CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT ROUNDUP : Orangemen Beat Hoyas to Regain Luster

After hitting a low point a week earlier, Syracuse defeated Georgetown, 56-54, Sunday to win the Big East tournament championship at Madison Square Garden.

“There were so many people who had no faith in us,� said Dave Johnson, whose jumper from the foul line with six seconds left provided the Orangemen with their third Big East title but first in five championship showdowns with the Hoyas. “We just came down and did it.�

The previous Sunday, Syracuse players were dejected in their locker room in the Carrier Dome after one of their worst home defeats ever, a 76-56 loss to Villanova. It was the Orangemen’s sixth loss in eight games.

One week later, the Orangemen (21-9) were celebrating in their locker room at Madison Square Garden.

The Hoyas (21-9) were seeking their seventh Big East tournament title in the league’s 13 years.

Georgetown, one of the three teams to tie for the regular-season title along with Seton Hall and St. John’s, still had a chance to win with three seconds to play, but Robert Churchwell’s three-pointer missed everything and rolled out of bounds.

“When he missed, there was like, whew, it’s over with,� said Johnson, who was poked in the left eye in a scramble for a rebound with 3:34 left. He missed just 10 seconds of the game--the only 10 seconds he missed in the tournament.

“It was watery, teary and it was burning a little from the sweat from my forehead,� Johnson said of his injured eye. “I could see pretty good, but I could see very well out of the right eye and that’s all I needed was one.�

Johnson finished with 12 points.

Syracuse freshman Lawrence Moten, the conference rookie of the year, hadn’t had a real good tournament until Sunday. He finished with 20 points and seven rebounds and spent a lot of time on the baseline trying to draw fouls on Alonzo Mourning.

Mourning, the tournament MVP, had 23 points, eight rebounds and 10 blocks. He had a tournament-record 76 points in the three games and was 38 of 52 from the foul line.

Mourning was 7 of 11 from the foul in the first half, but shot only two free throws, making both, in the second half. His second-half foul shots came with 2:01 left and were the first of the second half for the Hoyas.

Churchwell added 16 points for Georgetown.

Other tournaments:

BIG EIGHT

No. 3 Kansas 66, No. 11 Oklahoma State 57--The Jayhawks broke away down the stretch to win the championship of the Big Eight tournament.

It was Kansas’ first tournament title since 1986, a period when the Jayhawks have been to three Final Fours.

Kansas (26-4) had split the two regular-season games with Oklahoma State (26-7).

Kansas, which trailed 21-20 at halftime, shot 71% in the second half.

Oklahoma State led 37-32 with 13:41 to play, but a three-pointer by Rex Walters tied the score at 38-38 with 11:18 left. Oklahoma State held on for a while, but another three-pointer by Walters helped the Jayhawks go in front, 53-47.

Oklahoma State’s Byron Houston, the tournament MVP, scored 18 points, but made only five of 16 shots.

Walters, Alonzo Jamison and Eric Pauley led a balanced Kansas attack with 16, 14 and 12 points, respectively.

“I feel great about our kids and what we’ve accomplished,� Kansas Coach Roy Williams said. “We lost four of our top six players from last year (when the Jayhawks reached the NCAA title game) and now they’ve won 26 games this year. They’ve been awfully nice to me because they’ve let me go along for the ride.�

SOUTHEASTERN

No. 9 Kentucky 80, No. 17 Alabama 54--Jamal Mashburn scored 28 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Wildcats, back from a two-year exile, won the Southeastern Conference tournament by beating the Crimson Tide in the title game at Birmingham, Ala.

The Wildcats (26-6), who will make their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1989, completely dominated the second half, when The Tide (25-8) was outscored, 51-22.

“At halftime, we made some adjustments and came out with some new venom,� Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino said.

One of the changes was putting little-known junior guard Dale Brown on Alabama’s James Robinson, the star in the Tide’s first two tournament wins.

Robinson, averaging 27.5 points per game in the tournament, was headed toward another big game when he scored 17 points in the first half to help the Tide build a 32-29 lead.

But in the second half, Brown put the clamps on Robinson, who finished with 22 points.

Alabama shot only 20% in the second half (7 of 35).

Mashburn, who scored 64 points in three games, was named the tournament MVP.

SOUTHWEST

Houston 91, Texas 72--The Cougars, who had two regular-season losses to the Longhorns, trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half of the Southwest Conference tournament final at Dallas before rallying to win.

Houston (25-5) and Texas (23-11) were regular-season conference co-champions.

Sam Mack scored 28 points and Derrick Smith scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half as the Cougars won their first SWC tournament since 1984 and fifth overall.

Texas’ Dexter Cambridge, the tournament’s MVP, had 29 points and 12 rebounds.

Texas is now 0-6 in SWC title games, including 0-3 to Houston.

Smith sparked a 12-0 run midway through the second half that gave Houston a 73-60 lead with five minutes to play.

“Not to take anything away from our stars,� Houston Coach Pat Foster said, “but you need somebody to come in with a hot hand. Derrick was the guy.�

Smith had zero and eight points in the regular-season losses to Texas.

METRO

North Carolina Charlotte 64, Tulane 63--Henry Williams, who had 24 points, made two free throws with 1.6 seconds to play at Louisville to give the 49ers the Metro Conference tournament championship.

This is N.C. Charlotte’s first season in the conference.

The 49ers (23-8) rallied from a five-point deficit in the final 2:14 as Williams scored the last seven points.

“As a kid you dribble around and say, ‘Three, two, one,’ � Williams said of his winning free throws. “To have it happen is something you dream.

“Fortunately, I have worked on my free throws. I hit 10 every day before I leave practice.�

Kim Lewis scored 17 points to lead Tulane (21-8), the regular-season Metro champion. Williams was named the tournament MVP.