Friday, March 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
For Keith Van Horn, it was the perfect ending. For Dale Brown, the end came too soon.
Van Horn, projected as a top pick in the NBA draft, made the biggest play of his college career, tipping in a lob pass at the buzzer Thursday night to give No. 3 Utah a 59-58 win over Southern Methodist in the WAC tournament.
Only three-tenths of a second remained when the Utes inbounded under the basket. Andre Miller lofted the pass and the 6-foot-10 Van Horn reached back over his head with his right hand and made the tip from the middle of the lane.
"I overran the ball a little bit, but luckily it went in," Van Horn said. "I knew they had to call it good as long as I didn't touch the floor."
Brown's 25-year coaching career at LSU, however, came to a close with a 75-54 loss to No. 24 Georgia in the first round of the Southeastern Conference tournament.
Brown, 61, announced in January that this would be his last season. The loss left his LSU record at 448-301, including 10-20 this season.
"It's been a good run," Brown said. "I'm really disappointed that we lost. I knew we were limited in what we could do, but as bad as the record and everything was, they didn't quit. I'm really proud of my players."
In other games, No. 2 Minnesota beat Michigan State 81-74, No. 9 UCLA defeated Washington 87-85, No. 10 Cincinnati stopped Saint Louis 71-43, Temple upended No. 11 Xavier 69-62 in overtime, No. 23 Stanford nipped No. 12 Arizona 81-80, No. 14 New Mexico beat Hawaii 65-57, No. 19 St. Joseph's beat St. Bonaventure 75-59, North Carolina Charlotte toppled No. 20 Louisville 64-60 and No. 21 Villanova defeated Syracuse 80-70.
Utah (24-3) held SMU scoreless for the final 8:20 to advance to the Western Athletic Conference semifinals in Las Vegas.
Van Horn missed a short jumper with about two seconds left, but SMU knocked the ball out of bounds with three-tenths of a second left.
Utah called a timeout to plan the last play - rules state that with three-tenths of a second left or less, a player cannot catch and shoot for a basket to count.
"We had to have a tip," Utah coach Rick Majerus said. "Andre threw it up and Keith threw it down."
Van Horn scored 25 points. SMU (16-12) led by 15 points in the second half.
"It's a tough way to lose any game, but All-America players make All-America plays," SMU coach Mike Dement said.
At Memphis, Tenn., LSU trailed by three points with 9:45 left before Georgia (22-7) broke away.
With one minute left, longtime official John Clougherty passed by Brown on the sideline and held out his right hand. The Tigers coach grabbed it with his left.
Michael Chadwick finished with 20 points for Georgia. Duane Spencer scored 12 for LSU.
No. 2 Minnesota 81, Michigan State 74
Sam Jacobson scored 18 points and Minnesota finished 14-0 at Williams Arena, its first perfect home record since 1948-49. The Big Ten champion Golden Gophers (27-2, 16-1) won their 12th in a row overall.
No. 9 UCLA 87, Washington 85
Charles O'Bannon scored a career-high 31 points and UCLA rallied from a 16-point deficit in the first half to win on the road.
O'Bannon, whose previous best was 27 points, led the Pac-10 champion Bruins (20-7, 14-3) to their ninth straight win over Washington (16-10, 9-8).
No. 23 Stanford 81, No. 12 Arizona 80
Peter Sauer swished a baseline jumper with six seconds left as Stanford won at home.
Brevin Knight, who had 23 points and 12 assists for the Cardinal (19-7 Pac-10, 11-6) drove into the lane before passing to Sauer for the go-ahead basket. Michael Dickerson had 22 points for Arizona (19-8, 11-6).
TOURNAMENTS
Conference USA
Danny Fortson scored 15 points despite 5-for-15 shooting and Cincinnati (25-6) routed the host school. Three technical fouls were called during a first-half fracas that had Saint Louis' Sekeue Barentine shoving Fortson.
DeMarco Johnson and Sean Colson each made two free throws in the last 16 as North Carolina-Charlotte (20-8) rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half and beat Louisville (23-8).
In other C-USA quarterfinals, Alabama-Birmingham beat Tulane 74-70 and Marquette defeated Memphis 63-45.
Atlantic 10
Lamont Barnes scored eight of his 16 points in overtime as Temple won in the quarterfinals at Philadelphia. The game was tied at 62 before the Owls (19-9) got the last seven points to eliminate Xavier (22-5).
Arthur "Yah" Davis scored 20 points as St. Joseph's (22-6) beat St. Bonaventure (14-14) for the third time this season.
In other games, Rhode Island defeated Virginia Tech 67-63 and George Washington beat Massachusetts 58-41.
WAC
No. 14 New Mexico 65, Hawaii 57
Clayton Shields had 18 points and 14 rebounds as New Mexico (24-6) advanced to play Utah in the semifinals. The Lobos led by at least 10 points for most of the second half and held off a late rally by Hawaii.
In the other semifinal, Tulsa will play Texas Christian. TCU beat Fresno State 106-81 and Tulsa downed UNLV 68-65.
Big East
No. 21 Villanova 80, Syracuse 70
Freshman Tim Thomas scored 20 points and Villanova (22-8) advanced to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden. Syracuse (19-12) trailed just 64-61 with 6 1/2 minutes left before the Wildcats pulled away.
In other games, Georgetown downed Miami 63-59, Providence beat West Virginia 76-69 and Boston College defeated Pittsburgh 76-68.
Southeastern
No. 24 Georgia moved on to play Arkansas in the quarterfinals. In other first-round games, Alabama beat Florida 80-66, Auburn defeated Tennessee 67-54 and Vanderbilt topped Mississippi State 73-67 in overtime.
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