Buckeyes Take It to Bank

Brent Darby was being closely guarded while driving the lane when he heard the whistle and thought he was going to the free-throw line with a chance to put Ohio State ahead with six seconds to play.

But instead of Darby, the Buckeyes’ leading scorer, the player fouled -- well away from the ball -- was teammate Charles Bass, a freshman who had never attempted a free throw in a college game, let alone made one in a pressure situation.

“I went to say something to the referee and Charles told me, ‘Don’t worry about it, I got it,’ ” Darby said. “The way he said it, he had a lot of confidence in his voice. So I stepped away from him and said, ‘Do your thing.’ ”

Bass, a reserve who was in the game only because Velimir Radinovic had fouled out, banked in the first free throw, which was decisive for Ohio State in a 55-54 victory over Michigan State in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament Saturday at the United Center in Chicago.

“I knew it was my time to step up,” said Bass, who also banked the second free throw, which missed. “Everyone else had been doing it. Now we’ve got to win a championship.”

After making the game-winner, the Chicago-area native turned around and pumped his left fist as Buckeye fans roared their approval.

“I took it personally that they fouled me,” Bass said.

Michigan State got off a final shot, but Chris Hill’s 13-footer caromed off the rim as time expired.

Ohio State cheerleaders rushed the court and several Buckeye players fell to the floor in joy. The eighth-seeded Buckeyes (17-13) will play second-seeded Illinois (23-6) today for the tournament championship and an automatic NCAA bid.

Bass and Darby rescued Ohio State after it had nearly collapsed down the stretch. The Buckeyes led by 19 in the first half, when they held Michigan State (19-12) to 15% shooting. But Ohio State had only two field goals in the last 17:09.

Darby made all 10 of his free throws in the last 9:39, his final two giving Ohio State a 54-51 lead with 1:59 left. He led the Buckeyes with 23 points, but afterward he answered questions about Bass’ free throw.

“I guess he’s been working on that one on his own,” Darby said. “I don’t know where it came from, but it went down for us.”

As for the strategy to foul Bass, Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo said: “I decided if I was going to lose the game, I was going to lose it with the ball in our hands at the end, not theirs. So I just said, since we haven’t been able to stop him [Darby] once without fouling him, we’re going to foul who we thought was their worst free throw shooter.”

New Beast in East

The wait is finally over for Vermont.

The Catamounts secured their first NCAA tournament berth by defeating Boston University, 56-55, on David Hehn’s 10-foot jump shot with 5.6 seconds left in the final of the America East Conference tournament at Boston.

About 700 Vermont fans rushed the court to celebrate at Case Gym. The first two rounds of the tournament were played downstairs at Walter Brown Arena, normally the hockey rink on the Boston campus.

Matt Sheftic scored 23 points to lead the Catamounts (21-11) -- the conference’s first No. 2-seeded team to defeat the top-seeded team in the tournament.

“I always believed this day would come,” said Vermont Coach Tom Brennan, in his 17th season.

Chaz Carr had a chance to win it for Boston (20-10), but his three-point attempt was short as time expired. The Terriers won the tournament last season.

Boston rallied from a 14-point deficit in the first half to go ahead, 55-54, on Ryan Butt’s three-point basket as the shot clock expired with 3:15 to play.

Boston still had the lead when it turned the ball over with 40 seconds left. Vermont had almost let the shot clock expire when Hehn drove to the right and made the winning basket over Carr.

Comeback Kids

South Carolina State had been there before.

Less than eight minutes into the game, the Bulldogs trailed Hampton by 20 points in the final of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament at Richmond, Va.

Earlier this season, South Carolina State trailed Hampton by 18 before coming back to win.

The Bulldogs showed that the first comeback wasn’t a fluke by rallying for a 72-67 victory to clinch their fifth NCAA tournament berth and first since 2000.

“We’ve been in that situation before,” said Dustin Braddick, who led the Bulldogs with 25 points. “We had confidence because we beat them twice in the regular season.”

Coach Cy Alexander agreed.

“That was a big catalyst in our being able to believe we could do it again,” he said.

Thurman Zimmerman scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half for South Carolina State (20-10), which had trailed, 26-6.

Hampton (19-11), which gained fame in the first round of the 2001 NCAA tournament against Iowa State by becoming only the fourth No. 15-seeded team to win a game, lost its last lead when Zimmerman made two free throws to put the Bulldogs ahead, 58-57, with 5:36 left. South Carolina State outscored the Pirates, 30-13, from the foul line.

Let the Games Begin

Two weeks of player boycotts, academic scandals and coaching dismissals will take a backseat today to the NCAA tournament selection process.

For those on the 10-member men’s tournament selection committee, the shift from controversy to determining the 65-team field can’t come soon enough.

“Whether it’s a team that’s never been in it or one that hasn’t been in it for a long time, you don’t want to see anything taking away from these great stories,” said Arizona Athletic Director Jim Livengood, selection committee chairman.

Livengood wants to turn the focus on schools such as Indiana Purdue Indianapolis and Wisconsin Milwaukee, which earned their first NCAA tournament berths Tuesday, rather than on the scandals at Georgia, Fresno State, St. Bonaventure and Villanova.

“This time of year, you really don’t want anything detracting from the tournament,” Livengood said. “You want the players from the 65 teams to have a great experience.”

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Times wire services contributed to this report.