Thomas Makes for a Blissful New Mexico Night

L.A. Times Archives

March 7, 1998 12 AM PT

From Associated Press

Kenny Thomas didn’t wait for New Mexico Coach Dave Bliss to give him a pep talk after a miserable first half against Texas Christian. He sat in a corner of the locker room and gave it to himself.

Properly inspired, the New Mexico center scored 18 second-half points as the No. 20 Lobos came back to beat No. 13 Texas Christian, 80-73, Friday night in the semifinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament at Las Vegas.

“At halftime, I went into the locker room and didn’t talk to anybody,” said Thomas, who had only four points and two rebounds in the first half. “I started off the first half and I wasn’t very focused. I thought inside I just had to come out in the second half and be strong down low and let them know I was there.”

Thomas did just that, grabbing 10 second-half rebounds as New Mexico erased an 11-point second-half deficit to end TCU’s 16-game winning streak.

Thomas also scored the first four points of a 9-0 run in the last 2:43 that broke open a two-point game.

Thomas ended the game with 22 points and 12 rebounds as New Mexico (23-6) outrebounded an opponent for the first time in 10 games. The Lobos had 42 rebounds to 33 for Texas Christian (27-5).

The Horned Frogs led by as many as 11 points in the second half and were ahead, 58-52, midway through the half when New Mexico went on a 16-5 run. Kevin Henry capped the spurt with a three-point shot that gave the Lobos a 68-63 lead with 4:20 left.

The Lobos will play Nevada Las Vegas in the tonight’s championship game. The Rebels defeated Fresno State, 76-67, on Friday.

ATLANTIC COAST

No. 4 North Carolina 73, North Carolina State 46--Antawn Jamison turned away another Wolfpack upset bid with 25 points and seven rebounds, sending North Carolina to victory in the tournament quarterfinals at Greensboro, N.C.

Jamison all but carried the Tar Heels for the first 30 minutes, scoring 21 of their first 41 points before they wore down undermanned and fatigued N.C. State.

The defending-champion Tar Heels (28-3) had lost two of their last three regular-season games, one by 14 points to N.C. State.

The Wolfpack (16-14) got 16 points from C.C. Harrison and 15 from Ishua Benjamin.

They harassed North Carolina into 31% shooting in the first half. But the Wolfpack, coming off a first-round victory over Florida State on Thursday night, was unable to keep pace in the final 15 minutes.

North Carolina came in shooting 53.5%, tops in the nation. The Tar Heels shot 59% in the second half and wound up at 47%, the sixth consecutive game in which they have failed to reach the 50% mark.

Laron Profit scored nine of his 19 points over a two-minute stretch of the second half as No. 21 Maryland (19-9) probably ended Georgia Tech’s (17-13) NCAA hopes with an 83-65 victory. . . . Clemson (18-12) bolstered its NCAA hopes, getting 21 points from Greg Buckner and 19 from Terrell McIntyre in a 75-56 victory over Wake Forest (15-13). Clemson used a 31-5 second-half run to bury the Demon Deacons.

ATLANTIC 10

George Washington 78, No. 24 Temple 64--Mike King scored 19 points and J.J. Brade had 17 as the Colonials reached the tournament final for the first time in seven years at Philadelphia.

Temple (21-8), which had won nine consecutive conference games, made only two baskets in the last 10 minutes as George Washington (24-7) went on a 16-2 spurt. The Colonials held Temple to 11-for-34 shooting in the second half.

Alexander Koul had 13 rebounds as George Washington outrebounded the Owls, 48-30.

George Washington’s Shawnta Rogers, who had a career-high 28 points in Thursday’s 88-83 victory over Massachusetts, managed only six points.

Torraye Braggs had 23 points and 11 rebounds and Xavier’s (21-7) shooting was on from start to finish as the top-seeded team beat Rhode Island (22-8), 95-80. Xavier took an early 12-point lead and Rhode Island never got closer than seven the rest of the way as Xavier shot 59%.

BIG EAST

No. 6 Connecticut 64, Rutgers 50--Freshman Khalid El-Amir scored 21 points at New York as the Huskies reached the finals of the Big East tournament for the third time in four years.

Connecticut had a struggle on its hands for the first half, leading by only four points until Richard Hamilton, the Big East player of the year, made a three-point shot 2.9 seconds before halftime.

Hamilton, who had managed only one three-point basket in 15 shots over the last two games for the Huskies, finished with 18 points.

Hamilton’s three-point basket gave Connecticut a 27-20 lead at halftime, and the Huskies built on that. After Eric Clark, who led Rutgers with 20 points, opened the second half with a basket, Connecticut went on a 10-2 run with El Amin contributing two baskets and Hamilton making three free throws. Rutgers never threatened after that.

Rutgers (14-15), which had knocked off West Virginia and Georgetown for its first Big East tournament victories ever, had a terrible shooting night, going 18 for 65 (27.7%).

Ryan Blackwell, who committed a turnover and missed a free throw late in regulation, made a 15-foot jump shot at the buzzer, giving Syracuse (24-7) a 69-67 overtime victory over St. John’s (22-9). Blackwell, who had 13 points and 11 rebounds, missed a free throw with 18 seconds left in regulation. Ron Artest’s layup with 1.7 seconds left capped a 7-0 run for St. John’s (22-9) and tied the game, 58-58.

BIG 12

No. 3 Kansas 68, Kansas State 61--Paul Pierce and Raef LaFrentz each sank two free throws in the final 1:55 after being fouled by Manny Dies, lifting Kansas in the second round at Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas’ two preseason All-Americans were fouled on consecutive possessions by Dies, the Wildcats’ leading scorer and rebounder who had missed three games after his arrest on alcohol charges.

LaFrentz, the Big 12 player of the year for a second consecutive season, gave Kansas a 66-61 lead after Dies had shouldered in close for a layup that pulled the Wildcats within three points.

After LaFrentz rebounded Dies’ missed shot, Pierce was fouled and made two more free throws for Kansas (32-3), the regular-season Big 12 champion.

Nick Bradford and Pierce each missed two free throws in the final 46 seconds, but Kansas State (17-11) failed on two three-point shots while losing to the Jayhawks for the 13th consecutive time.

Eighth-seeded Kansas trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half after Pierce scored eight consecutive points. But Chris Griffin led the Wildcats on a 14-4 run to cut the halftime deficit to 32-28.

A three-point shot by Ayome May in the opening seconds of the second half, Griffin’s two free throws and a 14-footer by Aaron Swartzendruber boosted Kansas State into a 34-32 lead.

At that point, Kansas Coach Roy Williams pulled his starting five off the court and inserted a team of reserves.

By the time the starters came back a little more than three minutes later, the reserves had chipped a point off the lead and made the score 38-37. Pierce and Ryan Robertson then sparked a 15-5 run that put Kansas on top, 52-43.

Brandy Perryman’s three-point shot with 28.9 seconds to play lifted Texas (14-16) to a 65-64 upset of No. 25 Oklahoma State (21-6). Cowboy center Brett Robisch missed a layup just before the buzzer as the underdog Longhorns advanced. Kris Clack, who twice was hobbled by injuries in the closing minutes, stole the ball from Joe Adkins with just under 50 seconds to play. Clack, who appeared to re-injure a knee that caused him to miss time in January, then drove the lane for a score with about 48 seconds to play to get Texas within 64-62. Oklahoma State failed to score on its next possession, and Perryman made a long three-point shot from the corner. . . . Tyronne Lue scored 22 points and broke Nebraska’s (20-10) season record for three-point shooting while leading the Huskers past cold-shooting Baylor (14-14), 65-46. . . . Corey Brewer scored 20 points as Oklahoma (21-9) overcame poor shooting (36%) to hold off Missouri (17-14), 58-53.

CONFERENCE USA

No. 14 Cincinnati 100, Alabama Birmingham 85--D’Juan Baker scored 26 points over the Blazers’ zone defense to lead Cincinnati in the tournament semifinals at Cincinnati.

Baker, an erratic shooting guard who tends to struggle in big games, gave his best performance in 22 games. He made eight of his first 11 shots against a defense geared to negate the Bearcats’ front-line strength.

Alabama-Birmingham (20-11) couldn’t keep up when Baker started connecting and finished with its seventh loss of 14 points or more this season. The Blazers also lost to Cincinnati (25-5) by 17 points on Feb. 19 at home.

DeMarco Johnson scored 30 points and made North Carolina Charlotte’s (19-9) biggest baskets down the stretch as the 49ers defeated Southern Mississippi (22-10), 65-53. Johnson, the conference’s player of the year, scored 14 points as UNC Charlotte built a 12-point lead in the first half. When Southern Mississippi cut it to three points with 8:48 to play, the 49ers called a timeout and went to Johnson on the next two possessions.

SOUTHEASTERN

No. 7 Kentucky 82, Alabama 71--Jeff Sheppard and Nazr Mohammed keyed a late 13-4 run that enabled defending the conference tournament champion Wildcats to survive a scare at Atlanta.

Kentucky (27-4) has won the tournament five of the last six years. Sheppard led four Wildcats in double figures with 17 points, 13 in the second half. Mohammed had 10 of his 13 in the final 20 minutes. Scott Padgett added 12 points, and freshman Michael Bradley had 10.

Alabama (15-16) had won five of its last six games, including a 72-62 victory over Vanderbilt on Thursday in the opening round.

Unless Alabama gets an improbable bid to the National Invitation Tournament, it will have been the last game as coach for David Hobbs. At Alabama for six years, Hobbs was fired Feb. 2 but was allowed to finish the season.

Anthony Boone converted a three-point play with 45 seconds remaining to help No. 10 Mississippi (22-5) advance to the semifinals with a 72-67 victory over Georgia (16-14), despite making only one field goal in the final nine minutes. . . . Pat Bradley scored 24 points to help No. 16 Arkansas (23-7) set a tournament scoring record in a 102-96 victory over Tennessee (20-8). The 102 points broke the previous record of 101, accomplished twice by Kentucky: in a 101-100 win over Alabama in 1979 and a 101-40 romp over Tennessee in 1993. . . . LeRon Williams burned his old team by scoring 14 points and No. 15 South Carolina (22-6) cruised to a 71-60 victory over Florida (14-14). Williams, a transfer from Florida who became eligible to play for the Gamecocks this season, teamed with Bud Johnson to fill a void up front after William Gallman suffered an undisclosed injury less than seven minutes into the game and didn’t return.

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They’re In

Schools that have received automatic bids to the NCAA tournament. All bids are by virtue of conference tournament championships with the exception of the Ivy League and Pacific 10, which do not conduct postseason tournaments:

* Arizona: Pacific 10

* Butler: Midwestern Collegiate

* Coll. of Charleston: Trans America Ath.

* Davidson: Southern

* Eastern Michigan: Mid-American

* Fairleigh Dickinson: Northeast

* Illinois State: Missouri Valley

* Iona: Metro Atlantic Athletic

* Murray State: Ohio Valley

* Navy: Patriot

* Princeton: Ivy

* Radford: Big South