Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 9, 1991 TAG: 9103090271
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Louisville and Memphis State showed again on Friday night why they have been the Metro Conference's fiercest foes, as they turned a rout into another remarkable renewal of a rabid rivalry.
LaBradford Smith's twisting, reverse layup with six seconds left lifted the last-seeded Cardinals into tonight's Metro Tournament championship game with a 72-70 basketball victory against the Tigers.
"It's a shame someone has to lose a game like that," said Louisville coach Denny Crum, whose Cardinals (14-15) have reached their 11th Metro final in 16 years. Louisville will face Florida State, which defeated Virginia Tech 91-71 in the late semifinal Friday night.
It also seems a shame this Roanoke Civic Center semifinal opener may have been the last game of the league's best rivalry.
Memphis is leaving the Metro for the Great Midwest Conference. Louisville is reluctant to continue playing the defecting Tigers. However, the teams' futures certainly didn't diminish the drama of their Metro tourney meeting for a seventh straight year.
Louisville, with a five-game winning streak for the first time since December, had a 16-point bulge after 6 1/2 minutes. The Tigers (16-14) clawed their way back by keeping their paws on the ball.
In the final 10:27, there were six ties and five lead changes. There was no way U of L was going to continue its early 75 percent shooting. But a couple of just-as-improbable statistics - and turnovers - confounded Memphis State at the end.
Smith went solo down the paint and pump-faked his way to a 3-footer over Tigers guard Tony Madlock to tie the score at 70 with 33 seconds to play.
Then Memphis star Elliot Perry spun and flashed his way to a basket with 12 seconds left, and Smith's hack gave the Metro's No. 2 free throw-line marksman a chance at regaining the lead for the Tigers.
But Perry, who entered the game shooting .830 at the line - behind only Louisville's Smith in the Metro - missed for the third time in four trips to the stripe.
Crum called a timeout at :10.
"We knew they were going to run somebody long," said Memphis State coach Larry Finch, whose team's press caused U of L problems consistently.
Finch's worst fears were realized when Smith bolted down the right sideline, startling Tigers wing man Tim Duncan. Smith broke away and when Perry and Ernest Smith tried to contest the layup try, the Cardinals' veteran went past the hoop and leaned back, rolling in the tiebreaker.
Memphis still had a chance after taking its last breath with four seconds left. Perry tried rushing down the opposite sideline, the left-hander being forced right by the Cardinals' defense. Louisville forward Everick Sullivan knocked the ball away when he jumped in front of the Tigers' veteran.
"After LaBradford beat us long, there wasn't too much we could try and do," said Perry, who thought Sullivan's save was accomplished more with an intruding thigh than a hand.
"Call it luck if you want," Sullivan said. "He still would have had a hard shot anyway."
Perry's loss of the ball was only the fourth turnover for the Tigers in the final 31:38. The third turnover, when it was 68-68 with 53 seconds left, was just as cruel to MSU hopes.
Guard John McLaughlin grabbed a carom of a Perry miss, then lost the ball into the lane and Cornelius Holden's hands. Smith gave U of L the lead 13 seconds later.
Smith has started all 131 of his Louisville games. Incredibly, it was the first time the Texan had hit a game-winning shot.
"I missed all of the others," he said.
The Cardinals missed little early. "Everything they shot went in," Finch said. "They played a great ball game, but in the end, we were our own worst enemy."
Another reason Louisville will play for its ninth Metro tournament title occurred with 2:31 remaining, when Tigers forward Kelvin Allen fouled out. Allen, who sat for more than 11 second-half minutes with four personals, had a bullish 16 points and 10 rebounds in his 22 minutes.
"We could have folded, but we didn't," Finch said. "To be down by 16 at one point and then have a chance to win says something."
This rivalry has always seemed to make a statement, as does Louisville's late-season rush in what once appeared to be a futile attempt to keep its 46-season streak of winning records alive.
"We have a chance to do something everyone had written off," Crum said. "It's a lot more fun to do what you're not supposed to do.
"It's a lot tougher to do it, too."
by CNB