Midwest Regional : Michigan State Eliminates Georgetown, 80-68

Scott Skiles scored, passed and even coached his Michigan State teammates to an 80-68 victory over Georgetown in the second round of the NCAA Midwest Regional Saturday at Dayton, Ohio.

Skiles, a 6-1 senior guard, scored 24 points, 18 in the second half, for the 18th-ranked Spartans.

Skiles had five assists and made 10 of 11 free throws that helped turn the tide for the Spartans in the final 15 minutes of the game.

Michigan State Coach Jud Heathcote said: “There was no question that our director is Scott Skiles. He’s been accused of being our coach. I let him take the credit, also the blame.”

Georgetown Coach John Thompson also praised Skiles as well as his teammates.

“The mark of a great player is not how well he plays but how he affects the other people,” Thompson said of Skiles. “He has a contagious effect. . . . (But) they have other people on that team who can score.”

The Hoyas, ranked 13th, had played in the last two NCAA championship games, winning in 1984 against Houston and losing to Villanova last year.

Thompson managed to make light of his team’s early exit this year.

“The past four years I’ve been working overtime,” Thompson said. “This year it looks like I get an early vacation, but it isn’t necessarily welcomed.”

The Spartans (23-7) advance to Kansas City next week and face Kansas (33-3).

Skiles, who scored 31 points and hit the deciding free throws with two seconds left in Michigan State’s 72-70 first-round victory over Washington on Thursday, was limited to just six points in the first half, but the Spartans still led, 32-30, at halftime.

Skiles, who made just one of his first seven field-goal attempts, then scored eight of Michigan State’s first 10 points in the second half as the Spartans took a 42-38 lead.

Georgetown pulled to within 42-40 on a driving layup by Perry McDonald. But at the 14:28 mark, the Hoyas’ Reggie Williams, who finished with 15 points, was called for his fourth foul.

Michigan State then went on a seven-point run, with Skiles scoring one basket and assisting on another on a behind-the-back pass in traffic to forward Larry Polec to take a 49-40 lead. The Spartans maintained a lead of at least seven points the rest of the way.

Polec had 16 points, Vernon Carr 13 and Darryl Johnson 12 for the Spartans.

David Wingate led Georgetown (24-8) with 17 points while Williams added 15.

Kansas 65, Temple 43--The Jayhawks earned a trip home with their second victory of the NCAA Midwest Regional.

The next stop for the second-ranked Jayhawks is Kansas City, Mo., which is just 40 miles from their campus in Lawrence, Kan.

“We’re looking forward to playing before our family and our friends,” Kansas guard Cedric Hunter said.

Kansas will face 18th-ranked Michigan State.

Kansas Coach Larry Brown said: “Needless to say, we are pleased that we are moving on,” Brown said. “This hasn’t been the case the last two years. I thought our kids played well. We didn’t panic when we got behind, and I think that was the key.”

The Jayhawks broke open a tight game with a 25-4 spurt in the second half.

The victory was Kansas’ second consecutive cakewalk, having dealt North Carolina A&T; a 71-46 setback in the first round Thursday.

Danny Manning, Calvin Thompson and Ron Kellogg each scored 14 points for the Jayhawks.

Temple, which finished at 25-6, was led by Nate Blackwell with 14 points.