Southeast Roundup : North Carolina Beats Notre Dame on Disputed Play in Final Seconds

There were two sides to the story of North Carolina’s last-moment NCAA basketball tournament win Saturday at South Bend, Ind.

But no matter which side was right, the result was the same--a 60-58 victory for the Tar Heels over Notre Dame in second-round play of the NCAA Southeast Regional.

The victory moved the Tar Heels (26-8) into the third round, where they will meet Auburn, a 66-64 winner over Kansas.

Kenny Smith took a pass from Curtis Hunter and scored the winning layup with three seconds left after Notre Dame star freshman David Rivers had lost the ball.

Rivers, who had been given the green light to take the last shot in a Notre Dame stall that lasted more than a minute, said the ball was slapped away.

Smith saw it differently. “I saw the ball go off his leg and I broke down the court,” he said. “Hunter picked it up and threw it to me.

“I thought maybe we’d get it, but not that way,” he said. “I thought maybe we’d intercept a pass.”

Smith, who scored 12 points in the game, then deflected the inbounds toss to spoil the Irish’s last hope of tying the contest.

Notre Dame Coach Digger Phelps had no second guesses about his strategy.

“We’d been living with David all year, and we’d been living with him today,” Phelps said. “David had the green light to go. Once it got down to 20 (seconds), David was going.

“If I had the same opportunity again, Rivers would still have the ball and we’d make the same move.

“I thought we played an excellent game. David Rivers has been doing the job all year and he has nothing to be ashamed of,” said Phelps, whose team closed out the season at 21-9. “He’ll be around for three more years.”

Brad Daugherty scored 18 points, high for the game to lead the Tar Heels, while Rivers scored 15 for Notre Dame.

The Irish battled back from a six-point deficit to tie the score at 56 on a pair of free throws by Donald Royal, but Daugherty returned to the lineup with four fouls and regained the lead on two free throws.

Rivers tied the game again at 58 with two minutes left, but Royal missed a free throw seconds later.

Auburn 66, Kansas 64--Frank Ford scored 23 points and Chuck Person added 21 as the Tigers took control late in the second half to edge the Jayhawks.

Ford gave Auburn (22-11) the lead for good at 54-52 on a basket with just under three minutes remaining. The Tigers then pulled away to a 61-54 lead on two baskets by Person, their leading scorer for the year.

Kansas (26-8) ran off a 10-4 spurt that was capped by two baskets by Calvin Thompson and brought the Jayhawks within 65-64 with six seconds remaining.

But Person hit a free throw to give Auburn its final margin and continue the tenure of Coach Sonny Smith, who has already announced he will leave the school at the end of the season.

“I said to this team, if you can get to Birmingham, the sky’s the limit,” said Smith, whose team plays North Carolina on Friday in that city.

Kansas roared back after Auburn had taken a six-point lead, 40-34, with just under 13 minutes remaining in the game.

The Jayhawks rallied on two Auburn turnovers and two baskets by Thompson to take the lead with 10:42 remaining, 41-40.

The two teams then traded leads before Ford and Person opened Auburn’s lead for the final time.