Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 15, 1991 TAG: 9103150369
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: COLLEGE PARK, MD. LENGTH: Medium
This time, the Spiders became the first 15th-seeded team ever to win a game in the NCAA Tournament.
Led by Roanoker Curtis Blair, and following basketball coach Dick Tarrant's flawless strategy throughout, the Spiders shocked second-seeded Syracuse 73-69 in the final game of the East Region opening round.
It was no fluke. Richmond never trailed and led after breaking a 4-4 tie.
It was the fourth time that a Tarrant-coached team had beaten a huge favorite. Previous victims were Auburn, with Charles Barkley and Chuck Person in '84, and four years later, Indiana and Georgia Tech were beaten as the Spiders reached the round of 16.
Now, they will play Temple in the second round here Saturday.
Syracuse, the Beast of the Big East with a 26-5 record coming in, was kept off-balance all night before a sellout crowd in Cole Field House.
Using a zone that neutralized Syracuse inside, Richmond played a spectacular first half and then held off a desperate rally that was fueled by two 3-pointers from Michael Edwards.
The biggest basket of the game was a driving layup by Jim Shields that gave Richmond a 70-67 lead with 1:08 left.
Then, after All-American Billy Owens scored on a leaner to make it 70-69 with 36 seconds left, the Spiders held the ball until freshman Eugene Burroughs was fouled at 0:21.
That Burroughs was in the game at all was another tribute to Tarrant's coaching. The backup point guard, Burroughs hadn't played in the last half, but he's a 79 percent free-throw shooter.
Even though Syracuse took a timeout, Burroughs wasn't flustered. He swished both shots for the vital three-point lead.
During the timeout, Tarrant told his team "after Eugene makes the free throws, we have a foul to give."
Then, as the huddle was breaking up, Burroughs saw his father, Eugene Sr., in the stands, "And I winked at him. He had his fist in the air, and that kind of got me fired up."
Burroughs said he was "a little nervous" on the first free throw, but "when I made the first one, I was confident on the second."
With eight seconds to play, Syracuse took its final timeout. Edwards got a three-point try from the corner, but it bounced long and went out of bounds off the Orange.
Blair then completed a splendid 18-point evening by making a free throw that capped the biggest game of his life.
The junior from Patrick Henry High, switched to shooting guard after Richmond struggled to a 6-7 start, wound up playing the point again almost the entire second half.
After Richmond had gone 4:18 without a basket, it was a Blair pass to Kenny Wood that ended the drought. Then Blair hit a breaking Wood for a dunk that made it 66-59.
Blair finished with six assists and just one turnover. As a team, the Spiders had just two turnovers after intermission.
Blair got plenty of help, especially from senior Terry Connolly, who was a hustling firebrand with 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists, including a behind-the-back, in-the-lane strike to Jim Springer for a layup.
That was typical of Richmond's first half, in which it shot 61.6 percent to lead 44-36 as the crowd applauded. The audience was so one-sided even the Syracuse cheerleaders were booed.
To illustrate the magnitude of the upset, the only two losses Richmond had in its past 18 games were to VMI and William and Mary.
At the pregame meal, Tarrant said he told his team, "If in 1988, a No. 13 seed could beat the defending national champions [Indiana], then a No. 15 could beat a No. 2.
"Great things can happen in basketball. But we had to play a flawless game."
Thanks to Blair, Connolly and a gritty supporting staff, they did exactly that. Having a 60-plus coaching genius on the bench didn't hurt, either.
see microfilm for box score
by CNB