Texas Wins on a Dream Shot

Kenton Paulino’s college basketball career has not been easy. Pulled hamstrings, two of them. Pulled groin muscle. Broken toes, hurt shoulder. Four years of aches and pains, limping, grimacing, hardly ever being able to play at top speed.

Until now.

Paulino. who left Los Angeles Fremont to attend prep school in Maine and then college at Texas, is a lesser-known part of the Longhorns’ flashy lineup of All-Americans. And while it was certainly center LaMarcus Aldridge who carried Texas with his obsessive rebounding and near-perfect shooting, and forward P.J. Tucker who also had a double-double, it was Paulino, fearless at the last second, who became the star.

After West Virginia senior Kevin Pittsnogle, with blood dripping from his nose, made a three-pointer with five seconds left to tie the game, Paulino raced up the court to take a pass from A.J. Abrams and, with less than a second left, hit a three of his own. The shot gave the No. 2-seeded Longhorns a frantic 74-71 victory over the sixth-seeded Mountaineers on Thursday night in the NCAA Atlanta Regional semifinals.

The Longhorns (30-6) will play fourth-seeded Louisiana State on Saturday for a trip to the Final Four.

Paulino, soft-spoken and only 6-foot-1, said he had dreamed all his life of making such a shot.

“In your head you picture it, the NCAA tournament, the clock running down, all that stuff,” he said. “In your mind you make it, but it’s different when it happens.”

Texas had been in control for much of the game. The Longhorns led by 12 at halftime, 39-27, and it was because of a dominating rebounding performance. Texas finished with 45 rebounds to West Virginia’s 16. Aldridge, a graceful runner who positions himself well underneath the basket, had 26 points and 13 rebounds and Tucker, a fighter with a quick leap, had 15 points and 14 rebounds.

But the Mountaineers (22-11) scored the first eight points of the second half, including three-pointers from Pittsnogle and Johannes Herber, and once their deficit went under 10 they never went away.

“We did not have a good first half,” West Virginia Coach John Beilein said. “We buried ourselves a little bit. But we came back and we darn near won the game.”

Pittsnogle, who had a team-high 19 points, tied the game once at 58-58 with a three-pointer with 8:18 left, but the Longhorns inched back ahead, 67-63, with 2:54 left in the game on another jump shot by Paulino.

“We knew the game wasn’t over, though,” Paulino said. “Those guys are so tough.”

Pittsnogle was almost knocked out with 1:29 left. He was fighting with Aldridge for a rebound and somehow Aldridge’s elbow found its way into Pittsnogle’s nose. Not only did Pittsnogle have to leave the game for several seconds as blood poured down his face and over his shirt, he was also called for the foul. Aldridge made one free throw to put Texas up, 68-65.

But Pittsnogle, with cotton up his nose to keep the blood in, made his own, last, heroic play.

However, this left just enough time for Paulino to find himself all alone with the ball.

None of his family was here, Paulino said. It was too expensive for a last-minute ticket for his mom to come from Los Angeles. But Paulino did have one hometown pal, his former teammate Willie Dunn.

“He goes to school here,” Paulino said. “I can’t wait to see him. I hope he can come Saturday.”