Hoyas Tip Weber State On Last-Second Basket

Southeast

Georgetown’s bench mobbed Don Reid, leaving John Thompson alone to celebrate in his own way.

The normally stoic coach broke into an impromptu victory dance, pumping his arms and kicking his leg. He hugged almost anybody who walked by and even joked with one of his players about being able to steal his girlfriend because he’s a better dancer.

“I’m at the point in my career where I want to enjoy the moment,” Thompson beamed after Reid grabbed Allen Iverson’s desperation airball and laid it in as time expired Sunday to give the Hoyas a 53-51 victory over Weber State in the NCAA Southeast Regional.

“We are shouting and acting foolish,” the coach added. “We are going to have a good time and enjoy this for at least a half hour.”

The winning play was reminiscent of North Carolina State’s dramatic victory over Houston in the 1983 national championship game when Lorenzo Charles took Dereck Whittenburg’s errant shot just short of the rim and scored.

Reid came off the bench with just over 2 minutes to go and also had two key defensive plays down the stretch as Georgetown, the No. 6 seed in the Southeast, advanced to next week’s regional semifinals in Birmingham, Ala.

Weber State, the No. 14 seed, was bidding for its second major upset of the tournament and nearly got it. Reid blocked Ruben Nembhard’s jumper out of bounds with 9 seconds to go, but the Weber State guard was fouled by Georgetown’s Boubacar Aw after taking an inbounds pass.

Nembhard, the Big Sky player of the year, went to the foul line with 7.4 seconds remaining but missed the front end of the one-and-one that could have won the game.

Georgetown 53, Weber St. 51

WEBER STATE (21-9)

K.Smith 3-7 0-0 6, DeGraffenreid 2-7 1-2 7, Lentfer 1-1 0-0 2, Nembhard 6-18 7-11 19, Lofton 5-14 2-2 14, Emery 0-1 0-0 0, Tebbs 1-1 0-1 3, A.Smith 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 18-51 10-16 51.

GEORGETOWN (21-9)

Williams 2-6 6-6 10, Reid 4-4 0-0 8, Harrington 5-9 3-3 13, Jacques 1-4 2-2 4, Iverson 6-21 4-9 16, Myles 0-0 0-0 0, Church 1-4 0-0 2, Aw 0-1 0-0 0, Nichols 0-1 0-0 0, Millen 0-0 0-0 0, White 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-50 15-20 53.

Halftime-Weber St. 27, Georgetown 25. 3-Point goals-Weber St. 5-15 (DeGraffenreid 2-5, Lofton 2-5, Tebbs 1-1, Emery 0-1, A.Smith 0-1, Nembhard 0-2), Georgetown 0-5 (Jacques 0-1, Church 0-1, Iverson 0-3). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Weber St. 33 (K.Smith 9), Georgetown 37 (Williams 9). Assists-Weber St. 9 (DeGraffenreid, Lofton 2), Georgetown 6 (Aw 2). Total fouls-Weber St. 19, Georgetown 18. A-NA.

North Carolina 73, Iowa State 51

The Tar Heels, down 14 points and staring at another second-round elimination, surged back with three big runs led by Donald Williams and Dante Calabria to beat the Cyclones.

North Carolina will make its 14th trip in 15 years to the regional semifinals.

Calabria, fighting out of a shooting slump, finished off a pivotal 14-0 run in the first half with a 3-pointer that tied it at 23. Williams, playing like he did when he was the 1993 NCAA tournament’s most valuable player, then scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half to key runs of 11-0 and 21-4.

IOWA STATE (23-11)

Hamilton 1-2 0-0 2, Beechum 4-12 0-0 11, Meyer 6-12 3-4 15, Holloway 1-1 0-0 2, Hoiberg 5-15 0-0 12, Modderman 0-0 0-0 0, Hayes 0-3 0-0 0, Kimbrough 0-0 0-0 0, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Michalik 4-9 1-2 9. Totals 21-54 4-6 51.

NORTH CAROLINA (26-5)

Stackhouse 4-8 4-4 15, Calabria 5-9 0-0 13, Wallace 3-7 1-2 7, D.Williams 6-12 1-2 15, McInnis 4-10 0-1 8, Sullivan 4-4 0-0 8, Neal 1-1 0-0 2, Landry 2-3 0-0 5, McNairy 0-0 0-0 0, Lynn 0-0 0-0 0, Zwikker 0-1 0-0 0, Barnes 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-56 6-9 73.

Halftime-North Carolina 27, Iowa St. 25. 3-Point goals-Iowa St. 5-23 (Beechum 3-10, Hoiberg 2-10, Hayes 0-1, Michalik 0-2), North Carolina 9-19 (Stackhouse 3-5, Calabria 3-5, D.Williams 2-3, Landry 1-1, Barnes 0-1, McInnis 0-4). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Iowa St. 25 (Hamilton 9), North Carolina 35 (McInnis 8). Assists-Iowa St. 12 (Holloway 5), North Carolina 9 (Stackhouse, Calabria, D.Williams 2). Total fouls-Iowa St. 13, North Carolina 11. A-8,740.