Oklahoma Has Winning Touch, 86-84 : Tisdale’s Shot Rattles the Rim, Then Falls to Beat Louisiana Tech

Oklahoma All-American Wayman Tisdale’s game-winning shot against Louisiana Tech Thursday night in the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinals got the kind of bounce -- five of them -- the great shooters always seem to get.

The ball rattled around the rim then fell through with two seconds left in overtime to give No. 4 Oklahoma an 86-84 victory over the eighth-ranked Bulldogs in a racehorse, run-and-gun game.

“It seemed like it took forever to go in,” Tisdale, a junior and three-time All-American, said. “I had two men on me and tried to shoot it soft so I would get the bounce. I did, a bunch of them.”

Tisdale admitted “I thought I’d missed it completely. It was almost on the outside of the rim, but it still went in.”

“We designed that last play,” Oklahoma Coach Billy Tubbs said with a laugh. “How many times did the ball bounce?”

“I thought it was in, then it was out, then it was in,” Louisiana Tech Coach Andy Russo. “I’m feeling really bad right now.”

Karl Malone, who scored 20 points for the Bulldogs, said “I can’t believe that last shot went in. But it did, finally”.

Memphis State and Boston College met in the second game for the right to play Oklahoma in the regional final Saturday.

Tisdale scored 23 points including eight in overtime as Oklahoma, the Big Eight Conference champion and No. 1 seed in the Midwest, increased its record to 30-5. The standout junior also had 12 rebounds.

Louisiana Tech, 29-3, made full use of the two seconds left, throwing a long pass and the Bulldogs were granted a timeout with one second to go.

However, Robert Godbolt’s attempted lob to Malone on the ensuing inbounds pass hit the rim and bounced away.