Friday, March 12, 1999 | 10:52 a.m.
Late shot lifts New Mexico
DENVER -- They were the anointed outcasts at the Big Dance. Their critics claimed they pulled a Princeton, getting into the NCAA Tournament through the back door.
But guess what? New Mexico showed up Thursday at McNichols Arena. And they're sticking around for the weekend. And if you don't like it, that's tough, say the Lobos.
This West subregional couldn't be all bow-wow games. Sure enough, ninth-seeded New Mexico's thrilling 61-59 win over No. 8 Missouri was easily the best contest of the day at Big Mac after Iowa, Arkansas and Connecticut coasted to easy victories.
"This is sweet," forward Greg Davis said. "We came into this with the attitude we wanted to prove that we belonged here.
"We've been through a lot this year. But this team has really hung together."
Guard Kevin Henry said: "People have been doubting us all year. But the bottom line was we had to play our way into the tournament and this win proves we belong."
New Mexico advanced to play Connecticut on Saturday afternoon because its best player decided to finally show up at the NCAAs.
These have not been some of senior center Kenny Thomas' brightest moments. He has struggled in the tournament the last three years and has averaged just over eight points and six rebounds in six NCAA games. This from a guy who averaged 18.5 points and just under 10 rebounds during the regular season.
But Thomas, who sat out most of last week's WAC Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center with a groin injury, was the best player on the court in the first half, scoring 14 points, grabbing seven rebounds and blocking three shots.
He would finish with a tournament career-best 20 points along with 10 boards and four blocks.
"It's about time I stepped up," Thomas said before heading to the locker room for treatment on his left groin muscle so he'll be ready for UConn come Saturday.
Bliss knew Thomas was ready. And he was glad he decided to hold his star out of last Saturday's WAC tourney title game with Utah to make sure he'd be able to go in the NCAAs.
"I thought it was really important we did that," Bliss said. "He was prepared tonight. He was rested. I thought he acquitted himself well in this game."
When Thomas fouled out with 1:31 to go, Lamont Long took over the hero's duties. The 6-4 junior, who had 17 points, scored New Mexico's final two buckets and suffice it to say, they were biggies.
His first was a lean-in bank shot over Missouri's 6-11, 335-pound Monte Hardge with 3:49 left, which put New Mexico up 57-52.
The second, which won the game, came off an isolation 1-4 set where Long took control with 11 seconds to go. He drove the left side, pulled up in traffic and hit an eight-footer with 6.2 seconds left.
It was similar to the shot he hit to beat Rice in last week's WAC tournament quarterfinals when he got into the key and kissed one off the glass with less than two seconds remaining.
"I was trying to get fouled," Long said. "I didn't, so I just threw it up and it went in."
But that wasn't the end of it. In the final minute of a game, the clock is supposed to stop after a made bucket, but it kept ticking as Missouri tried to get the ball and inbound it.
The Tigers managed to get off a desperation 25-foot heave from Brian Grawer with one second left, but it fell short. So did coach Norm Stewart's plea to have the error at the scorer's table corrected, which is permissible under the rules.
The officials already had left the court and so had New Mexico. Stewart and his staff remained, arguing with NCAA basketball committee coordinator Carroll Williams.
The discussion lasted a good five minutes, but Williams, a former coach who is the athletic director at Santa Clara, would not reverse the error and the result stood.
"It's hard right now," Stewart said. "It's hard for me because of the players because they put a lot into the season."
When pressed for his opinion, Stewart said, "I think everybody knows the rules and the constraints on what we can say. If we keep going, we'll get it down to where I can give you my name and serial number. I just can't answer that question."
Missouri ends its season 20-9. As for 25-8 New Mexico, it's onward to Saturday and the top-seeded Huskies, who blew out 16th-seeded Texas-San Antonio 91-56.
"When you win a game like this, you shouldn't have to play the No. 1 seed," Bliss said. "But this is the fourth year in a row we've won our first game in the NCAAs.
"I heard something that a high school team could beat us. A month ago, that may have been true. But we've picked it up of late. There's no doubt there were people who were skeptical of us being here.
"But we wanted to play with energy and be aggressive. I think we did that and we'll just get ready for UConn on Saturday."
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