TWO FOR THE SHOW

By CHRIS DUFRESNE

March 21, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. —

Here’s a feel-good story in the NCAA tournament that sort of got lost in the big-school letterhead.

Ohio State, not to be confused with Gonzaga and suiting up no player named Szczerbiak--OK, the school did once have a Havlicek--completed a remarkable journey from Big Ten bottom feeder to the Final Four.

Ohio State, 8-22 last season, staved off a furious last-minute rally Saturday to beat St. John’s, 77-74, and win the South Regional before a crowd of 24,248 at the Thompson-Boling Arena.

With victory, the Buckeyes (27-8) advance to their first Final Four since 1968, facing Connecticut next Saturday at St. Petersburg, Fla., in a national semifinal game.

As for Saturday’s game, we’re not exaggerating about the furious rally part.

The Buckeyes never trailed and had two second-half leads of 13 points, yet nearly wasted 38 minutes of exceptional play with two tight-rope walking minutes in the end.

With 12 seconds left, St. John’s trailed by two points, 76-74, and had the ball.

The Red Storm gave possession to their best player, freshman point guard Erick Barkley. Instead of going for the win with a three-point shot, though, Barkley attempted to drive the lane around Ohio State’s Scoonie Penn.

Penn bumped Barkley as the St. John’s guard made his move, and the ball squirted free to Ohio State guard Michael Redd with five seconds left. Redd raced down court and was fouled with .07 seconds left. He made one of two free throws.

St. John’s (28-9) did not put up a stink about the final sequence, in which Penn might have been called for a foul that would have put Barkley on the foul line with a chance to tie the score.

The play unfolded in front of the St. John’s bench, but Coach Mike Jarvis said he didn’t see a foul.

“Even if I saw it, I wouldn’t mention it to you anyhow,” Jarvis told the media afterward. “Ohio State deserves to win.”

Penn, who had 22 points and eight assists, said he may have bumped Barkley.

“But I don’t think I did enough to make him lose the ball like that,” Penn said. “I don’t think I pushed him.”

Barkley blamed himself afterward.

“My fault,” he said. “I lost the game.”

The costly mistake was Barkley’s only turnover of the game.

“He’ll blame himself,” Jarvis said of his freshman guard, “and I’ll tell him he’s full of it. We would not have been here tonight if we didn’t have Erick Barkley. “

Penn has been the hero for Ohio State all season, so why would Saturday be any different? The junior transfer from Boston College, who had to sit out last year’s miserable season, was named the South Regional’s most outstanding player.

Penn was great, but he got plenty of help, most notably from junior center Ken Johnson. While St. John’s focused attention on Ohio State’s guards, Penn and Redd, Johnson surprised everyone with 12 points and seven blocked shots. Johnson was averaging only 6.3 points.

Penn and Redd clearly won the battle of guards, combining for 42 points. St. John’s Barkley and Bootsy Thornton had 31.

Unlike Penn, the sophomore Redd had to endure all the insults of last year’s 8-22 season, which included a last-place Big Ten finish. He said it wasn’t much fun.

After Saturday’s win, Redd stood alone on the court with his hands on his hips.

“I was just thinking about all the struggles last year,” Redd, who finished with 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, said, “how the fans were still with us, how we cried after every game and wondered whether it would ever get better.”

It got better.

Imagine the dread, though, had Ohio State blown Saturday’s game after dominating most of it. The Buckeyes jumped out to a 5-0 lead, led by eight at the half, by 10 on Penn’s three-point basket with 5:42 left, by nine with 2:46 remaining and by six, 75-69, with 44 seconds left after Penn made two free throws.

But, as Ohio State Coach Jim O’Brien would say of the Red Storm: “They would not go away nicely.”

Consecutive baskets by Chudney Gray and Ron Artest cut the Buckeyes’ lead to 75-73 with 24 seconds left, the closest St. John’s had been since tipoff.

After Ohio State’s Brian Brown missed the front end of a one-and-one, Gray made it 75-74 by making one of two free throws with 12 seconds left.

Penn was fouled before the inbound pass, and made one of two free throws to push the Ohio State’s lead back to two before Barkley’s last charge down the court.

Or should it have been a blocking foul?

“I don’t know,” Penn said.

Who had time to argue with so much celebrating to do. O’Brien, who resurrected a downtrodden program in two seasons, joined his players in a post-game dance.

“Our guys have tried to get me to do the ‘Dirty Bird’ all year,” O’Brien said.

The dance report: O’Brien has two left claws.

NCAA TOURNAMENT

EAST

Duke vs. Temple

11:30 a.m.

TV: Channel 2

MIDWEST

Michigan St. vs. Kentucky

2 p.m.

TV: Channel 2

Temple (24-10) must be on top if its game if it hopes to stop Duke (35-1) from making its 12th appearance in the Final Four.