Texas A&M
The Battalion Sports
Tuesday, April 5, 1983AThe Battalion/Page 9
N.C. State dunks Phi Slama Jama
Wolfpack ends dream , . .i, Car^/-
season by winning dde ^° Y ^
No. 1
Metcalf says UH,
State played well
United Press International
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —
itnessesu Carolina State Wolf-
ree-weelf pckapparently was meant to be
aten.heldj ^ NCAA basketball champion
'ertheirla ■ )r 1983 — and it is.
thsholgms Having executed the coat h’s
| them 4 ame plan to perfection, then
ficer Crt* ein g the recipient of a large
ieceofgood fortune at just (he
ofthed ight time, the team came up
re show ,|th a 54 ' 52 victory.
“We want to be careful, con-
re shot anil
ngtheii
charges k withe tempo and put ourselves
™position to win,” North Caro-
a State Coach Jim Valvano
[ad said on the eve of the game,
all happened just the way he
anted.
The Wolfpack did control the
tmpo. North Carolina State’s
me defense sealed off the lane
nd kept Houston’s ferocious
lunksters from practicing their
aymg ran
>ne of
neys inv
tat the
victory foij
got to rd
iur peopltl
investigai
: beaten
rorizedbti
vho
te police!
at when
1 bars and)
:hafs the!
there as
. , ere kIBi (the Cougars had only one
im all night) and finally the
If-proclaimed team of destiny
fund itself owning the ball with
Ime running out and the score
led.
It no longer mattered that the
Jrstnine field goals North Caro-
Ina State could muster in the
Icond half had come on long-
pnge bombs or that Houston’s
Ikeem Abdul Olajuwon had
dominated the back-
ids.
It only added to the drama
at the winning points came in
akish fashion — Lorenzo
pries grabbing a desperation
Bt by Dereck Whittenburg
[had fallen just short of the
isket and stuffing it through
t as the clock ticked from two
onds down to one.
North Carolina State thus be
ne the first team ever to win
: national title with 10 losses
i'You need luck in a national
Guy Lewis: Cougars weren’t
expecting an easy contest
tournament,” said Valvano, the
Joe Namath look-alike who
charms his fans and the media
with his wit, and plagues the
opposition with his coaching ta
lent. “Being in the right place at
the right time is going to help
you win a close game. This has
been a dream for me. I’m almost
speechless. I’ve got no funny
lines. I’m simply in awe of this
team.”
Houston had won 26 games
in a row and had overpowered
its last two foes — the Villanova
Wildcats and Louisville Cardin
als. The Cougars were a seven-
point favorite to win their first
national crown.
“I guarantee we never did
think this would be an easy
game,” said Houston Coach Guy
Lewis, who despite a 31 -3 season
came up without his first nation
al title. “It was billed as a game of
slow tempo vs. fast tempo and
slow won. It feels awful. I’ve nev
er had a loss that didn’t feel aw
ful. But this was a special game.”
For a time it appeared the
Wolfpack’s victory would be an
easy one since it raced to a 33-25
halftime lead. Forward Thurl
Bailey scored 15 points in the
first half (also finishing with 15
to be the Wolfpack’s high scorer)
and Houston could manage only
10 field goals in 32 tries.
But the Cougars scored the
first 10 points of the second half,
held the Wolfpack to just two
points during the first 10 mi
nutes and eventually built a
seven-point advantage.
With just over 10 minutes re
maining, however, Lewis went
to a delay game and it backfired.
The layups and dunks that
Lewis hoped would come failed
to materialize and North Caroli
na State, with Whittenburg, Sid
ney Lowe and Terry Gannon
firing them in from long dis
tances, whittled into its deficit.
Twice Houston had chances
to help its cause in the final three
minutes with free throws, but
both Michael Young (with 2:55
to play) and Alvin Franklin (with
1:05 to go) missed the front end
of 1-and-l opportunities.
Franklin’s miss came with the
score tied and set up the winning
points.
“I knew when Whit let the
shot go that it was short,” said
Charles. “I didn’t know where
Akeem was. 1 just knew I was the
closest one to the basket.”
Olajuwon, who scored 20
points, grabbed 18 rebounds
and was named the tourna
ment’s outstanding player, had
drifted away from the basket
and thus left the way open for
Charles to stuff home Whitten-
burg’s miss.
After the game Olajuwon was
in tears and would not answer
questions.
But what happened Monday
night seemingly had been
ordained all along.
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State
Akeem silently accepts
award, sad over loss
United Press International
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Akeem Olajuwon scored 41 points
and claimed 40 rebounds during the course of the Final Four and
was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. But despite
all of that, he was inconsolable Monday night.
Olajuwon became the first player since 1966 to be on a losing
team in the Final Four and still be named outstanding player.
But when it came time to talk about what he’d done, the
seven-foot center from Lagos, Nigeria couldn’t face up to it.
Immediately after North Carolina State had won 54-52, Ola
juwon walked up a long ramp toward the Houston dressing room,
his eyes filled with tears.
After entering the cramped locker facility, he ignored writers
and broadcasters by turning his face to the wall. Moments later he
was summoned back to the court for the post-game award cere
monies.
He sat in a chair beside the court, his face resting in the palm of
one hand.
Houston fans called out from the stands, “We love you, Akeem.
We ll be back.” That did nothing to cheer him up.
Even when it was announced that he had won the outstanding
player honor, easily beating North Carolina State’s Dereck Whit
tenburg in the balloting, Olajuwon couldn’t force a smile.
Then, on leaving the floor of The Pit for the final time, Ola
juwon made only the briefest of detours into the locker room
before heading for the team bus. He never spoke a word.
by Frank L. Christlieb
Battalion Staff
He didn’t make it to Albu
querque to watch North Caroli
na State win the NCAA basket
ball championship Monday
night, but Aggie coach Shelby
Metcalf was sitting in his own
comfortable front-row seat as
Lorenzo Charles and the Wolf
pack slammed Phi Slama Jama
back to Houston.
Not only did Metcalf not have
to battle a crowd, but he didn’t
have to withstand the deafening
shouts, the painted signs or the
sea of red that flowed through
University Arena.
To top it off, Metcalf had his
own color television set. Putting
it plainly, home was heavenly for
Metcalf as he watched the Wolf
pack’s surprising 54-52 victory
over the Houston Cougars.
But wouldn’t Metcalf rather
be in Albuquerque?
“Oh sure, but I enjoyed
watching it here. Besides, I had a
better view here anyway,” Met
calf said 15 minutes after
Charles’ unexpected dunk sent
the arena into a narrow emo
tional spectrum that had but two
colors — the tearful ecstasy of
the Wolfpack and the tearful
agony of the Cougars.
In Metcalfs eyes, the NCAA
title game couldn’t have been
better. But when the Cougars
missed crucial free throws dur
ing the final three minutes of the
game, Metcalf said, State was
able to capitalize on the mis
takes.
“I thought it was a great ball-
game,” Metcalf said. “Those
missed front ends of the 1-and-1
by (Michael) Young and (Alvin)
Franklin gave North Carolina
State the chance to win. Those
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last three field goals by State
from way out were great.”
When Sidney Lowe, the
Atlantic Coast Conference’s all-
time assist leader, canned a long
outside jumper to cut the
Cougars’ lead to 52-48, who
would’ve thought the Wolfpack
had enough bite left to win the
whole ball of wax?
Dereck Whittenburg, the best
shooter in the ACC’s three-point
wonderland this season, used
two long-range bombs to answer
that question without hesitation.
That made the score 52-all, set
ting up Whittenburg’s way-short
prayer with 4 seconds remaining
and Charles’ uncontested dunk
with 2 seconds left.
Akeem Abdul Olajuwon, the
Cougars’ 7-foot center, stood
five feet from the basket when
Whittenburg’s jumper fell into
Charles’ waiting hands. By the
time Olajuwon moved toward
the basket, it was too late.
Too late for the Cougars, too
late for senior forward Larry
Micheaux, too late for 25-year-
old UH guard David Rose and
too late for 27-year Cougar
coach Guy V. Lewis.
Numb from the impact of the
dunk, the Cougars couldn’t call
a time out. Coach Jim Valvano
and his North Carolina State
players streamed onto the court
to celebrate their 25th and final
triumph of the 1982-83 season.
Even though he didn’t witness
the final chapter of State’s Cin
derella story in person, Metcalf
had plenty to say about final
game of the year.
“Man, Akeem is something
else,” he said of Olajuwon’s
overall season performance and
his 20-point, 18-rebound effort
See METCALF page 11