Duke, Louisville Cause a Brownout at Dallas : Blue Devils Gain Final Two, Ousting Larry, Kansas, 71-67

When Danny Manning, Kansas’ 6-11 star forward, scores only four points and fouls out, it figures that his team will lose.

His teammate, 7-1 center Greg Dreiling, was also ineffective with only six points and six rebounds before fouling out.

Nevertheless, other Kansas players picked up the slack and battled Duke down to the closing seconds of their NCAA semifinal game Saturday at Reunion Arena.

But Duke, the nation’s No. 1-ranked team, got a decisive rebound basket from freshman center Danny Ferry and benefited from a charging call on Kansas forward Ron Kellogg to defeat the nation’s No. 2 team, 71-67, and move into Monday night’s NCAA championship game against Louisville.

In a game truly worthy of Final Four competition, Kansas should have been reeling, as Manning, frustrated by Duke forward Mark Alarie, was on the bench with his fifth foul with 2:47 remaining.

But the Jayhawks had possession with the score tied at 67-67. Forward Calvin Thompson missed on a jump shot, and the 6-10 Ferry claimed the rebound.

After calling a timeout with 58 seconds left, Duke took some time off the 45-second clock before Alarie missed on a 17-foot shot from the side.

Ferry alertly stormed the lane to get the offensive rebound and the basket with 22 seconds remaining. He was to be involved in another key play 11 seconds later.

Kansas rushed the ball down the court, and Kellogg made his move to the basket, putting up a shot that missed and running over Ferry in the process.

Blocking or charging? Such calls are marginal.

“Kellogg came down the baseline, and it’s my job to go over and give weakside help,” Ferry said. “Taking the charge is the only thing I can do because I’m not much of a shot blocker.

“The referee made the charge call to us very softly and gestured with his hands. I was on the floor at the time. I didn’t know whether the ball had gone in or not. Then, I walked to the other end to shoot the free throws and I was in a daze.”

Ferry missed on the front end of a one-and-one, and Kellogg, who scored 22 points on 11-of-15 shooting, got another scoring opportunity.

But he missed on a hurried 16-foot jump shot with four seconds left, and 5-11 Duke guard Tommy Amaker, of all people, got the rebound.

That was the game as Amaker closed out the scoring in the final second by making two free throws.

So Ferry, a youngster on a veteran team, figured in two big plays. As for his rebound basket, he said: “I saw that Mark’s shot wasn’t going in and I just came up with it (the ball). I was just in the right place at the right time. I’m glad I was there.”

He was also in the right place when Kellogg barged into him.

“I just penetrated trying to make something happen,” Kellogg said. “He (Ferry) stepped right in front of me. It could have been called either way.”

As for his shot that could have sent the game into overtime with four seconds to play, Kellogg said: “It was a bad shot. I should have drove more than I did.”

It was another disappointing ending for Kansas Coach Larry Brown in the Final Four. As UCLA’s coach in 1980, his team extended Louisville in the championship game before losing, 59-54.

The Jayhawks (35-4) had the worst of it from a foul standpoint. Manning played only seven minutes in the first half before he got his second foul and sat down. Hunter, the point guard, was also in foul trouble, as was Dreiling.

Manning’s total playing time was only 23 minutes. He missed on 7 of 9 shots from the field and didn’t go to the free-throw line.

Alarie, a 6-8 defensive specialist, was in Manning’s face most of the game. Duke is known for its tight man-to-man defense, and Alarie was constantly crowding Manning.

Manning said that Alarie was a smart, defensive player, adding that he still should have made some of the shots he missed. Manning, a 60.8% shooter for the season, was held 13 points below his scoring average.

“I thought Alarie’s defense on Manning was magnificent,” said Coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose Duke team has won 21 games in a row and is now 37-2, breaking by one the all-time collegiate record for basketball wins in a season. “I just marvel at how well Alarie played. It wasn’t a pretty game. It was just two teams working very hard.

“It’s easy to say when you win, but I really admire Kansas’ effort. I think it was extremely fitting for this game to be won on a loose ball (Ferry’s rebound), because that’s the type of game it was.”

Kansas had a size advantage over Duke with Manning and Dreiling on the front line. But they were neutralized. Dreiling played 30 minutes but made only one of seven shots.

“They’re both great basketball players, and we were fortunate that they had off nights,” said Jay Bilas, Duke’s 6-8 center from Rolling Hills High School, “but we’d like to think we had something to do with it because of our inside defense. It seemed that we were able to get in their way and bother some of their shots, although we aren’t known as great shot-blockers. I know I don’t strike fear into anyone’s heart when I go up.

“As for Mark, he did a great job on Manning. He plays post defense better than anyone in the country. He made it real difficult for their perimeter people to get the ball into the post. He was a real factor for us defensively.”

In addition to harassing Manning, Alarie also scored 12 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. Johnny Dawkins, Duke’s All-American super-quick guard, supplied most of the offense for his team. He got 15 of his game-high 24 points in the first half, helping the Blue Devils to a tenuous 36-33 lead at the break.

Duke was protecting a five-point lead at 45-40 early in the second half before Kansas made a run. The Jaywhawks went on an eight-point blitz, and the teams were on even terms the rest of the game.

Kansas led, 65-61, on Manning’s layup (only his second basket) before Dawkins hit an outside shot and Alarie scored on a dunk after taking a perfect pass from forward David Henderson, with Manning fouling out on the play.

Thompson got the lead back for Kansas at 67-65 on a short jump shot with 2:04 remaining, but Duke drew even on Dawkins’ short jumper. Then it was Ferry’s turn as he got the offensive rebound for a 69-67 lead and took the charge from Kellogg.

Adversity was at Kansas’ shoulder most of the game, caused by the foul trouble and by losing solid sixth man Archie Marshall to an injury with 8:10 to play. Marshall scored on a fast-break layup and hit the floor hard. He limped off with ligament damage to his right knee.

“I thought we lost to a great team,” Brown said. “I didn’t think we handled their pressure very well. Even with those problems, we were in control of the game at one time. We couldn’t get to the line the last six or seven minutes, and they seemed to get to the line at will (Kansas was 9 of 12 from the line, Duke 21 of 30).

“Although we were in severe foul trouble, we were able to handle it. They ran the clock down, and we got them to miss and we had everybody blocked out, but Ferry made a great play. I don’t think we would have had much chance in overtime because we had so many people in foul trouble.”

Since his team beat Louisville twice and lost to Duke twice during the season, Brown was asked to compare the teams in the championship game.

“I’m really curious to see how Louisville will handle Duke’s pressure defense,” Brown said, “but I don’t think Duke can win it if they get two of their big people in foul trouble.”