Saint Louis Is Caught Up in Spirit of Tournament

Maybe there’s just something different about the Conference USA tournament.

Saint Louis, in defeating DePaul, 56-49, Saturday for the Conference USA tournament championship, became only the fifth NCAA tournament-bound team to win four games in four days. Two other Conference USA teams accomplished the feat in the five years the conference has existed but neither was seeded as low (No. 9) as St. Louis (19-13).

“We’re obviously thrilled that we were able to come out and gain an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament,” said an understated first-year Coach Lorenzo Romar, who previously was at Pepperdine--an NCAA tournament bubble team this year.

Marquette won the Conference USA tournament with four victories in four days in 1997, and North Carolina Charlotte did it last year--as did Auburn in the Southeastern Conference tournament in 1985 and Nevada Las Vegas in the Western Athletic Conference tournament in 1997.

Justin Love, who had 76 points in victories over Southern Mississippi, No. 1-ranked Cincinnati, and Tulane--scored only eight against DePaul (21-11), but fellow guard John Redden picked up the slack with 19 points, making nine free throws in the final four minutes.

Saint Louis scored the first 10 points and never trailed. DePaul made only five baskets in falling behind, 26-19, at halftime, and leading scorer Quentin Richardson missed his first 11 shots before finally scoring on a layup with 8:53 left in the game. He finished with six points on two-of-13 shooting.

ATLANTIC COAST

Freshman Mike Dunleavy, in his second game back since being diagnosed with mononucleosis Feb. 21, scored 15 points in 22 minutes as No. 3 Duke (26-4) defeated Wake Forest, 82-73, at Charlotte, N.C., to reach the final for the third consecutive year. In today’s championship game, Duke plays No. 20 Maryland (24-8)--a 64-61 winner over North Carolina State (17-12).

Dunleavy made four of five shots--including two three-point attempts in an 11-0 run early in the second half that gave Duke a seven-point lead. He has made 10 of 12 shots--and all seven three-point attempts--in the tournament.

Wake Forest (17-14) lost for the eighth consecutive time to Duke.

Maryland (24-8)--the only ACC team to beat Duke the last two seasons--ended a streak of losing in the conference semifinals at five and reached the championship game for the first time since 1984.

There were five lead changes and three ties in the second half before Juan Dixon, who had a game-high 21 points, scored on a fastbreak layup to put Maryland ahead to stay at 59-58 with 2:21 left.

ATLANTIC 10

A year after Coach John Chaney made his players sit in tears and watch Rhode Island celebrate a last-second victory in the Atlantic 10 final, No. 6 Temple (26-5) was dominant in a 65-44 win over St. Bonaventure (21-9) at Philadelphia that produced its first conference tournament championship since 1990. Temple also lost in four other finals to Massachusetts in the ‘90s.

“I always had my team sit there and watch the other winner, even with tears in their eyes,” Chaney said. “It’s important to do that. It tells you what you’re made of.”

Temple, making a strong push for a No. 1 regional seeding in the NCAA tournament, showed what it was made of in taking a 32-4 lead and never allowing St. Bonaventure closer than 14 points.

BIG EAST

No. 19 St. John’s turned its latest touch of turmoil into its first Big East tournament title in 14 years, ending No. 24 Connecticut’s two-year run as conference champion with an 80-70 victory at New York.

Ever since leading scorer Erick Barkley was suspended for two games in early February for a violation of NCAA rules, St. John’s (24-7) has managed to overcome adversity in winning 11 of 12 games.

Barkley was suspended a second time for one game at the end of February for another NCAA violation and after Friday night’s semifinal victory over Miami he said he would “take a leave of absence” from the championship game. Reports had him fighting at halftime of that game with teammate Bootsy Thornton, but the two seemed to be fine a day later.

Thornton, the tournament’s outstanding player, had 22 points and Barkley had 19.

Connecticut (24-9)--the defending national champion--was playing its fourth game in as many days and seemed a step slow in defending St. John’s, which shot 59.2%.

BIG 12

No. 7 Iowa State showed it can win even if Marcus Fizer, the Big 12 player of the year, doesn’t have a big game.

Forward Stevie Johnson had 21 points, including two three-point plays in the final 1:58, as Iowa State--the Big 12 regular-season champion--defeated No. 17 Oklahoma State, 68-64, in a rugged semifinal at Kansas City, Mo. There were 47 fouls, with Oklahoma State (24-6) getting 28.

In today’s final, Iowa State (28-4) plays No. 15 Oklahoma, an 81-65 winner over No. 13 Texas.

Fizer scored 19 points--the first time in six games he had less than 29. Fizer, who averages 23.3 points, had a tournament-record 38 against Baylor Friday.

While the Big 12’s leading scorer was held in check, Eduardo Najera--the No. 2 scorer in the conference at 18.5 points a game--had a career-high 31 to lead Oklahoma (26-5).

Najera scored 13 points during a 23-5 run in the second half that allowed Oklahoma to overcome a five-point deficit and take a 63-50 lead with 5:40 left.

Najera had 77 points in three games this season against Texas (23-8)--a loser for the third consecutive season in the Big 12 semifinals.

SOUTHEASTERN

Arkansas knocked off the last of four teams that shared the regular-season conference championship, defeating No. 10 Louisiana State, 69-67, in the semifinals at Atlanta. Arkansas (18-14) plays Auburn (23-8)--a 77-72 winner over South Carolina--for the championship and the automatic NCAA tournament bid.

Louisiana State (26-4) was the only survivor from the quarterfinals among the teams that shared the regular-season title. No. 8 Tennessee, No. 11 Florida and No. 16 Kentucky all lost Friday. The Tigers, however, played into the hands of the full-court pressing Razorbacks with 25 turnovers. Arkansas, which starts three freshmen and a sophomore, has forced 76 turnovers in three tournament games.

Auburn, meanwhile, continued to get inspired play from its three seniors and flu-ridden junior guard Scott Pohlman in defeating South Carolina (15-17). The Tigers defeated Florida, 77-70, Friday after learning that suspended star player Chris Porter would not be reinstated by the NCAA, then got double-figure point totals from center Mamadou N’diaye, forward Daymeon Fishback, guard Doc Robinson and Pohlman in the semifinals.

Pohlman, who missed practice all week and didn’t start for the second consecutive game, played 32 minutes and scored 15 points.

OTHER TOURNAMENTS

AMERICA EAST: Craig “Speedy” Claxton--the two-time conference player of the year--had 24 points as Hofstra (24-6) earned its first NCAA tournament bid since 1977 with a 76-69 victory over Delaware (24-7) in the final at Hempstead, N.Y. Claxton had 62 points in three games to be named the tournament’s outstanding player. He is a 5-10 senior guard whose high school teammates at New York City powerhouse Christ the King were Lamar Odom and Erick Barkley.

MID-EASTERN ATHLETIC: Mike Wiatre, the tournament’s outstanding player, had 26 points and 10 rebounds for regular-season champion South Carolina State (19-13) in a 70-53 victory over Coppin State (15-15) at Richmond, Va., in which it earned its fourth NCAA tournament bid. South Carolina State, last in the 11-team conference in shooting at 38.7%, made 21 of 62 shots (32.3%).

MOUNTAIN WEST: Nevada Las Vegas (23-7) made an emphatic statement for an NCAA tournament bid, taking a 26-2 lead and going on to a 79-56 win over Brigham Young (20-10) in the final at Las Vegas. The Mountain West doesn’t get an automatic NCAA bid. Brigham Young had only three points in the first 13:36 of the game, and trailed, 43-16, at halftime and by as many as 38 points in the second half.

SOUTHLAND: Landon Rowe scored 21 points to lead Lamar (15-15) to a 62-55 victory over Northwestern State (17-13) in the final at Shreveport, La., and its first NCAA tournament bid since 1983.

SOUTHWESTERN ATHLETIC: Vincent Jones, the conference’s defensive player of the year, showed off his offensive skill with 10-for-16 shooting and 22 points to lead Jackson State (17-15) to a 76-61 victory over Southern (18-11) in the final at Biloxi, Miss. The 6-11 Jones also had four blocked shots.

WESTERN ATHLETIC: Even though the conference doesn’t get an automatic NCAA bid, Fresno State (24-9) appears headed for the tournament after defeating No. 14 Tulsa (29-4) for the third time this season, 75-72 at Fresno. Courtney Alexander, the nation’s leading scorer at 25.2 points, scored 29--making two free throws with 4.1 seconds left and then stealing Tulsa’s inbounds pass.