It looked good when it left his hand. It looked good in mid-air. It looked like it would pinball in.
But Dave Fergerson’s last-second three-point attempt clanged off the back of the rim, securing a 48-45 victory for the University of Utah in an NCAA first round contest at the Cleveland State Convocation Center last Thursday. The loss ended Saint Louis University’s season at 19-14 in coach Lorenzo Romar’s first season.
“Unfortunately, the ride had to end tonight,” said Fergerson. “I’m not going to hold my head down. You can’t ask for a better look than that.”
Fergerson had a great look at the basket. He shed a Ute defender from about 23 feet away with a pump fake and then stepped to his left to take the jump shot. But it missed, and so ended a grueling defensive battle in a somewhat sloppy game by NCAA Tournament standards.
Both teams scored on their second possessions of the game, with Maurice Jeffers sinking a three-pointer from the wing for the Bills to give them a 3-2 lead. But then the Bills proceeded to misfire on their next five possessions, falling behind 7-3.
After falling behind 12-8, SLU went on a 7-0 run over a two-minute stretch to take a 15-12 advantage with 9:33 to go. But both offenses continued to struggle, as the teams each only scored seven points a piece over the last nine minutes.
A big part of the bad offense was the smothering defense played by both squads. The Utes kept leading scorer Justin Love in check by flashing off the screens set by the post players, denying him the ball.
“I think they played great team defense,” said Love, who finished with nine points. “If you made a move, somebody was right there.”
The Billikens’ defense was just as stifling. John Redden frustrated the Ute guards and the post men did a good job of denying Utah forwards post position.
The second half started similarly to the first, but it finished with a flourish. The Utes regained the lead, 24-22, on five points from Tony Harvey. SLU quickly responded with a 6-0 run to go up 28-24 with 14:11 to play in regulation.
It was from this point on that both teams started to work the ball around the perimeter and milk the shot clock. The Utes and the Bills were getting decent shots on offense, and they even began to convert a few shots.
With the score tied at 34-34, Love hit a trey with 6:04 to play to give the Bills a 37-34 lead. Mottola sunk two free throws one minute later. After that each team scored on four straight possessions. Matt Baniak hit two from the charity stripe. Phil Cullen then nailed a three from the wing to tie the game 39-39.
Redden scored on a drive to the bucket. Mottola made a free throw. Jeffers picked up a loose ball and dunked it, to put SLU up 43-40 with 3:05 remaining in regulation.
But then Cullen was left open on the wing again for a trey, and he hit that. Redden went to the line for two free throws, but he only made one.
And then came the killer. The Bills played excellent defense on Utah’s possession for 33 seconds. But Jeff Johnsen chucked a fall away 25-footer with a hand in his face at the hoop. It went in, giving the Utes a 46-44 lead.
“That’s March Madness for you,” said Jeffers, who led SLU with 10 points. “Things always happen like that.”
Justin Tatum had a chance to tie the game with 1:19 to play. But he missed both of his free throws. Utah’s Harvey missed the front-end of a one-and-one, giving SLU another shot to tie. However, Redden walked in the lane while trying to spin away from a defender.
Redden atoned for his mistake 35 seconds later when he stole the ball from Harvey. He was fouled during the steal, sending him to the line for yet another opportunity to tie. But he missed one free throw. With the score at 46-45, the Bills fouled Cullen. He made the first shot but clanked the second. The Utes snagged the rebound, and Alex Jensen was fouled. He continued the horrible shooting from the line by missing his second shot.
Redden pushed the ball up the floor and got it to Fergerson, who then missed the tying three-pointer.
“Obviously, myself, the team and the staff are disappointed,” said Romar. “We came up a couple of plays short.”
A huge part in SLU’s loss was the free throw shooting. The Billikens made only nine of 22 free throws. Redden made two of five; Baniak was four of eight; and Tatum was zero for four.
The loss was the last college game for five graduating seniors: Fergerson, Love, Redden, Troy Robertson and Larry Simmons.
Romar believes that this year’s team has set the precedent for his future squads.
“Hopefully, this is something we can build on for the spring and summer,” said Romar. “There’s no secret. This is what we want to be. That’s what we’re going to strive for.”
