American dream comes true
The pressure of leading American to the Division 1 NCAA Tournament for the first time was getting to the team's best player, who woke up in cold sweats all week.
"I would have the same dream over and over," Garrison Carr said. "And as much as I would try to not think about it, I would still wake up in the middle of the night sweating, with time running down and it being a close game."
The dream became reality yesterday, when the Eagles won the Patriot League with a 52-46 victory over Colgate in Washington.
Carr scored 17 points for the top-seeded Eagles (21-11), whose only previous berth in an NCAA Tournament came as a Division 2 school in 1960.
Southeastern Conference - Jamont Gordon scored 23 points and Mississippi State survived a scary weather delay during overtime to beat Alabama, 69-67, in the quarterfinals at Atlanta. Mykal Riley, who led Alabama with 18 points, forced the overtime with a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Then, a severe storm moving through downtown ripped away two panels in the side of the Georgia Dome and sent fans fleeing for the exits, causing a delay of 1 hour 5 minutes with 2:11 left in OT. The late game between Georgia and Kentucky was postponed . . . Chris Lofton hit a 3-pointer with 11.4 seconds left and fourth-ranked Tennessee (29-3) survived South Carolina's bid for a huge upset, sending coach Dave Odom into retirement with an 89-87 victory over the Gamecocks . . . Darian Townes and Gary Ervin each scored 18 points and Arkansas (21-10) dominated No. 18 Vanderbilt (26-7) in an 81-75 win.
Big Ten - At Indianapolis, Minnesota's Blake Hoffarber caught a long pass with 1.5 seconds left, spun away from a defender, and hit a 14-foot lefthanded shot at the buzzer as the Golden Gophers (20-12) upset No. 22 Indiana (26-7), 59-58, in the quarterfinals . . . Michael Flowers sparked No. 8 Wisconsin as the Badgers (27-4) defeated Michigan, 51-34, in the lowest-scoring game in the tournament's history . . . Demetri McCamey scored 26 points, and Illinois (15-18) beat No. 17 Purdue (24-8), 74-67, in overtime . . . Drew Neitzel scored 28 points as No. 19 Michigan State (25-7) topped Ohio State (19-13), 67-60.
Big 12 - Brandon Rush scored 6 points in a 15-4 run and No. 5 Kansas (29-3) overcame its worst half of the season to beat Nebraska (19-12), 64-54, in a quarterfinal at Kansas City, Mo. . . . Damion James had 23 points and 11 rebounds as No. 6 Texas (27-5) defeated Oklahoma State, 66-59 . . . Tony Crocker had 12 points and Oklahoma (22-10) beat Colorado, 54-49 . . . Dominique Kirk hit five 3-pointers and had 19 points as Texas A&M (24-9) held off Kansas State, 63-60.
Big West - At Anaheim, Calif., Darren Fells had 14 points to help UC Irvine upset top-seeded UC Santa Barbara, 55-50, in the semifinals . . . Josh Akognan's 24 points led Cal-Fullerton past Cal-Northridge, 83-68.
Conference USA - Derrick Rose scored 25 points and second-ranked Memphis (32-1) advanced to the final for a fourth straight year with a 69-53 victory over visiting Southern Miss. (19-15) . . . Calvin Walls scored the first 4 points in overtime at the free throw line, and Tulsa (20-12) held on for a 64-62 victory over UTEP (19-13).
Mid-American - Chris McKnight scored 16 points as Akron (23-9) beat Western Michigan, 73-63, in Cleveland . . . Al Fisher's 15-foot jumper with three seconds left gave Kent State a 49-47 win over Miami of Ohio.
Mid-Eastern Athletic - Reggie Holmes hit 10 of 12 free throws in the final 1:09 to lead Morgan State (22-9) to a 61-55 semifinal victory over Delaware State (14-16) at Raleigh, N.C. . . . Tywain McKee scored 26 points and Coppin State (15-20) earned a 67-65 victory over Norfolk State.
Mountain West - At Las Vegas, Lee Cummard's 20 points led 24th-ranked BYU past San Diego State, 63-54, sending the Cougars (27-6) to the championship game for the second straight year . . . UNLV topped Utah, 61-55, in the second semi.
Pac-10 - At Los Angeles, freshman Kevin Love scored 11 of his 19 points in a 15-2 run to open the second half that propelled No. 3 UCLA (30-3) to a 57-54 semifinal victory over Southern Cal (21-11) . . . Brook Lopez's 30 points led Stanford to a 75-68 win over Washington St. in the other semi.
Southland - Anthony Vereen scored 20 points to lead Texas-Arlington (20-11) to a 72-66 win over Sam Houston State (23-8) in the semifinals at Katy, Texas . . . Trey Gilder's 22 points led Northwestern State past top-seeded Stephen F. Austin, 69-66.
Southwestern Athletic - Carl Lucas had 20 points to lead Mississippi Valley State (16-15) to a 70-59 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff (13-18) in a semifinal at Birmingham, Ala. . . . Grant Maxey had 23 points - including a basket that sent the game into overtime - to lead Jackson State (14-19) to a 77-72 win over Alabama State.
Western Athletic - Matt Bauscher and Reggie Larry each scored 23 points as Boise State (24-8) beat Utah State, 88-78, in a semifinal at Las Cruces, N.M. . . . Freshman Herb Pope set career highs with 18 points and 13 rebounds as New Mexico State (21-13) beat Nevada, 83-75.
Division 3 third round - Al Sowers scored 9 straight points as Coast Guard used an 18-1 second-half run to knock off No. 13 Rochester, 57-48, at Collegeville, Pa. . . . Andrew Olson scored 24 points as No. 3 Amherst defeated Richard Stockton, 85-77, at Plattsburgh, N.Y. . . . Andre Roberson's 20 points helped Brandeis defeat host Plattsburgh State, 74-63.
