COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA TOURNAMENT : Oklahoma State Misses by a Foot, Temple Wins by a Mile : East Regional: Williams is standing on three-point line as he hits game-tying shot. Owls then romp in overtime, 72-63.

Corey Williams never looked down, staying focused on the rim Friday night as he let go the shot that he and his Oklahoma State teammates thought had beaten Temple.

If he had looked, he would have seen his right shoe on the three-point line, depriving him of a game-winning three-point shot.

Instead of beating Temple, Williams’ shot from the top of the key with two seconds left in the second half tied the game, forcing an overtime period in which emotionally spent Oklahoma State was dominated by the Owls.

Temple’s 72-63 victory in the semifinals of the East Regional at the Meadowlands moved the 10th-seeded Owls (24-9) into Sunday’s regional final against top-seeded North Carolina (28-5) and sent the third-seeded Cowboys (24-8) back to Stillwater, Okla.

“When (the officials) said it was a two-pointer, I couldn’t believe it,” Williams said. “But that’s how the game goes. I think if I could have another opportunity to shoot the shot, I think I probably would look to see where my foot was and make sure it was a three-point shot.

“When I released it, I thought it was a three-pointer, but I was more conscious of getting the shot off than winning or losing the game.”

And what went through the minds of the Temple players?

“We just prayed that it wasn’t a three-pointer,” said Owl guard, Mark Macon, who led Temple with 26 points.

Their prayers answered, the Owls scored the first eight points in the overtime period--six by Macon--and ran away from Oklahoma State, which wasn’t able to respond after spending most of the game trying to catch up.

Temple used a 15-4 run to open a 25-16 lead midway through the first half, led by six points at halftime and answered with a 7-0 run after a tipin by Mattias Sahlstrom put Oklahoma State ahead, 45-44. It was the Cowboys’ only lead of the second half and came with 7:32 to play.

The Cowboys didn’t catch up again until Williams’ shot.

“When you have to play from behind, it fatigues you so much physically and emotionally,” Oklahoma State Coach Eddie Sutton said. “And it seemed to be, once we got into the overtime, we were just exhausted.”

Macon was at his best.

After missing his last three shots in regulation, including an off-balance hook shot in the lane at the buzzer that would have won the game for Temple, he opened the overtime by making a 15-foot jump shot.

Then, after Williams missed from the top of the key, Macon scored on a breakaway layup. After Oklahoma State’s Sean Sutton was called for traveling, Macon scored again on a drive, tossing in a left-handed hook shot.

“He just kind of took the game over,” Eddie Sutton said of Macon, who scored eight points in overtime before fouling out.

But if it was a day of atonement for Macon, who made only six of 29 shots at the Meadowlands in a much-discussed 63-53 loss to Duke in the East Regional final three years ago, he wouldn’t admit to it.

“It’s a good win, whether it was at the Meadowlands or out at the Pontiac Silverdome or anywhere,” he said. “ ’88 is gone. It’s ’91 now. I can’t live in the past. I have to keep moving on.”