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Article: Stunner is West's best
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Stunner is West's best
by Mike Lupica
NY Daily News

The 25-point lead, the one West Virginia had built early in the second half, was mostly gone now against Boston College. The Moutaineers had stopped making everything they looked at from the outside and BC's Eagles had stopped turning the ball over every 10 seconds or so. BC's Eagles turned back into the team that had started 20-0, that was still No. 7 in the country. So now we had a game at the Garden. We had one of those games that makes you pay attention to college basketball at this time of year, and makes you care, and even makes you shout.
It was still only two o'clock in the afternoon, with three more Big East tournament games to be played after this. But suddenly, out of what had been a blowout about a half-hour before, the Garden was paying attention to BC and West Virginia now. Suddenly the Garden had begun to shout like it does for a good basketball night.

West Virginia by four. Either West Virginia would hold on, and strengthen its case, and it's a powerful case already, for being an at-large team in the upcoming NCAA Tournament - or BC, on its way out of the Big East and on its way to the ACC next season, would get one more night in the conference it helped build once.

Sean Marshall had just made a three-pointer for BC. Now it was 32-12 for BC over the last 12 minutes or so. Somebody was going to have a day to remember at the Big East. West Virginia was going to knock off the team that had been the class of the league, along with Syracuse, for most of the season. Or BC, on its way out the door, was going to have one of the school's great basketball comebacks. This was all pretty good and pretty loud for the first quarterfinal of the day, for what was supposed to be an opening act for Villanova-Pitt and UConn and Syracuse later on.

After the game, the terrific West Virginia coach John Beilein talked about all the pressure and trapping from BC that got the Eagles back in the game and had Beilein's team on the ropes with just under five minutes left.

"What bothered us is that we were bothered," Beilein said. He smiled and said, "We imploded for ... what felt like a year."

So Beilein's lead was four. The Mountaineers did what they had been trying to do for most of the second: Run their offense. Run block. Wait for BC to foul again. Because when BC didn't foul, West Virginia was missing. Somehow you just knew that if BC's Eagles could get a couple of stops now, if they could somehow get even, they were maybe going to knock West Virginia out of this tournament and the big tournament to come.

It had become that kind of March game, early in the Big East tournament, early in the day at the Garden, West Virginia's lead down to four.

The Mountaineers patiently ran their stuff. Ran the clock. Finally the ball ended up in the hands of their point guard, J.D. Collins, Beilein's very first recruit at West Virginia after he got there from Richmond. For a lot of the day, Collins and the other guards had been kicking the ball out to Mike Gansey (20 points) and Kevin Pittsnogle, a tattooed center who already had stepped outside to hit two three-pointers.

Only BC had the shooters stuffed this time. The shot clock was running down. Collins had to make a play now at the Garden. His big moment on what is still a big stage, especially for a college kid.

Collins got to the lane. Pushed up a shot and saw it roll around on the rim for just a moment. These moments are that fragile because these games are that fragile. Then Collins' shot dropped through. Now it was West Virginia by six.

BC came back. Craig Smith lost the ball, BC's 16th turnover of the game. Here came West Virginia again, trying to close out its 20th win of the season, trying to show the guys making the selections for March Madness that they officially belonged in the tournament, trying to knock off No. 7 in the country in the Garden even without Tyrone Sally, one of its stars. Trying to knock BC out of the Big East forever.

"(The selection committee) will choose the right teams," John Beilein said in the Garden's rotunda later. "And there's no doubt in our minds that we're one of those teams."

J.D. Collins ended up with the ball again. This time he wasn't a shooter, he was the smart, tough point guard out of Houston's Westbury Christian School and then Redemption Christian in Troy, N.Y. He got the ball over to Pittsnogle, a big guy with what used to be Allan Houston's range.

"We'd taken some backward steps when we'd gotten ahead," Pittsnogle said after the game.

Not now. He stepped up and made one more three, and just like that, West Virginia's lead was back to nine points and BC's comeback was over and the BC kids in the place were chanting "ACC! ACC!" It had happened that fast, like a three-run homer in baseball. A drive to the basket. A turnover. A three-pointer.

West Virginia's game, 78-72. West Virginia's moment at Madison Square Garden. There were a lot of other moments in college basketball yesterday. None better than this.
03-11-2005 07:48 AM
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