Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 25, 1991 TAG: 9103250020
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Brill
DATELINE: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. LENGTH: Medium
Both times it came after Temple lost in the NCAA East Regional.
But in 1988, the Owls were No. 1 in the nation and lost to Duke because Macon was stuffed by Billy King. This time the Temple senior played perhaps the best game of his life in his final college performance.
Against Duke, Macon had advance billing as the freshman hotshot. He shot 6-for-29 against King's defense, including eight airballs, and afterward sat in the locker room sobbing, a towel covering his head.
This time, Temple wasn't even supposed to be here. The Owls didn't win the Atlantic 10 regular-season or tournament championship. They got in the field of 64, coach John Chaney said, "because there were so many teams on probation."
It was 10th-seeded Temple going up against North Carolina, the perennial power, arguably the most publicized program in the nation.
And nearly five minutes into the game, the Owls were down 10-0.
Then Macon astounded the sellout audience of 19,601 with 15 of his team's 16 points over the next four minutes and 10 seconds.
The game ended in a 75-72 defeat despite Macon's 31 points, team-high nine rebounds and a 3-point try before the buzzer that had every Tar Heel heart fluttering.
Macon, his career over after 2,609 points, faced the media proudly, calmly, sitting at the podium and dissecting the game as if it were a mere pickup contest.
How did he play?
"It was OK," he said. "They're a great team. They have a lot of key weapons. When one guy goes out, another guy with a bullet comes in."
Asked what the Owls talked about on the court, Macon said, "Stay calm and we're never out of the game. I kept my confidence and through my confidence, I kept the team's confidence. Basically we communicate as family."
His career appeared to go on hold after the Duke loss. The national freshman of the year, Macon had two high-scoring, bad-shooting seasons in relative obscurity.
On Saturday, Chaney had chided the media, saying it was "intellectually unfair" to judge Macon harshly, because he was always being double-teamed.
This year, Temple got a couple of Proposition 48 players eligible, and Macon wasn't a one-man team.
Until Sunday.
With Vic Carstarphen overwhelmed by the Carolina pressure and scoreless in the first half, Chaney switched, and added point guard responsibilities on Macon. "We had Mark dribble up the floor and put Victor on a wing," the coach said.
Macon scored and made no turnovers, and Carstarphen added three critical buckets, two of them 3-pointers.
But Macon's final shot, on line but just a smidgen short, bounced away, and the dream of the Final Four had vanished.
"Everybody wants to go to the Final Four," Chaney said. "I wanted so much to give these kids that opportunity.
"But a special young man like Mark - I wanted it most of all for him."
Then this severe taskmaster, who practices his team at 5:30 a.m., began to cry.
"When we recruited him, Mark said, `Coach, I want to be your clone.' Everything we've asked him to do, he's done. I wish every coach could have a young man like him."
by CNB