NCAA Southeast Regional Second Round : Georgetown, Trailing by 15 in the Second Half, Rallies to Top Ohio State

ATLANTA--Pressure defense and the three-point shooting of Charles Smith and All-American Reggie Williams saved Georgetown Sunday from early elimination in the NCAA tournament.

Williams and Smith both scored 19 points in the second half as the fourth-ranked Hoyas rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat Ohio State, 82-79, in a second-round game of the Southeast Regional.

“Our quickness created some things for us,” Georgetown Coach John Thompson said. “We showed a great deal of strength using our defense to create opportunities to get back in the game.”

Smith made all four of his three-point attempts in the second half, and Williams, who led the Hoyas with 24 points, made 3 of 6 as Georgetown (28-4) advanced to the regional semifinals Thursday night at Louisville.

The Big East champions, who have won their last 13 games, will meet Kansas, a 67-63 winner Sunday over upstart Southwest Missouri State.

“I think we played as poorly in the first half as we’ve played all year,” Thompson said. “You have to attribute that to Ohio State. They came at us and showed a great deal of class.”

Ohio State led at halftime, 39-29, and scored the first five points of the second half.

The Buckeyes (20-13) still led by 11 with less than nine minutes left before being outscored, 18-7, in a span of 5:21. A layup by Georgetown’s Perry McDonald tied the game at 71-71 with 3:17 left.

Another basket by McDonald put Georgetown ahead, 73-71, before Ohio State tied it again on a basket by Jerry Francis.

Smith, a 6-foot sophomore guard who had been averaging only 5.9 points a game, then made his fifth three-point shot to put Georgetown ahead to stay with 1:16 left.

“No matter what the lead, Georgetown always thinks they can come back,” Ohio State Coach Gary Williams said. “We were concerned with Reggie Williams, but Smith came through. He was the spark.”

Smith, who made 8 of 13 shots, finished with 22 points.

“I knew Smitty could shoot the ball,” Reggie Williams said, “but I didn’t know he could shoot that well.”

Said Thompson: “Charles is a great shooter. I’ve been fussing at him all season because he wouldn’t shoot. I told him I was going to recruit somebody who would.”

Dennis Hopson, who led the Big Ten in scoring with a 29.2 average, led Ohio State with 20 points. Francis scored 18.

Kansas 67, Southwest Missouri State 63--All-American Danny Manning scored a career-high 42 points as the No. 20 Jayhawks ended the Bears’ 15-game winning streak.

“The Kansas attack begins and ends with Danny Manning, and it’s a solid game plan,” said Southwest Missouri State Coach Charlie Spoonhour.

Southwest Missouri State (28-6) upset 13th-ranked Clemson in the first round, limiting Atlantic Coast Conference scoring champion Horace Grant to two points in the second half and just 16 overall.

But the 6-11 Manning was too much for the Mid-Continent Conference champions, making 16 of 26 shots and 10 of 12 free throws. Manning made 7 of 8 free throws in the last 3:07 after the Bears had cut Kansas’ 10-point lead to two at 58-56.

“My teammates just kept giving me the ball in great position,” said Manning, who was guarded by 6-5 Greg Bell. “All I had to do was turn around and go up strong.

“Coach (Larry Brown) said they would come out and put a lot of pressure on the ball on the perimeter. He said if we’d post up high, we could get it down low and then go up strong with it.”

Manning had 21 points by halftime, but Kansas trailed, 33-31, after Southwest Missouri State’s Winston Garland scored five points in the last 49 seconds, including a three-point shot from the top of the key with three seconds remaining.

Kansas (25-10) went ahead for good four minutes into the second half and built its lead to 51-41 with 10:38 left.

Garland and Basil Robinson rallied the Bears, but they were never able to get closer than two points the rest of the way.

A pair of free throws by Chris Piper with 19 seconds left provided the clincher for Kansas.

Garland led Southwest Missouri State with 26 points. Robinson scored 16.