Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 23, 1990 TAG: 9003231861
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. LENGTH: Medium
Having fallen apart in the final six minutes and blown a 19-point lead to Clemson, Connecticut shocked the Tigers 71-70 on Tate George's buzzer-beating shot.
The question was not whether George's shot beat the buzzer in the Brendan Byrne Arena, but whether the clock was started fast enough.
But it counted, so top-seeded Connecticut is in the NCAA Tournament East Regional basketball final for the second time.
This was the scene in a frantic finish that was amazing even by this year's tournament standards:
It appeared Clemson, once behind 59-40 and still trailing by 14 with 5:51 left, had pulled out the game on David Young's 3-pointer with 11.6 seconds left.
When Sean Tyson rebounded a missed 3-pointer by George and was fouled with 1.6 seconds on the clock, it appeared there was no way Clemson (26-9) could lose.
Connecticut seemingly had pulled the biggest choke job in modern history, while Clemson seemed to have overcome a 19-point deficit for the second time in as many games.
When Tyson missed the free throw, the Huskies (31-5) took a timeout with exactly one second left. Then Clemson took a timeout, and coach Cliff Ellis had 6-foot-11 Elden Campbell guarding the throw.
But Connecticut had Scott Burrell, a baseball pitcher with a 90 mph fastball, and, Ellis said, "He threw a strike."
At the other end, George leaped and caught the ball, came down, then went back up again and buried the jumper from about 12 feet away.
It was reminiscent of the NBA game earlier this season when, in nearby Madison Square Garden, the Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls on a 3-pointer by Trent Tucker.
In that case, it was determined the operator simply didn't start the clock as required as soon as the player touches it.
Ellis did not protest Thursday.
"I'd have to look at the film," he said. "I'd have to see it before I comment."
That desperation basket was the only one scored in the last six minutes by the Huskies, who had dominated the game for 34 minutes.
Connecticut forced 16 first-half turnovers and grabbed a 38-29 lead, which was expanded to 59-40 with 12:36 remaining.
Clemson had done little offensively, and the Huskies, led by Chris Smith's 23 points, were in command. Out of desperation, the Tigers went to their own press, bothered Connecticut and sank six shots in a row to make it 65-63.
The big break came when official Jim Stupin overruled Jim Bain and gave the ball to the Tigers on turnover with 17.5 seconds left.
This time, Young made a 3-pointer for his only points and it looked as if Clemson would pull off an upset.
After the timeout, George told Burrell, "Tyson isn't going to foul me. Throw it in there."
George said he was surprised that Tyson backed off when he caught the ball. That was under Ellis's orders not to foul. "Then Tyson came at me, and I didn't see the ball go in, but I heard the crowd," George said.
Until the finish, Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun had had a sinking feeling in his stomach. When he coached at Northeastern, he was beaten in the NCAA in this building on a last-second shot by Rolando Lamb of Virginia Commonwealth.
"We had had such a great year, and I had this terrible, terrible feeling," Calhoun said. "We practice that play every day in practice, but I can't tell you that we do it with one second left."
\ CLEMSON MinFGFTRebAPFPts Davis 376-103-5170215 Tyson 225-81-342011 Campbell 335-115-781315 Cash 332-93-53438 Forrest 272-42-21216 Young 91-20-01013 Jones 20-00-00010 Howling 242-82-31127 Bucknghm 81-20-02022 Lastinger 41-20-01113 Brown 10-00-00000 Team 2 Totals 20025-5616-2540111670\ CONNECTICUT MinFGFTRebAPFPts Henefeld 221-30-03342 Burrell 322-95-615139 Walker 141-20-02042 Smith 338-143-335223 George 305-122-214212 Gwynn 174-131-21019 Sellers 192-30-13014 DePriest 174-60-02228 Williams 90-10-00120 Cyrulik 61-10-10022 Macklin 10-00-00000 Team 6 Totals 20028-6411-1536162371 Clemson 2941-70 Connecticut 3833-71
Three-point goals-Clemson 4-12 (Cash 1-1, Lastinger 1-1, Young 1-2, Howling 1-6, Forrest 0-2), Connecticut 4-10 (Smith 4-6, Henefeld 0-1, George 0-1, Gwynn 0-2). Technical-Davis. A-NA.
by CNB