NCAA EAST REGIONAL : Stanford Makes It Personal, Then Beats UNC Charlotte

UCLA? Forget UCLA.

Also Arizona State.

Stanford’s players decided Friday that they were carrying the Pacific 10 flag into the NCAA tournament and waved it after Bert Lammerson’s layup with 43 seconds to play gave them a 70-68 victory over North Carolina Charlotte.

“We knew that we had to go out and show that the Pac-10 is tough,” said Cardinal guard Brevin Knight, who scored 13 points and set up the winning basket. “Arizona and Oregon played good teams and they happened to lose. But we’re going to try to keep the Pac-10 alive as long as possible.’

It also helped bring back to life 10th-seeded Stanford’s (20-8) fortunes. The last time the Cardinal won an NCAA tournament Stanford was the Indians and they were winning the 1942 national championship by beating Dartmouth.

It’s been a long 53 years.

It almost got longer.

Charlotte (19-9) led, 63-58, with 4:46 to play but scored only on DeMarco Johnson’s three-point play with 1:34 to go and on Jarvis Lang’s meaningless rebound basket just before the buzzer.

After sending the basketball down low to Lang, who finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds, all game long, the 49ers decided to launch jump shots in the closing minutes. They also decided to foul Stanford, which made 14 of 16 free throws in the second half.

“I think maybe they panicked a little bit because it seemed to me that they were doing a pretty good job with the ball inside,” said Stanford forward Andy Poppink. “They were looking up at the scoreboard and seeing that we were up one or it was close or whatever, and maybe they got a little nervous or panicked a little and started jacking some outside shots.”

After Poppink hit two free throws with 1:03 to play to put Stanford up, 67-66, UNCC rushed down court and Howard threw up a quick three-point shot that missed.

Knight led Stanford back down court on a break and found Lammersen cutting in from the left side for a layup that put the Cardinal ahead, 69-66, with 43 seconds to go.

Charlotte tried for the tying three-point basket, but Lang missed with 22 seconds to play and Howard missed with 15 seconds to go for the Metro Conference’s regular-season champions.

Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery said the long tournament drought didn’t concern his team. “It wasn’t like we were getting in the tournament every year,” he said. “There was a 47-year gap.”

The Cardinals did not make the tournament from 1942 to 1989, losing in the first round then and in 1992.

No. 7 Massachusetts 68, St. Peter’s 51--The first 29 minutes belonged to the 15th-seeded Peacocks. The last 11 belonged to Marcus Camby, who blocked and altered shots in helping hold St. Peter’s to two points and no field goals in that time.

St. Peter’s (19-11) led, 49-48, with 11:14 to play on a three-point shot by Mike Frensley.

“We looked at the score with 11 minutes left and said if we didn’t pick it up we were going home,” UMass forward Lou Roe said. “That’s what we should have done at the start of the game. Our defense usually propels us to get it going, but it didn’t happen until the last minutes.”

When it happened, it was impressive.

Massachusetts (27-4) got fast-break baskets that were started by Camby’s blocks, and when St. Peter’s was able to slow down the Minutemen, he was able to score on turnaround jump shots, hooks and tip-ins.

“He just literally, single-handedly, took over that game in the final minutes, offensively and defensively,” St. Peter’s coach Ted Fiore said.

Camby finished with 25 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots. Roe finished with 16 points.

Luis Arrosa had 14 points and Randy Holmes 13 for St. Peter’s.