NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Midwest Regional at Lincoln, Neb. : Manning Is the Man as Kansas Advances; Vandy Eliminates Pitt

Kansas Coach Larry Brown, asked how his team has been able to reach the final 16 of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.tournament, pointed to his right at Danny Manning.

“Look next to me, that’s a pretty good reason,” Brown said after Manning took control down the stretch to lead the Jayhawks to a 61-58 victory over Murray State in the Midwest Regional Sunday at Lincoln, Neb.

Manning, who scored 25 points, made a jump hook from right of the lane with 38 seconds remaining to give Kansas a 59-58 lead.

He then grabbed a rebound and was fouled with one second left after Murray State’s Don Mann missed a jumper in the lane. After sinking two free throws, Manning knocked away the Racers’ ensuing inbounds pass as the buzzer sounded.

“I look at the last minute of the game and it typifies our season,” Brown said. “Danny makes a shot to go ahead, then he gets a big rebound, makes two free throws and steals the inbounds pass.”

The victory sends the Big Eight’s Jayhawks (23-11) into the regional semifinals Friday night at Pontiac, Mich., against seventh-seeded Vanderbilt. Vandy upset second-seeded Pitt, 80-74, in overtime Sunday.

Kansas and Vanderbilt are seeded sixth and seventh, respectively, in the Midwest.

Fourteenth-seeded Murray State, of the Ohio Valley Conference, an upset winner over third-seeded North Carolina State in the first round, finished its season 22-9.

“Outside of the final 20 seconds, it’s just been a magnificent year,” said Racer Coach Steve Newton. “We wanted the ball in Don Mann’s hands. He’s made a lot of clutch baskets for us this year, or if he’s fouled he goes to the line and hits them. It just wasn’t to be.”

Kansas used an 11-0 spurt to take a 25-13 lead in the first half before the Racers climbed back by holding the Jayhawks scoreless in the final 3:26. Murray State trailed, 28-23, at halftime.

“In the first half, we controlled the big fella as much as you can,” Newton said of Manning, who scored nine in the first half.

A 16-7 run midway through the second half, sparked by Kevin Pritchard’s 10 points, gave Kansas a 48-41 lead with 9:48 remaining. But Jeff Martin, who scored 22 points, led a Racer charge with a jumper and a four-point play, and Paul King added a three-pointer to make the score 50-48.

The game remained close from then on. A Martin follow shot gave the Racers a 56-53 lead at the 3:55 mark, but Manning hit a follow, and Milt Newton added a jumper that gave the Jayhawks a 57-56 advantage.

Two Martin free throws with 51 seconds remaining gave Murray State its last lead, 58-57, and set up Manning’s game-winner.

Minutes earlier, Manning had missed two free throws and a turnaround jumper. He said that down the stretch he “wanted to do something to help my team out, whether it was score or rebound or play defense. My teammates put me in a position to do that.”

Vanderbilt 80, Pittsburgh 74--Guard Barry Goheen delivered the key plays--two three-point baskets in the final 12 seconds of regulation--in Vanderbilt’s victory over Pitt, the nation’s No. 8-ranked team.

Pitt led, 67-63, with 12 seconds left in regulation before Goheen’s three-point shot from the left side bought the Commodores within a point.

Pittsburgh’s Charles Smith made it a three-point game with two free throws with four seconds to play.

Goheen then took the inbounds pass, drove the left side of the court to the three-point line and fired a shot at the buzzer to tie the score at 69-69.

“With four seconds left there’s not enough time to pass the ball or get a screen,” Goheen said. “I was fortunate to get as good a shot as I did and fortunate it went in.”

Goheen said he was surprised he got off the shot. He expected to be fouled in the backcourt.

Pittsburgh Coach Paul Evans said that was the plan, but the Panthers could not catch Goheen.

Vanderbilt Coach C.M. Newton was adamantly against the three-point shot as it was introduced last year, but not as much as Evans is now.

“I didn’t like it, but that’s the way the rules are right now,” Evans said. “The guy (Ed Steitz, the NCAA basketball rules editor) who made it, was sitting right next to us. With that (the three-point shot), anybody’s got a shot.”

Vanderbilt scored the first six points of the extra period, with Frank Kornet hitting a jump hook from the right side to start the run. Smith received a technical foul for hanging on the rim when he missed a dunk, and Goheen made the free throw. On the next possession, Barry Booker drilled a three-point shot from the right side for a 75-69 edge.

Goheen scored 22 points, and Booker finished with 16. Will Perdue, who battled Smith head-to-head and fouled out before overtime, had 15 points. Perdue was the Southeastern Conference’s player of the year.

Vanderbilt (20-10) finished fourth in the SEC.

Smith led the Panthers (24-7) with 21 points, passing Clyde Vaughan for No. 1 on the school’s scoring list. Smith entered the game needing 10 points to top the scoring record of 2,033 set by Vaughn from 1980-84.

Jerome Lane had 20 rebounds for Pittsburgh.