NCAA Southeast Regional Second Round : Providence Survives Austin Peay in Overtime

Billy Donovan rescued Providence from becoming another casualty of Austin Peay’s startling postseason.

Donovan rallied Providence from a 10-point deficit in regulation Saturday and made three key points in overtime to bring the Friars a 90-87 victory over Austin Peay in the second round of the Southeast Regional.

The 6-foot senior guard hit the shot that forced overtime, stole the ball with 48 seconds left in the extra period with his team ahead by a point and used his ball-handling skills to prevent Providence from going the way of Illinois, which was upset earlier in the week by Austin Peay (22-9).

The Friars (23-8) move into the Southeast Regional semifinals next weekend in Louisville, Ky.

Providence will play Alabama, which beat New Orleans, 101-76, in another second round game.

Bob Thomas missed a free throw with 41 seconds left in regulation that could have given Austin Peay a four-point lead, and he missed another with two seconds left that could have given the Governors another upset.

Thomas was so distraught by his failure that two cheerleaders had to help him to the locker room as tears streamed down his face.

“We’ve got a young man in the locker room who is in bad shape because he missed those free throws,” Austin Peay Coach Lake Kelly said. “He’s not the best free-throw shooter we’ve got and he was at the line a lot at the end of the game.

“I saw the life go out of our team. They were very, very tired. They just didn’t want to go to overtime. I think a little spirit went out of our team in overtime.”

Ernie Lewis scored 26 points for the Friars, including six 3-point shots, to bring Providence back from an early deficit and give them a four-point lead with 11:45 left.

But Austin Peay ran off a 17-3 spurt to move ahead, 75-65, with 6:04 to go.

Donovan then took over, scoring 13 of his 25 points in the final minutes of regulation. With his team trailing by two and time running out, Donovan hit a jump shot with 16 seconds remaining to knot the score, 82-82.

Lawrence Mitchell had 27 points for Austin Peay.

Alabama 101, New Orleans 76--Derrick McKey ignited the Crimson Tide with 26 points in a rout of the Privateers.

Alabama (28-4) raced to a 19-point halftime lead thanks to 73% shooting. Four Tide players reached double figures before the half as Alabama hit 22 of its 30 shots in the first period.

McKey’s dunks and Mike Gottfried’s three-point shots seemed to break the Privateers.

Ledell Eackles scored 17 points for the Privateers (26-4), who were making their first NCAA Tournament appearance.

During the devastating first half, McKey scored 16 of his 26 points, Jim Farmer had 14 of his 19, Terry Coner had 13 of his 17 and Gottfried had 11 of his 20.

In the opening period, McKey hit 6 of 8 from the field and 4 of 4 free throws. Farmer made 4 of 8 field goal tries and hit 5 of 5 foul shots. Coner was 6 of 7 from the field, Gottfried was 4 of 5 and Keith Askins was 2 of 2.

Alabama, champion of the regular season and postseason tournament in the Southeastern Conference, takes an 11-game winning streak into the regional semifinals.

“I’ve never been to a mercy killing before,” New Orleans Coach Benny Dees said.

“We got our tails whipped. They are very capable of going to the Final Four,” he said.