Lewis, Schenscher Help Georgia Tech Set Course to Win

As an expedition, the comparison isn’t too far-fetched. Lewis and Luke, like Lewis and Clark, combined their divergent skills to carve a path through uncharted territory.

Sure, Will Bynum made the winning shot, sending Georgia Tech to its first national championship game with a 67-65 victory over Oklahoma State.

But where would Bynum be without cerebral senior guard Marvin Lewis and 7-foot Australian center Luke Schenscher?

“I don’t even want to think about that,” Bynum said.

Lewis suggested the winning play during a timeout, telling Coach Paul Hewitt, “Let’s get the ball to Will and run a back screen at the top of the key.”

Schenscher set the screen, nudging Oklahoma State forward Ivan McFarlin long enough to allow Bynum a clear path to the basket for a layup with just over a second to play.

“Everyone calls me the Big Fundamental,” Schenscher said wryly. “That’s what they teach in Australia. We don’t have the athletes like Americans have, so we have to go about playing different ways.”

He could’ve played anywhere on the globe Saturday. Schenscher had 19 points and 12 rebounds, both game highs, and his nine second-half field goals kept Georgia Tech above water when the Cowboys made a late surge.

The first half belonged to Lewis, who made five three-point baskets as Georgia Tech opened a seven-point lead. The Oklahoma State defense extended on him in the second half. He played only 11 more minutes because of foul trouble and did not score.

But the value of his unselfish suggestion to run the last play for Bynum was incalculable. It stands to reason that Lewis is a captain who Monday will play in his 129th game as a Yellow Jacket.

“This victory means more to seniors than anybody,” he said. “The rest of the team can say it could happen again next year. For me, I don’t know what’s to come.”

Actually, he does. Lewis is on the dean’s list, will graduate May 1 and already has an offer to join an Atlanta accounting firm. He’ll be a certified public accountant, and with 239 long-range baskets in his career, it could be said that his specialty will be calculating anything by a factor of three.

“Marvin stepped up and made those huge shots for us, like he’s being doing all year,” Schenscher said. “He may not have been scoring as much later on, but he was definitely freeing it up for other guys.”

Schenscher benefited the most, much to the delight of the Australian outback town of Hope Forest, population 200 or so. The game started at 8 a.m. there and breakfast was served in front of a television.

“The whole town came to my house to watch,” Schenscher said. “That was in the back of my mind, that my family and friends got to see it. It gave me extra motivation.”

He figured that later in the day his father would roast a lamb. There would be plenty of Vegemite and everyone, he said, “would crack open a few beers.”

It was enough to remind him how homesick he was two years ago, his first at Georgia Tech. Schenscher, skinny and timid, was brought out of his shell by Lewis, the team leader.

“I saw how a big guy can make a difference for us,” Lewis said. “We all saw the potential in him.”

Schenscher averaged a modest 8.9 points and 6.4 rebounds this season, but that was a marked improvement over his first two seasons when he averaged 4.1 points and 3.1 rebounds. With his curly red hair and stature, the Bill Walton comparisons will increase as his game improves.

“The first two years were tough,” he said. “Last summer I worked hard with our strength and conditioning coach and made a commitment.”

He will return home in May to try out for the Australian Olympic team. A professional career is looking more promising. First, though, there is a championship game.

Lewis won’t let Luke forget to complete this journey before another begins.

“We’re keeping this team together as long as possible,” Lewis said. “To be a senior, to go out like this, you can’t ask for anything else.”