One Thriller, One Shocker

By a tip, a whistle and a push from the fickle finger of destiny, Kentucky straggled a step closer to a national title here Saturday.

And Stanford, which ran with the Wildcats from wire-to-wire and beyond, was left with a milestone victory dribbling from its hands, feeling alternately proud of the fervor of the fight and drained by its end result.

In a game full of charges, counter-charges and electric charges, Kentucky’s Jeff Sheppard made all of the huge baskets, leading the Wildcats to an 86-85 victory in overtime in a national semifinal game before 40,509 at the Alamodome.

“Jeff Sheppard is the man,” Wildcat center Nazr Mohammed said after Sheppard’s career-high 27-point performance, including three three-point baskets in the final eight minutes of the game. “No question, Jeff carried us tonight. Man, he was incredible.”

Kentucky moves on to face Utah on Monday in the national-title game, the Wildcats’ third consecutive appearance in college basketball’s last and biggest contest.

And there but for the grace of a possession arrow--or a leap for a loose ball, or a referee’s call--goes the Cardinal.

“We had a chance to win this game, to say the least,” Cardinal point guard Arthur Lee said. “And a turn in our favor here or there . . . This game was so tough, we’ll be second-guessing this one for a while.”

Stanford broke out fast, held on tight against Kentucky’s defense (only two turnovers in the first half, which ended with the Cardinal ahead, 37-32) and looked like the better team for a long time.

The Wildcats (33-4) did not take their first lead until halfway through the second half and watched Stanford keep making shots under pressure.

The biggest was Lee’s fall-away three-pointer with 27 seconds left in regulation to send it into overtime, tied at 73.

The Cardinal was scrambling and Stanford forward Mark Madsen was grabbing every loose rebound (a game-high 16 in all); Kentucky had Sheppard firing in three-pointers, and Mohammed in rhythm after a foul-prone first half.

Who had the advantage in the extra period?

“All we were thinking about was five more minutes of basketball,” Sheppard said. “We were excited to be able to continue playing. It’s the Final Four, why not play an overtime game?”

But, with some help from fortunate bounces and deflections, Kentucky scored scored on eight consecutive possessions in overtime, its only failure coming on its last possession, when guard Wayne Turner missed both free throws with 2.5 seconds left.

Once during the run, Kentucky retained possession after Scott Padgett missed a dunk, sending the ball flying out of bounds, when the referee ruled that Stanford’s Madsen had deflected the dunk.

“Madsen’s hand went through the rim and deflected it,” Padgett said. “I thought it should’ve been a goaltending. . . . When they gave it to us out of bounds, I was happy, but I was confused.”

Soon he was only happy: Sheppard followed that immediately with a three-pointer from the top of the key that gave Kentucky a four-point lead.

As Stanford harried him and bumped him and ran several defenders at him, Sheppard was five for five in the second half and overtime, including three three-point shots.

“I just had two great screens set for me,” said Sheppard, the senior guard who redshirted last season when he realized that the playing time would be sparse behind future NBA lottery picks Ron Mercer and Derek Anderson.

“It’s kind of easy when you come up and you’re open.”

Easy?

Said Padgett of Sheppard: “I don’t think he has an ego. He’ll come in here, and as great a game as he played, he’ll tell everybody that he didn’t do anything, that it was all his teammates’ doing.

“But the truth is, he made the big shots tonight, and he kept making them all game.”

Then, in the game’s final moments, after the Cardinal’s Pete Sauer made a long three-pointer to cut the lead to one with 9.2 seconds left, Padgett was tied up in the backcourt, but Kentucky got the ball back on alternating possessions.

Finally, with six seconds left, swingman Allen Edwards was forced to toss the ball basically up for grabs 40 feet toward the Stanford basket.

“That was a designed play,” Sheppard said, giggling next to his coach. “We practice it all the time--we run around like crazy, throw it up in the air, and hopefully one of us gets it.”

Turner and Lee battled for the ball, the outcome of the game in the balance.

“What was I thinking?” Edwards said. “I hope he gets it. I really hope he gets it. It wasn’t a very accurate pass, but Wayne made a real athletic play to get to it.”

Said Lee, who followed-up his heroic performance against Rhode Island last Sunday with 26 points against Kentucky: “I knew I was going to get it. But he jumped in the air before it could get over his head. Man, I was thinking about what I was going to do after I got the ball.”

But he never got the ball, Sauer couldn’t come close on a desperation try after Turner missed his free throws, and Stanford finished its greatest season in decades at 30-5, one step short of the championship game.

When it was over, a section of the arena filled with coaches from across the nation stood and applauded in appreciation.

“I don’t know if it’s destiny or not,” Edwards said, “but if it is, we’re sure working hard to make it happen.”

This was the Wildcats’ second consecutive thriller of a victory, on the heels of their rally from a 17-point deficit to defeat Duke in the South Regional final last Sunday.

“I’m sure if I was sitting in the stands and saw how hard each team was working and giving of themselves,” Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith said, “I would applaud also.”