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The highs and lows of a celebration
Posted: Sunday March 26, 2000 10:17 AM
By Seth Davis, Sports Illustrated AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- It should be getting old by now, but it's not. Michigan State fell behind once again Saturday night, the third straight game they've trailed in the second half in this tournament. They get closer to the precipice of elimination in each game. Iowa State led by seven points with 5:49 to play. Mateen Cleaves was on the bench with four fouls. Once again, the Spartans' remarkable resilience saved them, and they lived to see another day. It's fun watching kids celebrate this kind of moment together. All the players were standing at halfcourt wearing white T-shirts and hats. Cleaves broke into a soft-shoe dance and everyone clapped along. Charlie Bell went next and his teammates were chanting, "Go Charlie, Go Charlie." Morris Peterson, A.J. Granger, Steve Cherry, Al Anagonye, Andre Hutson -- they all took their turns doing the light fantastic. The players next charged into the stands to share their joy with their families. You can't miss the section where the Spartans' families sit, not even if you tried. On Thursday night Cleaves' mother, Frances, told me about the time she saw Mateen play a basketball game when he was about seven and afterwards told him, "You played great, baby." Mateen chastised her for calling him baby in front of his friends. Now Frances was at it again. "Let my baby through! Where's my baby?!?" she shouted. When her baby finally reached her, she hugged him and howled, "I love you! Thank you so much!" Mateen didn't seem to mind. Antonio Smith, who last year was the senior center and bedrock of the Flintstones, came out of the crowd and joined his former teammates on the court. After the Spartans defeated Kentucky 12 months ago in the Midwest Regional final, coach Tom Izzo invited Smith to climb the ladder with him as he cut down the last piece of the net. This time, Izzo had Cleaves, Granger, Peterson and Smith on the ladder with him, though Cleaves and Granger were mostly hanging on to the rim for dear life. Cleaves, ever the ham, hung on the rim after the ladder was gone and gave his trademark "Whaaasssuuuppp!" The team started making its way off the court and towards the locker room. Izzo was standing in front of the crowd. "I see my mother here," he said. Just then, he hugged his mom, and I can see the puddles forming in his eyes. A little while later I'm standing outside the victors' locker room, waiting to trail Izzo and the players to the interview area. They emerge, but Peterson has a sad look on his face. Izzo sees me and says quietly, "Peterson's grandmother died this morning." Later he tells me that Peterson's mother called the coach at 7:30 in the morning to give him the news, but she wanted to wait until after the game to tell Peterson. Izzo pulled him aside as soon as the team got into the locker room; Peterson broke down. "I told the team, you're just witnessing what life is," Izzo said. "The greatest triumph in a guy's life and now the greatest tragedy for him. But what a great time to do it, when you're with all your family. I said, this is what family is about. So it was good, if it could be good." I knew Peterson was close to his grandmother, and though he tried to keep his emotions in check when he talked about her, I could see he was hurting. "She was the grandmother who protected me," he said. "Whenever I wanted something, I knew I could ask her because she'd go out of her way to get it. Every summer I used to go down to her house, spend the whole summer with her. One thing I regret is that as soon as the season was over I was going to go see her, and I didn't get a chance to see her before she died. I know she's here with me right now in this locker room, looking at me smiling. That's the kind of lady she was. She wouldn't want me to be sad or anything like that. I love her a lot and hopefully I can win this national championship for her." Good, if it could be good. Cleaves, whose personality can fill any space, held court in the locker room for a while after the reporters cleared out. "Andre, can I get you something?" he said to Hutson. "Anything you need, you just let me know." Then he spotted Spartans assistant Brian Gregory, who is a dead ringer for Michael J. Fox. "BG, you were the key tonight!" he shouted. Gregory, I'm told, is renowned for staying up late watching videotape and falling asleep as soon as he steps on the team bus. "If y'all weren't talking to him," Cleaves says, "he'd be sleeping like this." He leans back against the wall and closes his eyes, then laughs harder than anyone else at his own rapier wit. It was a great night of basketball, and we'll be lucky if we get a game of this quality next Monday night. I'm sorry to see Iowa State go, but this is my second week on the Michigan State beat, and I can tell you this is an easy group of people to like. As I stood in the hallway watching the last of the green-and-white brigade trickle by, I saw Peterson and thought about the day he had. He shook my hand and said, "I'll see you in Indy." Amen to that, Pete.
Seth Davis is a Sports Illustrated writer-reporter. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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