Tuesday, November 20, 2001
Maui’s first LAHAINA >> They came. They saw. They were not disappointed.
day is classic
No. 4 Kansas is shocked
by Ball State, while No. 1
Duke avoids an upsetBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comThe fans in the sold-out Lahaina Civic Center got what they paid for: great basketball all day long.
The 18th EA Sports Maui Invitational had it all, from No. 1 Duke surviving by a point against Seton Hall to perennial Cinderella Chaminade making a game of it against South Carolina. From Ball State putting on the glass slipper with an upset of No. 4 Kansas to No. 3 UCLA wearing down Houston.
There was little doubt that this continues to be the premier preseason men's basketball tournament.
And it was only the opening day.
Ball State's 93-91 upset of Kansas put the Cardinals (1-0) into today's 4:30 p.m. semifinal game against another ranked team: UCLA. The Bruins (1-0) advanced with a 71-60 victory over Houston.
Defending national champion Duke earned the 2 p.m. semifinal against South Carolina, thanks to an 80-79 nail-biter against Seton Hall. The Blue Devils (1-0) take on the Gamecocks (1-0), who defeated host Chaminade, 74-61.
In today's consolation bracket games, the Silverswords (0-1) met The Hall (1-1) at 9 a.m. while Kansas (0-1) faced Houston (0-1) at 11 a.m.
The tournament finishes tomorrow. Play begins with the 10:30 a.m. seventh-place game and continues through the championship contest, scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
No. 1 Duke 80, Seton Hall 79: When it came to making big plays, the Blue Devils went to their big playmaker. Junior guard Jason Williams hit the game-winning free throw with 7.1 seconds on the clock, then intercepted the Pirates' final pass.
"I think we were thrown by the way Seton Hall played," said Williams, finishing with a game-high 27 points, including 18 on 6 3-pointers. "It was hard for us to get a rhythm."
"Seton Hall played a great game, and we had to play great at the end to beat them," said Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose team ran its winning streak to 11 dating back to last season. "Manga (Pirate forward Charles Manga) had a career night. It was a hell of a win for us."
Manga finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out. He was the third Hall player to foul out in the final five minutes.
Starters Manga and Marcus Toney-El, and reserve Mauricio Branwell were on the bench with 3:30 remaining and their team down 76-74. Still, the Pirates stayed strong, scoring five unanswered points for a 79-76 lead with 2:20 to go.
Seton Hall would not score again. Daniel Ewing hit his only basket of the game to pull Duke to within 79-78 and a free throw by Mike Dunleavy tied it with 65 seconds left. After both teams missed shots, a judgment call by one of the officials decided the outcome.
The Hall's Greg Morton stood his ground, anticipating a charge call when Williams went in for a layup. A foul was called instead on Morton and Williams went to the line for two shots, missing the first.
"The only thing I was thinking was I wanted the second one to go in," said Williams.
"It was a judgment call that went one way instead of the other," said Pirates coach Louis Orr, an assistant on the Syracuse team that won this event in 1999. "It was a great effort from our guys and I couldn't ask for anything more. All you can ask for is a chance to win it at the end. We had a chance."
The win keeps Duke's MIT record perfect at 7-0. The Blue Devils won the championship in 1992 and 1997.
The only other Duke player in double figures was Dunleavy with 22, in addition to 10 rebounds, all defensive grabs. The Blue Devils, who set an NCAA record for most 3-pointers in a season last year (407), were just 1 of 13 in the first half against the Pirates.
For Seton Hall, Andre Barrett and Desmond Herod each had 12, while Ty Shine and John Allen finished with 10 apiece.
"Nobody expected us to be this close," said Barrett, the shortest player in the tournament at 5 feet 8 inches. "One point against No. 1 ... we were right there."
No. 3 UCLA 71, Houston 60: The Bruins avoided another Maui auwe, getting 16 points from Jason Kapono and 13 each from Matt Barnes and Cedric Bozeman in the nightcap.
In the 1995 MIT, the then-defending NCAA champs lost their opener against Santa Clara and finished sixth after losing to Vanderbilt. It didn't happen last night as UCLA gradually pulled away from Houston.
"We knew the key was going to be how we handled their pressure," said Cougar coach Ray McCallum. "Their pressure is what turned the game around in the first few minutes of the second half."
It was a 3-point game at the half, with the Bruins up 30-27. UCLA turned up the heat, forcing several turnovers in the opening minutes while converting on several fast breaks off the steals.
Kapono's 3-pointer put UCLA up 49-36. Houston got it down to 49-40, but Barnes scored two quick baskets for a 53-40 lead; the Bruins enjoyed a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
"Our press was pretty impressive," said Barnes. "It set the tone for the second half. We're deep, kept rotating players in against their guards. They were tired."
"We got the jitters out by halftime and played better," said UCLA coach Steve Lavin.
UCLA hit 8 3-pointers for the game, 4 by Kapono.
Louis Truscott, a junior transfer from Nebraska, led Houston with 14 points. Patrick Okafor added 13 and Marcus Oliver 11.
"This is a business trip for us," said Barnes. "We knew Kansas had been upset and we didn't want to let up and have that happen to us. Maui is a beautiful place, but we came here to win."
The Bruins may be without senior center Dan Gadzuric, who sprained his left ankle on a driving layup three minutes into the second half. Gadzuric returned with 11 minutes remaining, his ankle heavily taped. Lavin said he doubts his center will play today against Ball State.
Ball State 93, No. 4 Kansas 91: The Jayhawks had not lost a season opener since 1990, not lost in November in 10 years and were 3-0 in their previous MIT appearances. Those runs ended on a driving layup by Cardinals guard Patrick Jackson with 0.8 seconds to go.
"I just wanted to make a play happen," said Jackson. "I lost track of time and Coach (Tim Buckley) was screaming to drive it. I saw a clear lane and went."
The lane opened up when the 5-10 Jackson's crossover caught Jayhawk guard Aaron Miles going the wrong way. Miles slipped, partially due to a cramp, and Jackson scored his 22nd and 23rd points on his ninth basket of the game.
Ball State led by as many as 11 midway through the first half. Kansas never led until there was 12:15 left in the game, when Keith Langford's basket put the Jayhawks ahead 70-68.
Kansas would lead by as many as six as Ball State tried to regroup without their junior leader Theron Smith, who had fouled out with 4:29 to go.
But the Cardinals didn't give up, hitting two of their 13 3-pointers in the last two minutes.
The last was the fifth by guard Chris Williams, whose trey tied it at 91-91 with 45.4 seconds remaining. Kansas had a clear shot to win it, but Miles went up for a baseline shot, had the ball slip out of his hands; when he caught it, he was called for a double dribble.
Ball State had 15.8 seconds to win it and make Buckley's pregame dream come true.
"I told the team that I had a dream that we beat Kansas with 'T' (Smith) on the bench," said the second-year coach. "I'm humbled by this win because of the respect I have for the Kansas program and players.
"All you can tell your kids when you play someone like a Kansas is 'Play the game, not the jersey.' "
Williams finished with 24 points and Jackson 23 for the Cardinals. Smith had 19 before fouling out and Robert Owens added 11.
For Kansas, All-American forward Drew Gooden had game-highs of 31 points and 10 rebounds. He passed the 800-point career mark with his fourth basket and has 823 points in addition to 492 career rebounds.
Nick Collison had 15 points before leaving with cramps and needing an IV to fix the dehydration.
"Ball State made plays at the end that we didn't," said Kansas coach Roy Williams, 0-2 in his last two games in Hawaii. "You have to give them credit. And their youngster (Jackson) made a heck of a move to score that basket."
South Carolina 74, Chaminade 61: The Gamecocks survived a late scare, hitting 9 of 10 free throws in the final 59 seconds, to hand the Silverswords their 25th consecutive defeat in this event dating back to 1993.
"South Carolina was obviously more athletic, bigger, stronger," said Chaminade coach Aaron Griess. "We were ready to play, but we were nervous. You can't compete in any game with 16 turnovers in the first half.
"We hung in there, hit big shots, but free throws were a big issue in the preseason. They were an issue today."
The 'Swords fell behind by as many as 23 (57-34 with 11:35 left but clawed back behind the play of Leon Ballard and Mike Donegan. The pair combined for 16 of the team's next 25 points to pull Chaminade to within 65-59 with 1:09 left.
The Silverswords did not score again until the game was out of reach with nine seconds to go on a layup by Jaborri Thomas.
Free-throw shooting was the downfall of Chaminade, which missed 7 of 9 attempts in the final 6:16, including the front end of three consecutive 1-and-1 situations.
Ballard was the only Silversword in double figures with 20. South Carolina had four players in double figures, led by Jamel Bradley's 17 points. Bradley sank all six of his free throws in the last 46.2 seconds to ice the win.
Aaron Lucas, who left the game with a leg cramp, added 14 points, Chuck Eidson had 12 before fouling out and Tony Kitchings had 11.