Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 1, 1993 TAG: 9304010228
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
GOPHERS BEAT HOYAS TO WIN NIT
After failing to get an NCAA Tournament bid 2 1/2 weeks ago, Minnesota was an angry and frustrated team. Then along came the perfect cure - the NIT.Arriel McDonald scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half and the Golden Gophers withstood a late Georgetown rally to beat the Hoyas 62-61 Wednesday night for their first National Invitation Tournament basketball championship.
Minnesota (22-10) won despite going scoreless over the last 4 1/2 minutes.
Georgetown (20-13) scored 10 straight points, cutting Minnesota's lead to 62-61 with 1:41 left on a free throw by Othella Harrington. However, neither team could score the rest of the way.
Georgetown got the ball after Minnesota's Randy Carter missed two free throws with 24.3 seconds remaining. However, after working the ball for a good shot, Kevin Millen missed a 15-foot jumper with about three seconds left.
The ball was knocked out of bounds by Minnesota, however, and Georgetown got one more chance with four-tenths of a second remaining. A lob pass for Harrington was stolen by Minnesota's Voshon Lenard and time ran out.
Lenard scored 17 points for Minnesota. Harrington led Georgetown with 17 points and Joey Brown added 14.
In the third-place game:
\ Alabama-Birmingham 55, Providence 52: Only three Division I basketball teams get to finish the season with a tournament victory. The Blazers became one of them.
The Blazers used a slowdown game to frustrate Providence and overcome a 17-point, 14-rebound performance by Michael Smith, the leading rebounder in the Big East the past two seasons.
UAB (21-14) held Providence to two field goals in the final 6:30 to win a lethargic game punctuated by air balls, fouls and catcalls from a small crowd at Madison Square Garden.
The Blazers won despite shooting only 35 percent and being outrebounded 39-35. Providence (20-13) shot 40 percent, missed 12 of 23 free throws and turned the ball over 17 times.
\ NOTE: Don Shields, who led Temple to the first National Invitation Tournament championship and later was head basketball coach at Tulsa for two years, has died at age 78. Shields died Tuesday at his home in Tulsa, Okla., of kidney and heart failure. A native of Philadelphia, Shields was named the most valuable player as Temple won the first NIT championship in 1938. He was a charter member of the school's hall of fame 50 years later.