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Cats comeback falls short in overtime |
By Roman Veytsman
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday, November 24, 2005
The No. 9 Arizona basketball team
clawed its way back from a 17-point
second-half deficit yesterday, only
to lose 74-71 in overtime in the
third-place game against No. 12
Michigan State at the EA Sports Maui
Invitational in Lahaina, Hawaii.
Freshman forward Marcus Williams
missed two free throws with 8.5
seconds left and the Wildcats down
70-68.
Michigan State forward Paul Davis
was subsequently fouled after rebounding Williams’ second miss and
knocked down two free throws to make it a two-possession game.
“Marcus played a great game, even
with those two free throws,” said Arizona assistant coach Josh
Pastner. “That wasn’t the big deal, because other guys missed free
throws as well.”
Senior guard Chris Rodgers made a
3-pointer with one second left, but quickly called a timeout, one
Arizona did not have.
Maurice Ager, who led Michigan
State (2-2) with 20 points, made the technical free throws, and the
Spartans threw the ball in-bounds to drain the remaining time from
the clock.
Senior guard Hassan Adams led
Arizona (1-2) with 21 points and nine rebounds, along with his four
assists and six steals.
Rodgers added 20 for the Wildcats
on 6-of-16 shooting from the field, including 4-of-10 from 3-point
range.
With the score tied at 68,
Michigan State guard Shannon Brown, who had 19 points, pump-faked,
took a dribble to his left and hit the go-ahead jump shot.
Arizona had a chance to win the
game in regulation, but Adams’ fall-away jumper from the left box
about 12 feet from the basket clanged off the rim.
“We wanted to get the ball to
Hassan. He was the hot man, and we wanted to get the ball in his
hands,” Pastner said. “It didn’t go in for him.”
Arizona trailed 37-23 at halftime
and once again shot poorly, hitting only 39.4 percent of its shots.
At the free throw line, the Wildcats were just as bad, converting
13-of-22 attempts (59 percent), including 2-of-5 in overtime.
“We got to get better shots,”
Pastner said. “It can’t be one pass, shot. We need to move the ball,
we need to penetrate more through the lane. We can’t settle for jump
shots.”
Michigan State scored the last
seven points of the first half, capped off by a Goran Suton layup,
as Arizona didn’t score for nearly four minutes around halftime and
into the second half.
Davis went 6-of-6 from the
free-throw line in overtime and 10-of-10 overall, finishing with 18
points.
Michigan State had its biggest
lead at 43-26 with 14:50 left to play in the second half. Arizona
then went on an 8-2 run, as sophomore forward Bret Brielmaier layed
in a bucket and Chris Rodgers made two 3-pointers. Rodgers had 17 of
his 20 points after halftime.
“It was a great comeback, with a
lot of heart and fight by our guys,” Pastner said. “That’s something
that we need to learn, to play with that type of urgency from the
beginning.”
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