March 19, 2004
Box Score
By AARON BEARD
Associated Press Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. - Trailing by 14 with its best player on the bench with cramps, Seton Hall looked like it would be going home early from the NCAA tournament. Instead, the Pirates started a comeback that will keep them hanging around a while.
Kelly Whitney overcame leg cramps to finish with 24 points and 14 rebounds and lift the eighth-seeded Pirates to a come-from-behind 80-76 win over ninth-seeded Arizona in the first round Thursday night.
Andre Barrett had 19 points and made several key plays late for Seton Hall (21-9), which won its opening-round game for the seventh time in eight tournament appearances.
"This team never gave up on each other," said Barrett, who also had six assists. "We went into the locker room and said, 'We're down but we have an opportunity to win this game. There's no way we've come this far to lose this game."'
The Pirates advanced to play top-seeded Duke, which beat Alabama State 96-61, in the Atlanta Regional on Saturday.
The Pirates shot 3-for-9 to open the second half, but went 13-for-19 the rest of the way to erase the deficit in their first NCAA appearance in four years.
"I believe there's a will," coach Louis Orr said. "You can influence the game. We played like we couldn't be denied."
It was an unceremonious exit for Arizona (20-10), which was in the tournament for a national-best 20th straight year. The Wildcats reached the championship game in 2001, and advanced to the round of 16 in 2002 and the final eight in 2003.
The game was remarkably similar to the season for Arizona - strong start, bad finish. The Wildcats were 9-1 and ranked third in the AP poll on Jan. 5, but they went only 11-9 the rest of the way, and the low point came in the final game.
"It just seems like a repeat of problems we've had all year long," Arizona coach Lute Olson said. "We have trouble living with prosperity."
The Wildcats' defense had been porous all year, allowing 78.4 points per game, the worst in 21 seasons under Olson. The Pirates shot 37 percent with seven turnovers in the first half, but shot 57 percent and had just three turnovers after the break.
Making the comeback more remarkable was that Whitney was in and out of the lineup with cramps throughout the second half. Barrett thought it might be a sign of destiny.
"I said, `There's no way we're going to lose because I'm cramping and he's cramping. We were playing too hard to lose this game,"' Barrett said.
Andre Iguodala scored 19 points to lead the Wildcats, who lost in the opening round for the first time since 1999.
The Wildcats led 37-31 at halftime and eventually pushed the lead to 53-39 on a jumper by freshman Mustafa Shakur with 14:58 left.
"We were right there," said Shakur, who scored 14 points. "We had it in the grasp of our hand and we just stopped playing with that sense of urgency."
Indeed. The Pirates suddenly got their offense clicking, getting open jumpers off penetration from Barrett and using a 23-5 run to charge ahead.
The run included a coast-to-coast layup from John Allen - a basket that seemed to illustrate the defensive woes Arizona had all season.
Barrett assisted on two 3-pointers during the run, which ended with a 3 from J.R. Morris for a 62-58 lead with 8:26 left. Whitney was also key in the run, scoring two baskets and a putback despite the leg cramps.
At one point, he rebounded a missed Hassan Adams' jumper despite hopping on only his left leg.
Barrett later scored three key baskets, hitting a jumper in traffic, a 3 from the right wing and a jumper over Chris Rodgers that pushed the lead to 74-66 with 2:24 left.
Arizona closed the gap to two twice in the final seconds, the last time coming at 78-76 on Adams' free throw with 7.9 seconds left. But Whitney nailed two free throws with 5.7 seconds left to ice it.
"It feels like we shouldn't have lost," Shakur said. "It's kind of unbelievable. I mean, we shouldn't have lost."
