Long shot
Odom's 22-footer lifts Rams to A-10 crown, NCAA bid
Posted: Saturday March 06, 1999 10:14 PM
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Lamar Odom raises his arms after scoring a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the URI the win over Temple. AP |
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Lamar Odom's face bore no expression at all when the shot went in. It was tense, but with no hint of smile, sadness or euphoria. Nothing.
Afterward, all the anguish he endured to get here -- a mere plane ride from the NCAA tournament -- came pouring out.
Odom's year-long struggle to play at Rhode Island paid off Saturday night with a thrilling, game-winning shot that gave the Rams a 62-59 victory over Temple in the Atlantic 10 championship game.
After proving all the hype was deserved with a game-winning shot in his college debut, Odom showed that the best may be yet to come.
"I can't even explain how I feel," said Odom, who broke down in tears during a postgame press conference. "I didn't know it was in until it was in. I just let it go."
Coming out of a timeout with 6.1 seconds left and the game tied 59-59, Odom got the ball near halfcourt and drove down the left sideline on Keaton Sanders. He jump-stopped about 22 feet from the basket and released the ball with about a second to spare. The ball swished through as the horn sounded, and Odom circled the court and was tackled by teammates and fans.
Despite a shaky record, including late-season losses to St. Bonaventure and Fordham, the Rams (20-12) are going to the tournament for the second straight year. And they may have forced the selection committee to consider four teams from the A-10 -- the others being Temple and the semifinal losers, Xavier and George Washington.
That's the way Owls coach John Chaney sees it, anyway.
"Who are they going to discard?" Chaney said. "They're sure not going to discard me, unless you want to send me to jail for killing somebody."
Rhode Island won its first A-10 championship after losing in the final to St. Joseph's in 1997 and Temple in 1988.
'Whether we [won] or not, I thought we deserved to be one of the top 64 teams in the country," said Rhode Island coach Jim Harrick, whose team fell one game shy of the Final Four last year. "We weren't in, and now we're in."
Odom, whose season began with a game-winning shot against Texas Christian, had 21 points and 10 rebounds. He picked up the slack for injured teammate Luther Clay, who had nine points despite a heavily bandaged leg.
Lamont Barnes led Temple (21-10) with 19 points, and Mark Karcher had 16 points but was 5-for-18 from the field. Owls point guard Pepe Sanchez, who missed a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left, was 3-for-16 as Temple shot 35 percent.
The Owls, who beat Rhode Island twice in the regular season, sat dejectedly on the bench for several minutes as the Rams celebrated. Temple hasn't won the A-10 tournament since 1990, but the Owls' strong schedule is expected to earn them a 15th NCAA berth in coach John Chaney's 17 seasons.
Chaney began his postgame press conference with a poem: "The world is against me, he said with a sigh. Somebody stops every scheme that I try. The world has me down, it's keeping me there. Oh, what a bad world. How unfair."
Long a champion of young athletes from dire backgrounds, Chaney pretty much summed up the essence of Odom.
After first signing with UNLV, Odom decided to transfer to Rhode Island after being accused with others of cheating on tests. He finally won his fight to prove he qualified legitimately, but missed a year out of basketball.
"I just know that everything that I was going through was the past," Odom said. "I just knew my day would come."
Odom nearly blew the Rams' chances after getting the rebound on Sanchez's missed 3-pointer. He got the ball with 11 seconds left and dribbled tentatively up the court as coach Jim Harrick screamed for a timeout. They finally got one, but Odom wasted five seconds.
With all that talent, it didn't matter.
"When I saw it was in, I just grabbed the ball so they couldn't inbound it," Antonio Reynolds-Dean said. "Then Lamar took off running, and I chased after him."
Trailing 31-25 at halftime, Rhode Island started making its move about 3 1/2 minutes into the second half. Clay, playing with a strained and heavily bandaged right calf, had a dunk and got fouled after a steal, hitting one free throw to cut Temple's lead to 40-37. It came moments after Antonio Reynolds-Dean got his first point on a free throw with 14:49 left.
Ron Rollerson scored inside to give the Owls a 45-39 lead with 12:33 left, but Rhode Island reeled off an 11-4 run. Clay scored inside off a wrap-around pass from Preston Murphy to give the Rams a 50-49 lead with 7:57 remaining.
Odom picked up his third foul with 7:34 left, then hit two free throws before Murphy made a 3-pointer for a 53-51 Rhode Island lead.
Then Dean blocked a 3-point shot by Karcher, and Sanchez fouled Murphy on a breakaway -- with no intentional foul called despite Harrick's hysterical pleading. Murphy missed the front end of a 1-and-1, and Karcher hit a 3-pointer to give the Owls a 54-53 lead with 3:48 left.
Karcher hit another 3 to give the Owls a 59-57 lead with 1:25 to play, and Reynolds-Dean tied it with a putback with 48 seconds left.
A fan won a 1999 truck when he hit a half-court shot during a break in the second half.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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