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NCAA Tournament Recap (Miami Ohio-Washington)
Posted: Fri March 12, 1999 at 6:21 p.m. EST NEW ORLEANS (Ticker) -- On the day he turned in an unbelievable offensive performance, Wally Szczerbiak's biggest play came on defense. Szczerbiak blocked Greg Clark's desperation jumper in the final moments to lift 10th-seeded Miami of Ohio to a thrilling 59-58 victory over Washington in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in the Midwest Region. Szczerbiak exploded for a career-high 43 points -- the third highest total in the NCAA Tournament during the 1990s -- but was unable to hit a jumper in the lane with 29 seconds left and the Huskies (17-12) had a chance to win it. Washington coach Bob Bender called timeout and put the ball into the hands of Donald Watts, who already had tied a career-high with 28 points. With the clock winding down, Watts dribbled towards the right side, only to be stripped by Anthony Taylor. The ball went to Clark on the right wing, but Szczerbiak rejected Washington's 6-6 forward and the RedHawks (23-7) celebrated just their second NCAA Tournament victory since 1978. Miami, seeded 12th, beat Arizona in the first round in 1995. "I was just getting ready to help on Don Watts," Szczerbiak said. "He came off and Anthony Taylor did a great job switching and forced him to give the ball up to my man. I knew time was running down and I closed out. I didn't want to foul. I stuck my hand up, got a piece of it and got the ball and celebrated." Szczerbiak's total was one point shy of Glenn Robinson's 44-point performance for Purdue in 1994. Bo Kimble scored 45 for Loyola Marymount against New Mexico State in the first round of the 1990 NCAA Tournament. "This was a hard-fought game," Szczerbiak added. "I thought our coaching staff did an unbelieavable job preparing us for this team. Without the help of the total team, there's no way we could have won the game, even though the scoring was a bit one-sided. I think everyone handled themselves with a lot of class. I'm just real happy to move on." "He (Szczerbiak) was fired up, didn't say much and the other guys got him open," said Miami coach Charlie Coles. For Washington, it was the second straight season it has been knocked out of the "Big Dance" in heartbreaking fashion. The Huskies fell to Connecticut, 75-74, in the regional semifinals last year on Richard Hamilton's fallaway shot at the buzzer. "Congratulations to the entire Miami team," said Bender. "It's a great accomplishment for them, a wonderful feeling. You earn emotions like that. We knew it would be a challenge. I'm very proud of our team." Miami will play second-seeded Utah in the second round Sunday. All three 10th seeds have won their first-round games thus far. Bender tried several players on Szczerbiak and even departed the man-to-man defense for a zone during a couple of possessions in the second half, all to no avail. Seemingly exhausted from playing the entire game, Szczerbiak was able to drill a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 4:18 left to give Miami a 57-52 lead. "There's a lot of guys we've faced this year with that kind of offensive ability," Watts said of Szczerbiak. "We didn't keeep him from his comfort zone and that let him get a lot of open shots. When you let a player of that caliber get into his comfort zone, he'll burn you." But the RedHawks' scored just two points the rest of the way -- Szczerbiak's driving layup with 1:10 to play. In between the two baskets, Watts hit two free throws and Deon Luton and Todd MacCulloch one apiece for the Huskies. Two more from the line by Watts with 59 seconds left brought the Huskies within 59-58 and set the stage for the final frantic moments. Szczerbiak connected on 18-of-33 field goals, including 5-of-12 from beyond the arc, and made 2-of-3 free throw attempts. He also grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out two assists while commiting just one turnover. "It was may career high. I didn't realize I shot 33 times," added Szczerbiak. "That's quite a bit. I think that just about every shot was a good shot. That's a credit to all the guys getting me open." Damon Frierson contributed 12 points and four assists for the RedHawks, who had just five turnovers, shot 45.5 percent (25-of-55) and held a 28-27 advantage on the boards. MacCulloch had 11 points and nine rebounds -- both below his season averages of 19 and 12 -- and Luton added 11 points for the Huskies, who connected on 49 percent (19-of-39) of their field goals and were 7-of-14 from beyond the arc. "They were really packing it inside and keeping me out of my comfort zone," said MacCulloch. "They did an excellent job of scouting our weaknessess and executed well." Miami led 29-26 at halftime and Szczerbiak scored nine points in the opening 8:54 of the second half. Despite the dominating performance of Miami's 6-8 All-American, the Huskies led 47-42 after Watts connected on two free throws with 10:56 left. But a follow shot by Szczerbiak ignited a 9-0 run and the RedHawks took a 51-47 lead on Frierson's jumper from the right wing with 8:15 remaining. Szczerbiak's 3-pointer from the right corner earlier in the spurt had given Miami the lead for good. "This was a very exciting game despite the score," Coles added. Coach Bender and his team played very hard."© 2000 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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