SAN ANTONIO — Throughout their NCAA tournament run, Georgia Tech’s players and coaches have trumpeted the value and virtue of playing in the ACC. Honed by keen competition during the regular season and conference tournament, they say, the Yellow Jackets were well prepared for what was to follow.
This might be a good time to start listening.
For the fifth straight time in the tournament, Tech won a close game by single digits. For the third straight game, reserve guard Will Bynum hit the decisive shot. This one, a driving layup with 1.5 seconds left and the game tied, gave Tech a 67-65 victory over Oklahoma State in the national semifinals last night at the Alamodome and sent the Yellow Jackets into the championship game for the first time tomorrow night.
Tech will play Connecticut, a 79-78 winner over Duke in last night’s late game.
Bynum, a junior who transferred to Tech from Arizona (after strongly considering Oklahoma State) and became eligible after the fall semester, came off a pick by center Luke Schenscher and drove past John Lucas and Ivan McFarlin for the winning basket. McFarlin got a piece of the ball, but Bynum, a chiseled 6-footer, was strong enough to muscle it up.
“This is the biggest shot I ever took in my life,” Bynum said. “Words can’t describe how I feel.”
Then describe the shot, please.
“Coach [Paul Hewitt] said to run the screen and roll, and if somebody was open, hit ’em — if not, make the shot,” said Bynum, who had missed a layup with 1:23 to go and Tech up by three. “In my mind, I was thinking, ’Take the shot,’ the whole time.”
Bynum is not shy about shooting or going to the basket. He isn’t shy about anything, and he and Hewitt have had their disagreements. The coach even benched him for all but six minutes of the second-round win over Boston College.
Still, Hewitt wanted Bynum with the ball.
“Will is a guy who thinks he can take anybody in the country,” Hewitt said. “Sometimes it works in his favor. Sometimes it doesn’t work in his favor.”
In last week’s regional semifinals in St. Louis, Bynum made an acrobatic reverse layup against Nevada with a minute left that broke a 67-67 tie and proved the winning basket. Two days later against Kansas, Bynum sent the Yellow Jackets (27-9) to the Final Four by hitting a 3-point shot to break a 71-71 tie with 1:51 left in overtime.
“At the end, there was no doubt we were going to put the ball in Will Bynum’s hands,” Hewitt said.
Lucas, the Big 12 co-player of the year and son of the former Maryland All-American, tied the game 65-65 on a 3-point basket with 26.3 seconds left. The shot capped a comeback by Oklahoma State (31-4) that took nearly the entire half to complete. The Cowboys trailed by 12 with 16:49 left but slowly chipped away.
Lucas blamed himself for Bynum’s basket.
“It doesn’t matter if I hit the shot,” he said. “I didn’t do my part on the other end.”
Jarrett Jack, Tech’s big star against Kansas, played his usually strong floor game but was held to 10 points. Guard B.J. Elder, the team’s leading scorer, was still hobbled by a sore ankle, so it was time once again for others heroes. Guard Marvin Lewis had a big first half and finished with 15 points. But the key guy was 7-1 junior center Luke Schenscher, an import from Hope Forest, Australia.
Oklahoma State is known for its tight defense, but the Cowboys had no one to match up with Schenscher, aka Big Bird. McFarlin, at 6-8, is the tallest starter. Getting open in the paint, Schenscher had 19 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the field, and 12 rebounds.
“We were giving away so much size,” said Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton, who has been to three Final Fours in 34 years but has never won the big one.
Said Schenscher: “One thing I always had in the back of my mind was that my whole family would be watching. It gave me extra motivation. I think the whole town came to my place at 7 or 8 in the morning.”
The upper reaches of the cavernous Alamodome were filled with orange, meaning a noticeable noise advantage for Oklahoma State. But it didn’t bother the Yellow Jackets, who faced a similar tournament situation last week. Playing Kansas at Edward Jones Dome, Tech faced a loud and hostile crowd but sent the Jayhawks home quietly muttering.
Lewis was hardly affected by the environment. The graduate of Montrose Christian in Rockville made four 3-point baskets in the first six minutes. But he didn’t get much help and Tech only led 14-13.
The game was tied 22-22 when the Cowboys, who led the nation in field goal accuracy (51.5 percent), went stagnant on offense. Bothered by Tech’s quickness, Oklahoma State was out of sync and the Yellow Jackets took advantage, going on a 15-4 run to take their biggest lead of the half at 37-26 with 1:14 left.
The Cowboys regrouped down the stretch, scoring the final four points of the half. Tech led 37-30 at the break and extended the lead to 45-33 with 16:49 left before the Cowboys rallied.
Lucas made four of 14 shots and had 11 points. Joey Graham finished with 17 and McFarlin 16 points for the Cowboys.
“They did a great job on defense,” Graham said.
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