NCAA Final: Cinderella vs. the Crusher : Villanova Wins as Memphis St. Hollers Foul

Foul-plagued Memphis State players were in a foul mood after the Tigers lost to Villanova, 52-45, in an NCAA semifinal game Saturday at Rupp Arena.

They also implied that the officials took the game away from them as Villanova advanced to Monday night’s title game against Georgetown, making it an all-Big East Conference final.

Keith Lee, Memphis State’s 6-10 All-American forward, has been in foul trouble throughout the tournament, but his team had survived without him when he went to the bench.

However, the law of averages was bound to catch up with Memphis State.

The Wildcats, designated as the Cinderella team of the Final Four, deliberately tried to get Lee and his teammates in foul trouble, and they succeeded.

Lee fouled out of the game with 10:21 remaining, and even though Memphis State made up an eight-point deficit without him, the Tigers couldn’t sustain their surge as Villanova held on to win.

William Bedford, Memphis State’s 7-foot center, was also in foul trouble. He received his fourth foul seven minutes into the second half and had to play tentatively, especially when Lee fouled out a few minutes later.

“I don’t know what’s going on--it’s amazing,” a bewildered Lee said. “We barely touch someone and we get a foul. I don’t think we played a bad game. The refs just didn’t let us play. What do they have against Memphis State?”

Lee had four or more fouls in 12 of Memphis State’s last 13 games. And he fouled out in five of them.

He was on the floor for 23 minutes Saturday, contributing only 10 points and 7 rebounds.

Memphis State forward Baskerville Holmes, who fouled out late in the game, was bitter in the dressing room.

“A lot of the fouls (called) we thought weren’t fouls,” he said. “The refs called a very poor game. They say the Big East is such a tough conference. If they’re so tough, why do the referees protect them?”

Bedford, whose fourth foul came after he was assessed a technical foul for hurling the ball angrily out of bounds, was in no mood to talk.

Memphis State Coach Dana Kirk was more restrained. He said in an interview room that he was doing his best not to gripe about the fouls.

“It’s very hard to play catch-up when you’re in serious, serious foul trouble,” he said. “It’s a situation where we had to take one of our big guys out of the game.

“But they talk about the aggressive style of play in the Big East and how timid we are in the Metro Conference. Yet they shoot 26 fouls shots to our nine.”

Villanova (24-10), a patient team that exploits any weakness in an opponent, made 20 of its 26 free throws. Memphis State (31-4) made 19 shots from the field, three more than Villanova, but that statistic is certainly meaningless now.

“We knew Lee had been in foul trouble during the tournament,” said Ed Pinckney, Villanova’s 6-9 center. “So we tried to take the ball to him as much as we could.”

Lee had two fouls at halftime and got his third and fourth in the opening 4 1/2 minutes of the second half.

The game itself will never be included in an anthology of NCAA thrillers. It was a grind-it-out affair as defense prevailed and offense was limited. It was only 23-23 at halftime.

Memphis State led, 31-28, early in the second half. Then Villanova went on a 9-0 run, with Pinckney and forward Dwayne McClain, who had a game-high 19 points, supplying most of the offense.

It was during this Villanova surge that Bedford, a talented sophomore, was called for traveling. Instead of just dropping the ball gently to the floor, he slung it across the end line and was immediately hit with a technical.

Then Bedford lost his composure 21 seconds later when he fouled Harold Pressley after the Villanova forward was clearly in possession of an offensive rebound.

A few minutes later, Lee fouled out while leaping for a loose ball, and Villanova was in command, 41-33.

But Kirk’s team is used to playing without Lee, and, with a smaller lineup on the floor, Memphis State played tenaciously on defense, creating offensive opportunities.

The Tigers’ slick point guard, Andre Turner, who is called the “Little General,” took advantage of a packed-in Villanova zone to score on a couple of outside jump shots.

He tied the score at 41-41 on a 17-footer with 3:23 left. But Villanova then made 9 of its last 10 free throws, with guard Gary McLain getting the final four as time was running out.

Memphis State’s last opportunity to stay close faded when Turner missed on a hurried, driving jump shot with 38 seconds left.

The Tigers trailed, 48-45, at the time, and McLain closed out the scoring from the foul line.

So Villanova, which finished third in the Big East Conference, gets another shot at Georgetown, which easily disposed of St. John’s, 77-59, in the second semifinal game.

The Hoyas beat the Wildcats twice during the regular season, but not convincingly--52-50 in overtime and 57-50.

Villanova likes to control the tempo of a game, sometimes at a leisurely pace, and that style is more effective in tournament competition because there isn’t a shot clock.

Rollie Massimino’s team played with a 45-second shot clock during the tribal wars in the Big East.

When Massimino was being interviewed, the Georgetown-St. John’s game was just under way. He said it didn’t make any difference which team he played in the final, adding, “Maybe, we’ll play a little pasta ball.”

That was in hopeful reference to a fellow coach of Italian heritage, St. John’s Lou Carnesecca. But only one Italian make this final.

To get to the final game, Villanova had to knock off such highly regarded teams as No. 2-ranked Michigan, North Carolina and No. 5-ranked Memphis State.

“I never thought we would be here (Final Four),” Massimino said, “but my seniors (McClain, McLain and Pinckney) proved me wrong.”

Kirk scoffed at the notion that Villanova is a Cinderella team.

“How can you refer to them as Cinderella?” he said. “They’ve been in the tournament so many times (11 times since 1969). A Cinderella team comes out of nowhere. If they’re Cinderella, Cinderella wears boots.”

Final Four Notes

Villanova guard Gary McLain was constantly pressured by Memphis State guard Andre Turner. When McLain finally stole the ball from Turner in the second half, he grinned broadly and squeezed the ball for emphasis. “They talk about what a great offensive player he (Turner) is,” McLain said. “But he’s also a great player on defense. He’s a pain when you’re trying to bring the ball up for 40 minutes. But maybe I should get a pat on the butt for not being frustrated and staying in the game all the way.” . . . Memphis State had difficulty in getting the ball inside to its “Twin Towers,” 6-10 Keith Lee and 7-foot William Bedford. “We were conscious of them trying to go inside with lob passes,” Villanova center Ed Pinckney said. “We worked on it in practice and we would yell, ‘Lob pass, lob pass,’ whenever they tried it.” . . . Villanova Coach Rollie Massimino said he mixed up his defenses, using as many as 11. But Memphis State Coach Dana Kirk said that Villanova’s constantly changing zone alignments didn’t bother his team. “We just didn’t shoot very well,” he said. Memphis State shot only 38% from the field. Villanova wasn’t much better at 42.1%.