COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : Bruins to Get Taste of ‘Country’ Living : East Regional: Reeves, Oklahoma State’s bruising center, pushes Massachusetts aside, 68-54.

Marcus Camby’s blood-stained jersey and Lou Roe’s swollen lip said it all about Massachusetts’ 40-minute experience playing against the man called “Big Country.”

Bryant Reeves, Oklahoma State’s 7-foot, 292-pound senior center, banged his way to a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds and left the Minutemen’s inside players looking as if they had lost a 15-round boxing match in the Cowboys’ 68-54 victory over UMass in the East Regional final Sunday before 19,689 at the Meadowlands.

The Cowboys (27-9) will meet UCLA in their first trip to the Final Four since 1951, and they can thank Reeves, the East Regional’s most valuable player, for leading them there.

“Every time I bumped him, he knocked me back and held his ground,” said Camby, who entered the game as UMass’ leading scorer and rebounder in the tournament but was held to only six points and four rebounds by Reeves. “I can’t blame the officials, but I just was never able to get into my game.”

Camby and his fast-breaking teammates were stalled by Oklahoma State’s relentless man-to-man defense and patient half-court offense. After averaging 76 points and 18-point victory margins over their last nine games, the Minutemen were frustrated into shooting only 27.6% from the floor and were outrebounded, 49-39.

“They were very physical and they never allowed us to get off a good clean shot without body contact,” UMass Coach John Calipari said. “That’s the way they play and they did it well enough to win.”

Oklahoma State is not supremely gifted, but Coach Eddie Sutton does have a team that takes pride in its defense, and that was the difference.

After falling behind, 11-3, and 32-27 by halftime, the Cowboys’ persistence wore UMass down in the second half. Senior guard Randy Rutherford scored 15 of his 19 points in the final 20 minutes to complement Reeves’ inside dominance.

“In the first half, my shot wasn’t falling for me,” said Rutherford, who missed his first four three-point shots to start the game. “But I told my teammates at the half to keep getting me the ball.”

Early in the second half, Rutherford--who has the third-best NCAA single-season mark with 142 three-point shots--showed his teammates that he had regained his touch with two three-point baskets within a minute to help lead the Cowboys to an 18-7 run and a 45-39 lead at the 13:11 mark.

From there, Oklahoma State’s defense took over as it forced UMass into one missed jump shot after another while Rutherford and Reeves led a disciplined attack that opened a 58-53 lead with 6:06 to play.

“It was tough to get back into the game because they kept throwing screens at us from all over the place,” UMass guard Carmelo Travieso said. “Every time you looked up, there were back screens, front screens, side screens or whatever. It was like bumper cars out there after a while.”

Despite some late three-point shots by Derek Kellogg, who had 10 points, and Travieso, who had a team-high 11, UMass got as close as only seven points with two minutes left before Rutherford clinched the game with a falling-down three-point shot from the top of the key.

“They just got tired because we really worked them on both ends of the court,” Rutherford said. “We are not intimidated by anyone, and that includes UCLA. It doesn’t matter where you come from. As long as you know how to play the game of basketball, it only matters on the court and not what kind of hype you have as a team.”

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Return Trip

Coaches who have coached two schools in the NCAA Final Four:

Coach Teams (Years) Forddy Anderson Bradley (1950, 1954), Michigan St. (1957) Gene Bartow Memphis St. (1973), UCLA (1976) Larry Brown UCLA (1980), Kansas (1986, 1988) Hugh Durham Florida St. (1972), Georgia (1983) Jack Gardner Kansas St. (1948, 1951), Utah (1961, 1966) Lou Henson New Mexico St. (1970), Illinois (1989) Frank McGuire St. John’s (1952), North Carolina (1957) Lute Olson Iowa (1980), Arizona (1988) Rick Pitino Providence (1987), Kentucky (1993) Lee Rose N.C. Charlotte (1977), Purdue (1980) Eddie Sutton Arkansas (1978), Oklahoma St. (1995)