No Stopping O’Neal, but Indiana Goes On : West Regional: Hoosiers advance with 89-79 victory despite 36 points by Louisiana State center.

Indiana was happy to be finished with Shaquille O’Neal.

The fifth-ranked Hoosiers overcame a 36-point effort by O’Neal to beat Louisiana State, 89-79, Saturday during the second round of the NCAA West Regional.

“I’m glad the game’s over,” Indiana’s Eric Anderson said. “He’s so huge. I had a heck of a time stopping him. I was just out there hacking him up and hoping for the best.”

Calbert Cheaney scored 30 points and the Hoosiers fought off a series of second-half rallies to advance to the regional semifinals for the 12th time in Bob Knight’s 21 years as Indiana’s coach.

O’Neal scored 27 points during the second half but got little help from his supporting cast as Knight ran his record to 3-0 against LSU’s Dale Brown.

“I said leaving the hotel this morning that the winner of this game wins the national championship,” Brown said. “Indiana won the national championship tonight.”

Knight couldn’t believe that comment.

“Had he been drinking?” Knight said. “Were his eyes glazed over?”

O’Neal, a 50% free-throw shooter during the season, made 12 free throws without a miss and had four three-point plays. The 7-foot-1 junior had 12 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Brown said that he changed the offense at halftime to give O’Neal more room inside, and he responded.

“I didn’t want to lose, so I just turned around and shot my little shot and it was falling, and so were my free throws,” O’Neal said. “We just came up a little short.”

When Brown took O’Neal out of the game with less than a minute to play, LSU’s fans began chanting, “Come back, Shaq.”

But O’Neal said he hadn’t decided whether he will make himself available for the NBA draft or return for his senior season. Brown has said he will recommend O’Neal leave school if the NCAA doesn’t adopt a more severe penalty for intentional fouls.

Cheaney’s total was a season-high and two points short of his personal best.

“Cheaney has had a problem with trying to get the ball occasionally and then do something with it,” Knight said. “Today he got into position to do something before he ever got the ball.”

Alan Henderson scored 19 and Matt Nover added 13 for Indiana (25-6). Vernel Singleton had 14 points for the Tigers (21-10).

Indiana took the lead for good, 35-33, with five minutes to play in the first half and had a 45-38 lead at halftime.

O’Neal scored his team’s first nine points of the second half, but the Tigers never could get closer than two and Indiana took a 69-59 lead on Henderson’s three-point play with 8:07 remaining.

O’Neal’s two free throws with 4:04 remaining cut Indiana’s lead to 73-70. Damon Bailey sank a three-pointer for the Hoosiers and, after O’Neal scored inside, Cheaney’s three-point play made it 79-72 with 2:42 left.

Indiana made 10 of 11 free throws over the final 2:03 to clinch the victory.

LSU outscored the Hoosiers, 11-2, to take a 27-13 lead with 12:10 left in the first half. But Indiana outscored the Tigers, 32-11, during the rest of the half. The Hoosiers took advantage of LSU’s zone to get open shots along the baseline.

“We just got lazy,” O’Neal said.

Meanwhile, the Tigers made only three three-pointers, two by Maurice Williamson, and an inside basket by O’Neal during the last 12 minutes of the half as the Hoosiers took a 45-38 lead.