With Three-Tenths of a Second Left, Van Horn, Utah Beat Odds in Las Vegas

Andre Miller and Keith Van Horn had to have perfect timing or No. 3-ranked Utah would suffer a quick exit from the Western Athletic Conference tournament Thursday night in Las Vegas and lose a possible No. 1 or 2 regional seeding in the NCAA tournament.

With only three-tenths of a second left, Miller lofted a pass from the baseline and the 6-foot-10 Van Horn soared through the lane to tip the ball into the basket with his right hand, giving Utah an improbable 59-58 victory over Southern Methodist.

Rules state that with three-tenths of a second left or less, a player cannot catch and shoot for a basket to count, meaning a tip was the only way for Van Horn to score.

Utah (24-3) trailed by 15 points in the second half of the quarterfinal game but SMU (16-12) went scoreless the final 8:20.

With 16 seconds, Miller missed a free throw that would have tied the game, 58-58. Utah fouled Allen Krist, who missed the front end of a one-and-one with 13 seconds. Van Horn, who had 25 points, then missed a short jumper with about two seconds. But the ball was touched by an SMU player before going out of bounds--setting the stage for the incredible finish.

Utah advances against No. 14 New Mexico (24-6), a 65-57 winner over Hawaii (20-7).