ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 31, 1996 TAG: 9604010133
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: EAST RUTHERFORD, N. R.
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
Mississippi State, making its first appearance in the men's basketball Final Four, couldn't have looked more out of place Saturday.
Syracuse ensured the Bulldogs' visit to the Northeast was a brief one, handing favored Mississippi State a 77-69 defeat in the first NCAA semifinal Saturday afternoon at the Meadowlands Arena.
``It's amazing how basketball is,'' said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, whose team nearly was eliminated in a West Regional semifinal before beating Georgia 83-81 in overtime. ``I don't know whether any of us has figured it out yet.''
The Orangemen (29-8) advanced to the championship game for the second time in its history - and first time since 1987 - with a team that was seeded behind three other teams from the Big East Conference.
They did it with a 2-3 zone defense rarely seen by Mississippi State, which hit four 3-pointers in taking an 18-10 lead, but later fell victim to a rash of forced and unforced turnovers.
``When a team is making 3-pointers against a zone, sometimes that's the best thing that can happen to you,'' Boeheim said. ``They think it's going to be too easy and sometimes take more 3-pointers than they're used to'' taking.
Perhaps, the college basketball world should have seen this coming. The Bulldogs had 21 turnovers for the game - the 10th time this season they committed 20 or more.
Mississippi State point guard Marcus Bullard had a season-high nine turnovers, which was four more than the entire Syracuse team. It left Bullard with 141 turnovers for the season, which certainly would rank among the Division I leaders if such statistics were kept.
``I think the turnovers were the key to the game,'' said Richard Williams, Mississippi State's coach. ``I don't know if it was nervousness. Syracuse caused some, but we just made some bad decisions and careless errors.''
None of Bullard's turnovers was more costly than a pass to the right wing that was picked off by Jason Cipolla with a little less than four minutes remaining and the Orangemen leading 61-55.
Cipolla first feared he would go out of bounds and thought about calling timeout, but he kept his balance and fed Lazarus Sims. Sims got the ball back to Cipolla, who drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner.
That made it a nine-point game, and Mississippi State (26-8) got no closer than eight points the rest of the way. That was despite a 41-21 Bulldogs rebounding margin and shooting percentages that were nearly even.
John Wallace led the Orangemen with 21 points, but it was a team effort. Todd Burgan added 19 points, including 12 in the second half, and Otis Hill scored all 15 of his points in the first half.
Sims, a senior point guard, was the only Syracuse starter - indeed the only starter for either team - who did not score in double figures. However, he chipped in nine points to go with a flawless floor game.
``I wasn't trying to focus in on who was making the turnovers for them or who wasn't making the turnovers for us,'' said Sims, credited with nine assists and no turnovers. ``That wasn't a major factor.''
Mississippi State clearly was rattled at the end of the first half, committing turnovers on five of six possessions after Syracuse went to a half-court trap. The Orangemen's confidence only seemed to grow after intermission.
During one sequence, Wallace blocked a Dontae' Jones shot at one end of the floor, then scored over Jones on a turnaround to make it 54-48 with 7:39 left. On the way back upcourt, Wallace waved his arms at Jones, as if to say, ``Bring it on.''
Jones, a small forward, was matched against Wallace after 6-10 Russell Walters picked up his fourth foul. Eventually, the Bulldogs had to go to a matchup zone, which Burgan immediately exploited by hitting a 3-pointer.
``You've got to realize how well-coached they are,'' Williams said of the Orangemen. ``Jim Boeheim doesn't always get the credit that some other coaches do, but as soon as Walters went out, they made sure to go inside to Wallace.''
The Orangemen were 3 1/2-point underdogs Saturday and they will be heavy underdogs Monday night, when they meet second-ranked Kentucky, an 81-74 winner over top-ranked Massachusetts.
``We've been underdogs since the tournament started,'' Wallace said. ``It has no effect on us. We don't care what the spread is or who thinks we can win. It's what we think. As long as we think we can win, that's all that matters.'' see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. AP Todd Burgan (right) of Syracuse rejoices withby CNBteammate Jason Cipolla after the Orangemen beat Mississippi State
to advance to the NCAA championship game. color
2. AP Syracuse's Otis Hill (left) battles Mississippi State's
Dontae' Jones for a rebound as the Bulldogs' Erick Dampier looks on
Saturday during their NCAA semifinal