We put the first college basketball release from Match-Up Basketball through its paces with a return to the Elite Eight of the 1985 NCAA Tournament; in real life, three Big East teams made the Final Four and two of them contested the national championship game. . . would we see the same sort of dominance on the tabletop?
The Redmen came into the game as solid favorites, but the game started out somewhat choppy and slightly in the Wolfpack's favor as they led by a point at the first TV timeout. St. John's came out of the stoppage firing, however, and shot out to a 13-4 run that gave them an eight-point lead midway through the half; balanced scoring (five players with at least four first-half points) kept them in front, and the lead got as big as eleven points with eight minutes to go, and then again at the halftime buzzer as Bill Wennington scored from short range just as the clock expired. North Carolina State struggled to find consistent offense, and were saddled with foul trouble for both of their big men and for point guard Spud Webb, but defense kept them in touch as they narrowed the gap to eight points after the first few minutes. But that was as close as they would get as SJU continued to shoot efficiently from the floor and get to the line repeatedly; Mike Moses scored eight second-half points to cancel out a big push from Lorenzo Charles (6-for-8 from the floor in the half), and the Johnnies led by as many as seventeen points before coasting to the 81-65 victory. Wennington led the winners with 19 points on flawless shooting (6-for-6 FG, 7-for-7 FT), while Chris Mullin and Willie Glass had fifteen apiece (despite Mullin's six turnovers) as St. John's shot 59% from the floor and 89% from the free-throw line. Charles was the only offensive bright spot for NCSU with 24 points on 11-for-18 shooting as no other member of the team reached double figures, Terry Gannon leading the rest of the 'Pack with nine points off the bench. St. John's 81, North Carolina State 65. [box]
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| Bill Wennington led St. John's with 19 points on perfect shooting |
The top-ranked Hoyas expected a tough test from the Wreck (#9 in the final regular-season AP poll), and they got one. The early going was dominated by Georgia Tech, as Bruce Dalrymple outclassed the GU guards and Patrick Ewing was called for two early personals; after ten minutes of play the Yellow Jackets led 20-11. Reggie Williams and Ewing helped to pull Georgetown back into the game, and they narrowed the deficit to just four points at the half behind Ewing's 5-for-6 shooting from the field and eight points and three assists from Michael Jackson. Dalrymple led GT with 13 points at the break and his early scores in the second half (combined with poor GU shooting) allowed Tech to maintain a slim lead through the second stanza, a lead that stood at 60-55 with four minutes left to play. But the presumptive National Title favorite ripped off seven of the next nine points to take their first lead at 64-62 with 2:15 to go, and the defense that had carried them to 33 wins thus far this season held Georgia Tech to just six points over the final eight minutes as they managed to run out the string despite some horrid free-throw shooting (8-19 on the evening). Jackson finished with 18 to lead Georgetown, while Ewing had 16; between the two of them they shot 15-22 (68%) from the floor while the remainder of the team shot 15-49 (31%). Dalrymple led all scorers with 20, along with nine rebounds (six on the offensive glass), but Mark Price could manage only ten points on seven shots as he was suffocated by the Hoya defense. Georgetown survived their poor shooting night thanks largely to 16 offensive boards and the forcing of 17 GT turnovers, leading to 16 extra FG attempts. Georgetown 68, Georgia Tech 62. [box]
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| Michael Jackson scored 18, with four assists against zero turnovers |
The only Elite Eight matchup to feature two thirty-win teams saw the Reunion Arena packed with supporters of both schools, although Oklahoma had the better of the crowd given the 200-mile distance to Norman. The contest started off as exactly the sort of high-octane event the audience expected, with twenty points scored in the first four minutes and neither side able to gain an advantage. Memphis hit nine of its first ten field-goal attempts, yet could only eke out a 20-16 lead after eight minutes before Keith Lee was whistled for his third foul just a minute later. With the Tigers All-American on the bench, Wayman Tisdale began to assert himself for the Sooners, scoring twelve first-half points as Oklahoma caught and then passed Memphis to lead by as many as six before settling for a three-point cushion at the intermission. OU pushed that gap to eight shortly after the restart, and Lee got nabbed for a fourth foul just 5:30 into the second half; this spelled doom for Memphis as the Sooners then pushed the lead out to twelve points in his absence midway through the half. Oklahoma was moving the ball around (three players finished with four assists) and sharing the offensive load, shooting nearly 60% in the second half and, despite a heroic effort from Baskerville Holmes (16 second-half points), Memphis just had no answer without their best player at his best. OU had four players in double figures to advance to its first Final Four in 38 years - Tisdale finished with 21 and Anthony Bowie with 20 - while the Tigers were carried by Holmes (28 points on 12-for-18 FG) and Vincent Askew's eight second-half free throws. Oklahoma 83, Memphis State 74. [box]
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| Wayman Tisdale's 21 points and 9 boards led Oklahoma over Memphis |
The assembled crowd and media weren't quite sure to make of the Wildcats, who had barely finished above .500 in the Big East and had not exactly sprinted to the finish, losing five of their last nine games (and two of their last three by blowout margins). But it was the best conference in the nation, and nail-biting defensive-minded wins over Dayton, #2 seed Michigan and Maryland (all of which Villanova won without scoring 60 points) had gotten them to the final eight and perhaps Rollie Massimino had unlocked something with this slower, more deliberate approach. And it's not like the Tar Heels had been lights-out, either, surviving with fairly unimpressive Tournament wins over Notre Dame and Auburn to reach this point. The Wildcats, in this case, didn't seem as if they were looking to reduce the number of possessions in the game as they jumped out behind a quick-fire six points from Dwayne McClain to grab a 13-6 lead in under four minutes. But North Carolina slowly ground back into contention, scoring seven of the next nine points, and Villanova led by three at 26-23 with eight minutes to go in the half. It was still a quicker pace than many courtside observers had expected, and the Tar Heels didn't seem prepared for this - Dean Smith could only grimace as McClain and Ed Pinckney took over the final minutes of the half, with 'Nova going on a 12-4 run that helped them pull away to a nine-point halftime lead. The Philly boys had scored as many points in the opening twenty minutes as they had in their entire game against the Terrapins, and UNC would have to find a way to slow them down to have a chance. They cut the deficit to five points early in the second as they began to get the ball inside to Brad Daugherty more reliably, but with Harold Pressley saddled with foul trouble, Villanova leaned on a two-man game which was a constant problem for Carolina - Pinckney was killing the Tar Heels on the offensive glass and McClain hit nine of his first twelve shots of the game as the #8 seed pulled out to an eight-point bulge again before North Carolina could peg that back to four with eight minutes left. Now it was time for Massimino and his team to manage the game, and this they did - UNC could get no closer than six the rest of the way as Pinckney had ten second-half boards and McClain ten second-half points. Dwayne finished with 25 on 11-for-16 shooting, while Ed had 20 points, 15 boards and six blocked shots while holding Daugherty to 5-for-15 shooting from the floor (and five turnovers). Gary McLain chipped in 15, while Daugherty and Steve Hale led the Tar Heels with 14 apiece. Villanova 77, North Carolina 70. [box]
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| Dwayne McClain was everywhere for Villanova with 25 points |
The Final Four opened with the matchup that many observers felt paired off the two best teams in the nation - the Redmen had been #1 in the country for five straight weeks before their emphatic loss to the Hoyas at MSG on 27 February had evened up the season series and put Georgetown back into the top spot, and a second double-digit loss in New York to their rivals in the final of the Big East Tournament had set that ranking in stone headed into March Madness. St. John's would have to find a different approach if tonight's game were to have a different outcome, and it appeared as if attention to the defensive end was foremost in Lou Carnesecca's mind in Lexington. The game was tightly-contested from the opening tip, the clubs scoring just a combined 21 points in the first eight minutes, with the Hoyas holding a slim lead the entire way. It was 26-22 Georgetown with four minutes left, when it looked as if things had gone off the rails for the Redmen, as John Thompson's team finished the half on a 7-3 spurt that gave them a sudden eight-point lead at the break. Ewing had been dominant in their first twenty minutes, with 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting, while Chris Mullin was just 3-for-11 from the floor for a highly inefficient nine points, and no one else in the SJU lineup had more than five points to help. St. John's, who averaged 76 points a game during the regular season, had only 25 as they went to the locker room and fifty points seemed unlikely to get it done. Mullin missed his first shot of the second half but then caught on fire, hitting six of his next seven as St. John's erupted with a 17-0 run to begin the half to lead by nine. The defense was also suddenly firing, limiting Ewing's looks (only four second-half FGA) and forcing turnovers as Georgetown's only consistent offense came from offensive rebounding. The lead was still eight points with four minutes to play as Mullin simply took over, hitting six straight shots down the stretch, and the Hoyas could not put them under pressure with either consistent stops or buckets. Walter Berry hit five late free throws to ice the game, upset the favored Hoyas, and square the season series between the two teams with the on that really counted. Mullin finished with 35 points on 15-for-27 shooting (taking half of the SJU shots), seven rebounds and only two turnovers against the vaunted GU defense despite being the focal point of almost every possession. It was nothing short of a Final Four performance for the ages, completely overshadowing Ewing's 24 points, six rebounds and two blocks, and Michael Jackson's ten assists, in a losing cause. St. John's 63, Georgetown 59. [box]
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| Georgetown could neither stop nor contain Chris Mullin, who scored 35 |
The second Semifinal promised to put the irresistible force against the immovable object - Oklahoma's NCAA-leading scoring machine (90 ppg) against a Villanova team that had fashioned a tournament run out of defense and pace control. The first few minutes looked like it was being played at the Sooners' pace, with OU leading 10-6 at the first media timeout, but the Wildcats gradually began to pull the scoring rate down; they still trailed by three points midway through the half, but it was looking less like a track meet. Villanova tied the game at 29 with four minutes to go in the half, but two late scores from Darryl Kennedy led OU on a 7-4 closing spurt that gave them a three-point halftime lead. There were warning signs in the stat sheet for both clubs - 'Nova had ten-first half turnovers and Ed Pinckney only had seven shots, while OU's shooting had cooled off considerably, with Tim McCalister missing his last ten shots of the half. But it was anybody's game, and the second half started quickly like the first, with Kennedy and Anthony Bowie pushing the pace for Oklahoma while Dwight Wilbur provided a surprising scoring punch for the Wildcats in the early going. The Sooners still held the lead 45-43 after four minutes had been played, but Villanova then went on a 7-0 run to grab the lead for the first time. Pinckney and Dwayne McClain started to find the range, while Wayman Tisdale had trouble finding space to operate, and Villanova nursed a three-point lead into the final minutes. Down the stretch, though, Oklahoma just could not keep either Pinckney or McClain out of the paint as they combined for 12 second-half free-throw attempts, and Ed hit three straight FG late in the game to hold the Sooners at arm's length until the final horn. The Wildcats enjoyed a balanced scoring/rebounding attack with Pinckey scoring 20 with 10 boards, McClain 18/11, and Harold Pressley 16/9. Oklahoma got 16 from Tisdale, but he only got off twelve shots and McCalister's brutal shooting night (5-for-21, although he did contribute 10 rebounds and six steals) meant there wasn't quite enough support to pick up the slack. Villanova's Cinderella hopes were still alive, and it would be an all-Big East Final for the National Championship. Villanova 79, Oklahoma 72. [box]
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| Oklahoma had no answer inside for Ed Pinckney's 20 points and 10 rebounds |
St. John's and Villanova had met on three previous occasions this season and, while the Redmen had won all three of those, the first two had been close games to the wire and there was some reason for optimism in Philadelphia. The Wildcats were playing stiff defense and McClain and Pinckney had been the best inside/outside duo in the tournament; the question of the evening for Villanova would be "what do we do about Chris Mullin?" Things started slowly and raggedly, and St. John's led 12-11 after eight minutes with neither side able to get the ball rolling. But when the Johnnies came out of the media timeout, a familiar story unfolded: no one could figure out how to stop Mullin. The baby-faced New York City kid turned senior All-American assassin hit five straight shots to help propel SJU to a 22-8 explosion that gave them a 15-point lead which they would push to eighteen at the half. Nothing was going as planned for Villanova - Pinckney and McClain had a combined two field goals in the half, St. John's was controlling the boards 19-11 and Villanova had 9 turnovers. Meanwhile, Mullin had already put up 17 points himself and there didn't really seem to be any way back for the Wildcats without a collapse of fairly epic proportions, a collapse which never came. Mullin and Bill Wennington combined for 27 points in the second half and, although the 'Nova offense did finally get in gear with 42 points that wasn't even enough to erase half of the gap between the two teams. St. John's cruised home with a ten-point win and the first National Championship in their 78-year basketball history, behind Mullin's 31 points and a defensive effort that held Villanova to less than 0.9 points per possession. St. John's 73, Villanova 63. [box]
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| Lou Carnesecca and St. John's celebrate the school's first national title |
Who else could it possible be? Chris Mullin of St. John's scored 80 points in the three games, shooting 54% (34-for-61) from the floor and 81% from the line (13-for-16), and chipped in 17 rebounds. He was in the middle of every game-deciding run made by the Johnnies and in the Final Four, when the level of competition was holding his teammates down, the inability to find a way to slow him down was the undoing of both of the SJU's opponents.
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