Men's Basketball Falls By Narrowest Of Margins
March 10, 2000
Postgame Audio:
Coach Hamilton
By JIM O’CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK – Anthony Glover was all alone in a packed Madison SquareGarden.
The sophomore forward from St. John’s was by himself on the court waiting totake two free throws as the officials reviewed the tape to see how much timeshould be on the game clock.
The 61 percent free-throw shooter made both foul shots, giving St. John’s a58-57 victory Friday night and advancing the Red Storm to a rematch of lastyear’s Big East tournament championship game with Connecticut.
Glover, 3-for-8 from the line in the game at that point, made the two shotswith 2.2 seconds left, giving the third-seeded Red Storm (23-7) a 58-57 lead.
“I was nervous, first of all,” Glover said, adding that one of theassistant coaches reminded him about some big free throws he made in a highschool championship game. “I bent my knees, followed through and I hit both ofthem.”
The game, however, was far from over.
Second-seeded Miami (21-10), which took a 57-56 lead on two free throws byMario Bland with 7.6 seconds left, inbounded the ball with no timeouts.
St. John’s Lavor Postell was called for a foul as the ball was thrown innear midcourt. Leroy Hurd, a 62 percent free-throw shooter taking his firstfoul shot of the game, missed the front end of a 1-and-1, and during thescramble for the rebound, the buzzer sounded, setting off a wild celebration bySt. John’s.
“I thought it was going in. I thought it would fall, but it didn’t fall,”Hurd said. “I had a chance to do it, but I didn’t. Missing it is verydisappointing, but I have to move on. I took a couple of dribbles. I thought itwould go in.”
The championship game appearance is the second straight for the 19th-rankedRed Storm, and their fifth ever. They won the tournament in 1983 and 1986.
Two-time defending Big East champion Connecticut (24-8), which beat St.John’s 82-63 last season, will be looking to become the first team to win threetitles in a row.
It will be the first time the same teams met for the title in consecutiveyears, and the first time neither of the top two seeds made it since 1994.
“We feel very fortunate, very blessed to be playing for the Big Eastchampionship,” Red Storm coach Mike Jarvis said. “We’ll give it everythingwe’ve got, as we always do.”
Jarvis received some surprising news after the game as sophomore guard ErickBarkley, the team’s leading scorer who has suspended twice this season by theNCAA, said he would “take a leave of absence” and not play in the title game.
“I’m taking a leave of absence from the team, and that’s my onlystatement,” Barkley said, refusing to say anything else.
Jarvis later issued his own statement.
“Some things are bigger than wins,” Jarvis said. “He’s been through atremendous amount. He’s entitled to his own thoughts. It’s all part of being ahuman being, and I respect him for that. I’m betting on Erick Barkley.”
Barkley was suspended for three games by the NCAA in early February forexchanging vehicles with a family friend. After an appeal, that punishment wasreduced to two games.
On Feb. 29, St. John’s was forced to declare Barkley ineligible, and hemissed that night’s victory over Seton Hall. The NCAA requested furtherinformation regarding payment of part of Barkley’s tuition at Maine CentralInstitute for the 1997-98 academic year. Though he was reinstated on March 3,Barkley must give back $3,500 of his tuition, which is approximately $22,000.
Before Friday night’s game against Miami rumors were circulating that theNCAA was looking into Barkley’s SAT history, but neither he nor the schoolcommented on that.
Postell and Chudney Gray each had 14 points for St. John’s, while Gloverfinished with seven points.
Elton Tyler had 15 points to lead the 23rd-ranked Hurricanes, who shared theregular-season title with Syracuse and had never reached the title game. Blandand Hemsley had 13 points each, while Hurd, who played nine minutes, did notscore as Miami had its six-game winning streak, including a 74-70 overtime winover St. John’s last Sunday, snapped.
“We put ourselves in a position to win and we were right there,” Miamicoach Leonard Hamilton said. “We’ll learn from it. I can’t fault our kids.It’s part of the growing process.”
St. John’s, which has won 10 of 11 with the only loss being at Miami, took a48-41 lead on a 3-pointer by Postell with 10:36 to play. The Hurricanes scoredseven straight points, the last five by Hemsley, to close to 50-48 with 7:01 toplay.
Hemsley’s 3-pointer with 1:05 left, his third of the game in 10 attempts,brought Miami to 56-55.
Postell missed a jumper with 37 seconds left, and Miami ran the clock downuntil Bland’s free throws with 7.6 seconds left gave it the lead for just thesecond time in the game.
“I thought we had the game, but they called a foul on my man Lavor,”Glover said. “Then we had to see what they were going to do and fortunatelythey missed.”
