9001110969 DETROIT FREE PRESS 900324 Saturday, March 24, 1990 METRO FINAL CHASER

NWS

1A Photo CRAIG PORTER : Georgia Tech's Kenny Anderson shoots the game-tying basket that sent Friday night's NCAA regional semifinal game against Michigan State into overtime. Georgia Tech went on to win, 81-80. Page 1B. MITCH ALBOM SEE ALSO METRO FINAL EDITION, Page 1A. Copyright (c) 1990, Detroit Free Press LATE SHOT OR NOT, A DREAM DIES NEW ORLEANS -- It was after midnight when the glass slipper finally gave way. One second. One miserable second. They were that far from another amazing victory, that far from sleeping on the doorstep of the Final Four. And then a freshman from New York City rose like a madman and let fly a shot and it fell through the nets and the very heart of the Spartan dream. And it never should have counted. "I watched it go and Steve (Smith) and I turned to the ref and said, 'No good! No good!' " said Mark Montgomery of the 19- foot shot by Kenny Anderson with no time left on the regulation clock. "This arena is so big and the noise is so loud, but I was sure I heard the buzzer before he released it." He did. The shot was no good. Replays later showed that Anderson was a shade late, the Spartans should have won. But such is the nature of officiating and buzzer-beaters. The scoreboard flashed "MSU 75, TECH 75." Instead of a victory and a crack at the Final Four, the Spartans, who had just about unlaced their gloves, had to march out for an overtime bout. Their magic, unfortunately, was too weary to follow. So it was that Dwayne Stephens, who had hit two big free throws in the final minute of regulation, threw up an air ball from the baseline. And Smith, who had been brilliant all night, was stripped of the ball as he drove the lane. And finally Ken Redfield, the senior heart of this team, wound up with the ball in the final seconds, his team down by one, and he threw up a long prayer, and it clanged off the rim. The Georgia Tech players ran off their floor, waving fists, cheering their victory. They should have hoisted the timekeeper on their shoulders. "I feel like we won the game in regulation but lost it in overtime," said frustrated MSU coach Jud Heathcote in the press conference after this 81-80 heartbreaker that sent the Spartans home for good. Poor Jud. What is it with him and clocks? Didn't he have this trouble back in 1986, in Kansas City, same round of 16? He did. This time, he ran to the scorer's table and asked if they could replay the shot to see if it left Anderson's hands in time. They told him no. This is not the NFL. It was overtime. And soon it was over. In the hallway of the Superdome, about 200 yards from the Spartans' locker room, Redfield sat alone against a wall. This was his last game in an MSU uniform. "How long do you think you'll replay that last shot?" he was asked. "About every night of my life," he said. Inside the locker room, Kirk Manns, who played the entire tournament with a stress fracture, sat motionless, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I'm not crying because we lost," he said. "I'm crying because it's over." Can it be said any better? How sad. What an argument for instant replay. And what an ugly shadow to cast over an otherwise masterful game. This was a battle of contrasting styles, Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins' bubble-gum-chewing, wild- shooting Yellow Jackets against Heathcote's blue-collar, disciplined, non-glamour Spartans. The game was full of seesaw leads, wonderful shots, pressure defense. It was the Tech outside shooting against the Spartans' shut-'em-up style. But mostly it was Smith against Anderson in a memorable backcourt duel. They were both brilliant. Smith, the string bean from Detroit, would worm inside people, bank in a jumper. Anderson, the high school legend from New York City, would race down court, stop on a shadow, and bingo! Three points. Smith would soar above people for a rebound, swiping those long arms, keeping the ball alive. Anderson would poke at Spartan guards like a stiletto, flicking it loose and streaking away like a thief. They were the engines for their respective machines. Smith finished with 32 points, Anderson 31. Statistically, they were almost dead even. One just got a luckier break. Now, no one wants to sound like a sore loser. But these buzzer things are really killers. If you hear the silence inside the losers' locker room, you would insist something be done. This is no way to end a college season. "I'm going to be p----- off for a whole year," said Mike Peplowski, "but that's OK. I get to come back. How about Kirk and Ken? This is it for them. It's like, you play basketball for 20 years and then in one night, poof, it's over." It doesn't have to be. Regardless of the final score Friday, this was one hell of a season by Michigan State. Better to take the picture of them walking off the Superdome court, their heads hanging down, and put it away somewhere. Take these snapshots with you instead: Matt Steigenga, the kid with the funny name, popping clean from the outside. Manns, who looks like a well-scrubbed Bowery Boy, playing with that bum foot, burying a three-pointer. Smith, who became hero-in-a-hurry, all long arms and legs and elbows, a basketball Gumby with a great shot. Redfield, the senior, playing with the knowledge that any of these games could be his last as a Spartan, sacrificing what every kid wants, offense, to become a defensive force that in truth, enabled MSU to get this far. And Peplowski, the personification of this blue-collar spirit, all thick muscle and crew cut and unbridled enthusiasm. And orchestrating them all, Heathcote, Mr. Red-In-The-Face, doing it the way he's done it for 14 years, hard, fair, clean. If you ever had a doubt about how good a coach this guy is, just consider what he did with this squad. What was it even doing here? All those injuries? All those supposedly better teams in the conference? Better to remember them in the games before this one, happy, victorious. Sure, they're home for good. Sure the season is over. Sure it was a rob job, they should play it over, it was no fair. But that happens in sport. Sometimes for you, and sometimes against you. Even so, no tears here. Only one team wins the whole thing. The others are graded by how hard they tried, how well they performed, and how much fun they brought to their fans and themselves. High marks all around to the men in green. That was some kind of run. Too bad the officials couldn't keep up. GAME; BASKETBALL; MSU; GEORGIA TECH