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Bubble busters Cinderella Billikens top DePaul, lock up C-USA bid
Posted: Saturday March 11, 2000 04:18 PM
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Maybe there's just something different about the Conference USA tournament. John Redden scored 19 points, and Saint Louis beat DePaul 56-49 Saturday for the USA tournament title, becoming only the fifth NCAA team ever to win four games in four days -- and third to do so in this tourney. "We're obviously thrilled that we were able to come out and gain an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament," first-year coach Lorenzo Romar said with most of a net hanging around his neck. Marquette won the C-USA title with four victories in four days in 1997, and UNC Charlotte did it last season. Auburn won the Southeastern Conference tournament in 1985 with four victories, while UNLV won the Western Athletic Conference tournament the hard way in 1997. When Justin Love predicted the ninth-seeded Billikens (19-13) would win the tournament, he was dismissed. But Saint Louis beat Southern Mississippi, upset top-ranked Cincinnati and knocked off Tulane to reach its first tournament title game. Saint Louis didn't waste much time winning the title and the automatic bid for its sixth trip to the NCAA tourney -- and second in three seasons - even with leading scorer Love getting just eight points. The Billikens scored the first 10 points and never trailed against third-seeded DePaul (21-11), which looked like the team playing its fourth game instead of Saint Louis. "We were on a mission this whole trip," Love said. "We're playing our best basketball right now." DePaul was out of synch and sluggish in its worst scoring performance this season, even worse than the season-low 54 points in a December loss at UCLA. The Blue Demons made just five baskets in the first half, and leading scorer Quentin Richardson missed his first 11 shots before finally scoring underneath with 8:53 left. "We basically didn't make shots," said Lance Williams, who had 14 points and nine rebounds. They got within four several times in the second half, the last on an 18-foot jumper by Bobby Simmons making it 49-45 with 48.2 seconds left. But Saint Louis held them off by hitting 11-of-14, including nine from Redden, from the free throw line in the final 4:25. "Our goal was to keep Justin under wraps, and he had eight points," DePaul coach Pat Kennedy said. "But John did a great job. He hit a lot of shots. He did a great job of disrupting our offense, and they played outstanding defense in the first 10 minutes." Chris Heinrich added 11 points for Saint Louis. The Blue Demons dug their hole early with 12 of their 16 turnovers in the first half, and they did it almost every way possible. Williams stepped out of bounds, and they had a shot-clock violation. Saint Louis had just seven turnovers. They didn't get on the score board until the 12:50 mark on a hook shot by Williams, making it 10-2. DePaul, also looking for its first conference title, finally got going with a 9-0 spurt late in the half to get within 16-14 on a three-point play by Simmons with five minutes left. But Justin Tatum scored four of Saint Louis' final 10 points for a 26-19 lead at halftime. Simmons led DePaul with 17 points, and Williams finished with 14. Richardson had just six points on 2-of-13 shooting, including 0-of-6 from 3-point range. Now the Blue Demons have to hope they have done enough to earn an at-large bid. Cincinnati and Louisville should be in, and Kennedy said he thinks C-USA deserves four spots. "Let's first say our prayers in the morning that we get in the
tournament, and keep our fingers crossed whatever seed we might
have," Kennedy said.
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