooting. With Michigan State trailing 75-73 in the first overtime, the Spartans' Mike Peplowski was fouled underneath with 6.6 seconds left. After missing his first free throw, Peplowski intentionally missed the second. Teammate Jon Zulauf grabbed the rebound and made a short jumper with four sec- onds remaining to force the second overtime. Walter Watts, who scored 14 points, put Utah ahead to stay at 81-79 on a dunk with 1:34 left in the second overtime. A free throw by Watts with 10 seconds left gave Utah an 85-81 lead, giving the Utes enough cushion to withstand Smith's 3-pointer with three sec- onds remaining. Michigan State beat Wiscon- sin-Green Bay 60-58 in the first round on Smith's 20-foot jumper at the buzzer. "We didn't want Smith to beat us," Majerus said. "We talked about it ad nauseam before the game. We threw everything at him and he still got his points." Jimmy Soto scored 16 points for Utah. Grant, whose previous high was 25 on Dec. 15 against Pacific, had 15 in the first half. "The way things were going, we thought there might be five or six overtimes," Grant said. "But we kept our poise and pulled out the win." Steigenga, who fouled out in the second overtime, scored 17 points for the Spartans, who led 33-29 at halftime. "We battled back twice from four points down in regulation and two points in the first overtime. I thought maybe fate was with us," Heathcote said. "But I never: thought we had it won or Utah had it until it was over." Boxncore MICHIGAN STATE (84) Steigenga 7-14 2-2 17, Stephens 2- 3 2-2 6, Peplowski 7-11 0-2 14, Montgomery 4-9 0-0 9, Smith 10-21 5- 6 28, Hickman 1-3 0-0 2, Zulauf 1-4 0- 0 2, Penick 1-7 4-5 6, Weshins-key 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-72 13-17 84. UTAH (85) Grant 10-17 6-8 29, McGrath 1-1 1- 2 3, Watts 3-9 8-16 14, Tate 3-5 0-0 6,. Wilson 3-7 1-2 8, Afeaki 1-4 3-4 5, Soto 3-8 8-12 16, Dixon 0-4 0-0 0, Rydalch 1-4 1-2 4, Howard 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-59 28-46 85. Halftime-Michigan St. 33, Utah 29. Regulation-64-64. First overtime-75-75. 3-point goals- Michigan St. 5-14 (Smith 3-8, Steigenga 1-2, Montgomery 1-2, Penick 0-2), Utah 7-21 (Grant 3-6, Soto 2-4, Wilson 1-4, Rydalch 1-4, Dixon 0-3). Fouled out- Steigenga, Montgomery, Wilson. Rebounds- Michigan St. 43 (Peplowski 11), Utah 36 (Grant, Watts 10). Assists- Michigan St. 19 (Montgomery 7), Utah 15 (Tate 5). Total fouls-Michigan St. 28, Utah 20. Technicals-Michigan St. coach Heathcote, Montgomery. A- 13,497. SAY IT IN THE... DAILY CLASSIFIEDS f- w w \m aw.