Stoudamire Shoots Down Any Doubters

Joey Graham needed it, Hassan Adams deserved it, Salim Stoudamire took it.

When it was time for the winning shot in this dramatic NCAA regional semifinals, the ball wound up right where it was supposed to be.

Into the hands of the best shooter in the country.

There’s no question anymore. The statistics already said so. Stoudamire’s three-point percentage of 51.3% .led the nation. But that isn’t always the best way to tell. The true test is whom would you want to take a shot if a game -- check that, the season -- was on the line?

Give me Arizona’s Stoudamire. You can have Duke’s J.J. Redick or anyone else in the field.

Friday night, Stoudamire dribbled to his left, pulled up and made a jumper with 2.8 seconds remaining that gave Arizona a 79-78 victory over Oklahoma State and a trip to the NCAA tournament’s regional finals against Illinois in the Allstate Arena.

That gave him a nice trilogy of game-winners for the season: at home against UCLA, at Arizona State and now this, a big reason why the Wildcats are 5-0 in games decided by three points or less.

“He’s about perfect when it’s down to that last shot,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said.

In this particular game, Stoudamire wasn’t “about perfect” in the Bill Walton, 21-for-22 vs. Memphis State sense, or Christian Laettner 10-for-10 vs. Kentucky fashion, but he did have a nice stat line.

Stoudamire scored 19 points on seven-for-11 shooting from the field, including four for seven from three-point range. He also had seven assists.

Up on the postgame dais, as Olson credited the Oklahoma State defense with forcing his team into 14 turnovers, Stoudamire looked at the stat sheet, turned to Channing Frye, made a circle with his thumb and fingers and whispered “Zero turnovers.”

“Who?” Frye asked.

“Me,” Stoudamire said.

He should take a deep bow for that accomplishment, since he handled the ball almost continuously in his 28 minutes.

About the only thing he did wrong was miss one of his two foul shots -- a major blunder for a 91% free-throw shooter.

His playing time was limited by Olson’s wise decision to bench him for the final seven minutes of the first half, when the officials were calling a tight game and Stoudamire already had two fouls.

Fortunately for the Wildcats, they didn’t need Stoudamire the entire night. They consistently worked the ball inside, a big reason they shot 63%.

And Adams, the junior from Westchester High, was ready to fill the void. Adams had 19 points and 10 rebounds. A 25% three-point shooter this season, he made three of four from long range in this one, prompting Olson to call him “our secret weapon.”

Oklahoma State had outscored the Wildcats, 15-6, after Stoudamire came out in the first half to tie the score until Adams pulled up for a three-pointer that went in with two seconds left.

Adams took over in the middle of the second half. He made an open three-pointer -- Arizona’s first field goal from outside the paint in the second half. At the other end, Adams swatted a Joey Graham shot out of bounds. Then he blocked a John Lucas jumper as the shot clock expired.

He came down and took a Stoudamire pass, missed the layup, but got the rebound and scored. He was presenting such a matchup problem for Oklahoma State’s JamesOn Curry that Cowboy Coach Eddie Sutton had to replace Curry with Stephen Graham, who is three inches taller.

But Adams knew it was time to step aside and let Stoudamire handle things in the final two minutes.

“No doubt about it,” Adams said. “That’s when Salim steps up to his best. When he’s on, he’s on. When he got into his groove, it’s hard to stop him.

“I was just trying to be aggressive with my play, trying to keep us in it. I knew one of our seniors was going to step up.”

The Wildcats were down by four points with two minutes remaining when Stoudamire sank a three-pointer. On their next possession Frye, another senior, made a baseline jumper to give them the lead.

With 19 seconds remaining, Oklahoma State’s Joey Graham bulled his way into the lane, then pulled up for a soft jumper that bounced in and put the Cowboys ahead by one.

Poor Graham. He deserved a better fate in what turned out to be his last college game.

He did everything he could to will his team to victory, in the process silencing every last doubt about him. There had been half a week’s worth following his first two games of the tournament, when he put together not-so-grand totals of 15 points and five rebounds in Oklahoma State’s victories over Southeastern Louisiana and Southern Illinois. His draft stock was said to be dropping. So were Oklahoma State’s chances of making the Final Four if he kept performing that way.

But he went out in style, with 26 points. Seventeen came in the second half.

His only mistake was scoring his last two points with enough time for Stoudamire to do his thing.

Stoudamire came off a Frye screen and fired over two defenders. Fffwip.

“I thrive on those situations,” Stoudamire said. “That’s what I live for. That’s why I play basketball. I think big-time players step up in big-time situations. I see myself as one of those type of players.”

After this, so should everyone. Case closed.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimescom/adande.

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Back and Forth

The lead changes in the final 12 1/2 minutes of the Arizona-Oklahoma State game:

*--* 12:26 Joey Graham hits a three-point jumper. Oklahoma State, 52-51 9:52 Hassan Adams hits a three-point jumper. Arizona, 57-56 7:04 Joey Graham hits a three-point jumper. Oklahoma State, 64-62 1:36 Channing Frye hits a two-point jumper. Arizona, 77-76 0:18 Joey Graham hits a two-point jumper. Oklahoma State, 78-77 0:02.8 Salim Stoudamire hits a two-point jumper. Arizona, 79-78

*--*