Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 16, 1990 TAG: 9003162807
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WILT BROWNING LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: AUSTIN, TEXAS LENGTH: Long
In less than seven seconds, Southwest Missouri State's Jeff Ford, defending against the Tar Heels' Scott Williams, picked up his third and fourth personal fouls and the Bears were never the same.
By winning 83-70, the Tar Heels earned the right to test the nation's No. 1-ranked college basketball team, Oklahoma, in the second round Saturday. Some reward.
But it was a sweet victory for North Carolina because the Tar Heels extended what already was the longest streak of 20-win seasons to 20 years.
"It's our first NCAA win of the 1990s," coach Dean Smith said. "It is a special win, but I guess this season any win is special."
Not since Texas A&M beat the Tar Heels by 17 in double overtime in 1980 has North Carolina been knocked out in the tournament's first round.
Southwest Missouri was expected to have a solid chance of ending that streak when it took the floor against the Tar Heels after Oklahoma's 77-68 victory over long-shot Towson State.
But two blasts of the referee's whistle doomed the Bears. The Bears led by three when, with 14:31 to play, Ford pushed Williams too enthusiastically and drew his third foul. Exactly six seconds later, another whistle pierced the air, and once again Ford's number was called, again for his work against Williams.
At the time, Ford had 21 points, including 19 in the first half. He would spend the next five minutes on the bench as the Tar Heels took command.
"We're obviously not as good with Ford out of the game," said his coach, Charlie Spoonhour.
Ford, who finished with a game-high 25 points, said, "I don't even remember the third foul, but I remember the fourth. I guess I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"I was playing Williams from the back and he broke contact, and I guess I fouled him."
"I'm just 6-foot-6 and he's 6-11. What I was supposed to do is keep him from backing in a lot. But he caught the ball down low and he's a good player." Though Ford outscored him, Williams combined with Rick Fox to crush Southwest Missouri's dream down the stretch. Williams finished with 18 points and Fox had 17. Together, they took 25 shots and made 16. Four of Fox's shots came from 3-point range, and he hit two of them.
If Ford's transgressions against Williams became key points in the game, Fox's work was just as important. His two 3-pointers severely wounded the Bears. The first came at the 8:25 mark of the second half and deflated what appeared to be a comeback by Southwest Missouri.
The second one finished the Bears.
Chris Stange had just put in a jumper from the left of the circle to cut North Carolina's lead to 66-63 when longtime referee Booker Turner, standing three-quarters of the court away, called a third personal foul on Williams. The Tar Heels' center had just gathered a defensive rebound and nailed the Bears' Lee Campbell in the back of the head with an elbow as he tried to protect the basketball.
It was Southwest Missouri's last chance to rally. The Bears, though, came up empty, and Fox hit a 3-pointer 12 seconds later.
Southwest Missouri never was close enough to threaten seriously again.
It was a game that started as North Carolina's worst nightmare. For three minutes, the Bears made the Tar Heels look big and slow with 5-5 guard Arnold Bernard sparking Southwest Missouri to an 11-4 lead.
"Our defense was outstanding after Bernard shook us up," Smith said. "I told our players that he was good, but I didn't think he was that good, either. I told them he was like [Muggsy] Bogues [the Charlotte Hornets guard who played at Wake Forest], and then he came out and played like Bogues."
It took the Tar Heels less than four minutes to adjust to Bernard. "We just closed the lane to him," said Williams, who played traffic cop in the middle of the Tar Heels' zone.
Yet, Bernard's work was not wasted. While his opposite number with the Tar Heels, King Rice, was having a good game defensively, so was Bernard. Because of the attention the smaller Southwest Missouri guard demanded, Rice finished with just six points, hitting only two of nine field-goal attempts.
With Fox and Williams controlling the inside game, Rice's problems on offense were not critical.
At the same time, Fox was shutting down one of the Bears' key weapons, forward Campbell, who also scored just six points, 11 below his regular-season average. Smith said Campbell never seemed to recover from seeing Williams stuff his shot on an inside move five minutes into the game.
If it was a sweet victory in a difficult season for North Carolina, it also was a surprise to Spoonhour.
"I'm going to be honest," said the Bears' caoch. "I didn't expect them to beat us. I thought we were going to win."
SW MO. ST. MP FG FT R A F PT
Stange234-40-10118Ford328-155-6112425Campbell373-70-18026Bernard353-90-24637Re id403-137-923313Redmond172-30-00125Brewer113-40-02046Ribble50-00-00000 Totals 20 0 26-55 12-19 32 13 19 70
UNC MP FG FT R A F PT
Chilcutt284-100-17118Fox357-111-322217Williams279-140-161518Rice352-92-34726Ma dden266-60-020112Harris53-30-01006Rodl132-22-53346Lynch193-72-28248Davis100-22 -21002Wenstrom20-00-01010 Totals 200 36-64 9-17 37 16 20 83
SW Missouri St. 40 30-70 North Carolina 41 42-83
Three-point goals-SW Missouri St. 6-19 (Ford 4-9, Bernard 1-4, Reid 0-5, Redmond 1-1), North Carolina 2-6 (Fox 2-4, Rice 0-1, Davis 0-1).
Turnovers-SW Missouri St. 13, North Carolina 10.
Technical fouls-None.
Officials-Turner, Bair, Stockner.
A-10,705.
by CNB