Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 1, 1990 TAG: 9004010181
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Brill
DATELINE: DENVER LENGTH: Medium
Bob Sands is the sports editor of the Las Vegas Review.
He knows who wears the black hats in this Final Four.
But the guys in the black hats can play basketball. More importantly, there are a lot of them.
Just when it appeared the ACC was going to have its finest hour, with two teams in the NCAA championship game, "Lethal Weapon 3" was defused.
Or ran out of gas.
The NCAA Tournament had never seen a first-half show such as the one Tech put on against the Runnin' Rebels.
The Yellow Jackets shot 66.7 percent in the first half, many of them Dennis Scott bombs from another area code.
But the mile-high altitude in the host city that proved to be such a factor in both games Saturday was more than Tech could overcome.
All season long the Yellow Jackets had survived, although their bench consisted almost exclusively of guard Karl Brown.
In the 90-81 loss to the top-seeded Rebels, setting up a UNLV-Duke title game Monday night, Georgia Tech simply came up 20 minutes short.
Actually, there was a message sent near the end of the first half, which ended with the Yellow Jackets leading 53-46. In the final 4:14 of play, Tech had one field goal.
In the first 9:13 of the second half, Tech went 1-for-11 from the field.
That span of 13:27 killed the ACC's hopes of a certain champion. Not only did Tech go 2-for-15, but it had six turnovers and was 2-for-6 from the free-throw line in the drought.
Tech coach Bobby Cremins conceded that was when the game was lost. "We lost our composure," he said. "We wanted to get the ball to Dennis [Scott], but they took us out of our offense."
It wasn't that Stacy Augmon did a number on Scott, who still scored 29 points, or that Tech's shots didn't fall. (They were 10-of-29 after halftime.)
What happened was that the greatest freshman point guard in college history - Kenny Anderson - did an awful thing. He played like a freshman.
It was Anderson's thrilling dashes to the basket and his astonishing moves that thrilled the McNichols Arena crowd in the first half. He had 13 points, five assists and a team-leading five rebounds.
In the second half, Anderson tried to do too much. Instead of seeking out Scott for those radar jumpers, Anderson kept going to the basket.
With bad results.
Not only did he miss, but he got in foul trouble. During that stretch when Tech was losing sight of its goals, Anderson picked up his second, third and fourth fouls, the latter with 11:38 left.
Tech is such a fragile team. It cannot play without Anderson. But Cremins had no choice. He benched his rookie whiz kid for 4 1/2 minutes, during which time the Yellow Jackets were outscored 15-9 and fell behind by seven.
What UNLV showed, besides the most obnoxious fans this side of the world-renowned strip in its hometown, was the perimeter game that had been Tech's trademark.
The Rebels made six of seven 3-point field-goal attempts in the second half, the sort of thing you expect from the Yellow Jackets. But by that time, the defensive hands were down and there was no spring left in the legs of the squad from Atlanta.
Now it will be left to Duke to carry the ACC banner. The Blue Devils did their part because they showed heart.
As ACC Commissioner Gene Corrigan said, "I know Mike [Krzyzewski] is a great coach, but those kids are tough."
The Blue Devils had taken an 11-point lead in the second half, at 54-43, and promptly were outscored 26-8 by Arkansas in the next 5:50.
That sort of offensive outburst should have left the opposition gagging, especially when everybody was gasping for air all night.
But Duke regrouped and went on a 33-14 run the rest of the way as the Razorbacks turned into hogs on their way to the slaughterhouse.
Once Duke tightened the vice, trash-talking Arkansas was the team that came unglued.
Blue Devils point guard Bobby Hurley thought he knew the reason. "Maybe if they hadn't talked so much yesterday," he said, "they would have had some breath left."
by CNB