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at Duquesne (3/2) | 1985-86 season |
Minutemen drop heartbreaker
Smith jumper falls short with 0:01 as Rutgers advances in tourney
By Peter Abraham, The Massachusetts Daily Collegian Staff, March 8, 1985
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Carl Smith’s 20-foot jumper, with one second left banged off the front of the rim and a gutsy University of Massachusetts dropped its Atlantic 10 quarterfinal game, 69-67, to Rutgers University last night.
The Minutemen, who finished at 13-15 for the season, had a chance to win with 38 seconds left, as coach Ron Gerlufsen called a play for freshman Lorenzo Sutton to take a three-point shot. Smith killed 25 seconds off the clock before Rutgers’ Steve Perry stepped in front of a pass intended for Horace Neysmith.
Perry drove to the hoop, missing a shot with seven seconds left that Sutton rebounded and got to Smith with five seconds remaining. The sophomore point guard drove to the top of the key before missing the shot.
“I have never been as proud of a team as I have of this one,” Gerlufson said. “This is one of the most disappointing losses I have ever been involved with. I think we deserved to win. We played as well in the second half as we have all season. The character of this team showed.”
For UMass, Smith had a career-high 19 points. Neysmith had 19 and nine rebounds. Sutton added 10 with Donald Russell contributing eight. Rutgers was led by John Battle’s 17 points and Eric Riggins’ 15.
The Scarlet Knights, 15-13, advanced to the semifinals where they will face the West Virginia / Duquesne winner. Temple, a 67-56 winner over St. Bonaventure, will face St. Joseph’s, a 52-49 victor over George Washington.
UMass took as much as a six point lead, 48-42, with an 11-0 run three minutes into the second half. Smith had seven of those points, all on long-range jumpers.
Rutgers came back to tie the game at 50, on a Lloyd Moore layup with 12:22 to go. UMass traded baskets with Rutgers, until losing the lead with 6:31 to go as Moore hit again.
Rutgers built up a seven-point bulge, 67-60, on two Brian Ellerbee foul shots at the 4:05 point. A Sutton three-pointer cut the lead to four, a Russell jumper made it 67-65 and with 2:10 remaining Smith tied it at 67, drilling a 15-footer. Battle hit two foul shots with 1:56 to give Rutgers the lead.
Russell forced up a shot with 1:21 to go, before Battle missed with 46 seconds left to set up the dramatic end.
In the first half, the Minutemen trailed 40-35 as Rutgers employed a tough matchup zone that limited the Minutemen’s inside game.
UMass took an 8-6 lead on three-pointers by Russell and Sutton. Rutgers came back to take the lead at 10-8 on Eric Riggins’ fast break layup. After a Russell free throw with 13:07 left that make it 14-10, Rutgers ran off eight straight points to grab a 22-10 advantage.
Sutton scored on a great drive from the left side, Darryl Carter came off the bench to hit a three-pointer and Neysmith buried a foul line jumper to cap a seven point UMass run that made it 22-17.
Rutgers got back up by eight, 28-20, on a Chris Remley three-pointer. UMass chopped the lead to one, 29-28, on a Smith jumper with 4:55 to go. Battle, who had 12 points in the half, finished off a three point play to spark the Knights back to an eight point advantage, 40-32 with 1:16 to go, as the home team hit seven straight foul shots.
Neysmith hit two foul shots and Smith a single one to cut the margin to five at the half. Smith had 10 first half points with Neysmith getting nine.
The Minutemen were uncharacteristically outrebounded 16-15 and committed nine turnovers.