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Deacons find answers, but too late to pass the Cardinal's test'
By COURTNEY DANIEL
Chronicle Staff Reporter
Wake Forest went into the
NCAA tournament searching
for some way... any way to
regain its form as a basketball
team, as opposed to their recent
productions of the Tim Duncan
Show.
Dave Odom, Wake's head
coach, berated his players about
standing and watching Duncan
play, called his team "specta
tors" in the media, rearranged
his line-up countless times, and
still the Deacs did not respond.
Sean Allen, Ricky Peral,
Tony Rutland, Jerry Braswell,
all key ingredients in the Dea
cons run to last years elite eight,
rarely showed up in the Deacons
last 7 games.
As a result Wake dropped 5
of those contests, including a
drubbing in the second round of
the ACC tournament at the
hands of the University of North
Carolina.
Then suddenly, with 8:35
left in the second half of Sun
day's game (March 16) against
Stanford, a Wake Forest team
showed up for the first time
since January. Peral, Rutland
and even Braswell, inexplicably
started playing like the Demon
Deacons circa March 1996.
The trio combined to hit on
thirteen of their last eighteen
shots and exploded for 25 points
over the last 81/2 minutes. It
was a performance that would
have certainly carried them to
victory, if the Deacons had not
played the first 311/2 minutes
like avid Duncan fans with real
ly good seats.
The Deacons sleepwalked
through the first half , especially
the Wake guards who were held
scbreless throughout the first
twenty minutes and were largely
responsible for Wake's -ten
turnovers in the first half.
While the Deacon backcourt
floundered, Brevin Knight the
nation's premiere point man ran
the Cardinal attack with preci
sion. Knight's ability to pene
trate at will and create opportu
nities for himself and his team
mates was a crippling blow to
Wake's chances to advance to
the West Regional. He finished
with 19 points, five assists, four
steals and only one turnover in
the 39 minutes that he ran the
Stanford offense.
"This was the third year we
had to face a dominating big
man," said Knight. "The last
two years we lost to Marcus
Camby and this year to get by
Tim Duncan and Wake Forest...
it's like a dream."
That dream became reality,
in part, because of Stanford's
defense on Duncan in the first
half. The Cardinal threw four
different large bodies at Duncan
and used 9 fouls in the first stan
za to limit, disrupt and frustrate
him. The strategy showed true
dividends in the second frame,
when Duncan seemed to tire.
The Cardinal was unabashed in
their physical play and after a
first round slug fest with 345
pound Brad Millard of St.
Mary's the Wake Forest center
and savior looked as if he had
emptied his tank of miracles. He
scored his last field goals with
just over 14 minutes left in the
game, and only added a pair of
free-throw to round out his last
game with 18 points, 20
rebounds, and three block shots.
"1 think everybody saw
what happened," said Odom. " It
was just one body after another
coming at him, and it's very
hard to hold that off."
Duncan said he wasn't
caught totally off-guard by the
game plan.
"It wasn't a big surprise, I
thought they were out there to
play physical like everybody
else," he said "That was the
theme at the end of the year,
everybody had to play physical
and knock me around. And they
just picked up on it."
The rest of the Demon Dea
cons looked despondent while
Duncan's play made it clear that
he was running on fumes, and
the Cardinal lead ballooned to
13 points. Then when it was
apparent that the crutch of the
Nation's best player had been
snatched from under them the
rest of the Wake team decided to
stand and deliver.
"We wanted to go further in
the tournament not just for the
team, but for Tim," said
Braswell of the Wake charge
back into contention. "He has
done a lot for this program and a
lot for this team. We just wanted
him to go out with something
good on his back - and that was
a national championship."
The Peral, Braswell, Rut
land resurgence whittled the
Stanford lead down to 4 points,
but the Cardinal second half free
throw shooting (17 of 22) and
two late jumpers by Pete Sauer,
a 6-7 sophomore sealed Stan
ford's travel plans to San Jose,
Ca. (site of the West Regional
finals).
And like that Tim Duncan's
collegiate career ended, without
fan fare of Final Four berth.
He said he would never look
back and second guess the team
and that he had no remorse
about his decision to return to
college.
"I have no regrets about my
decision to come back," he said.
"I would give anything in the
world to come back and be with
these guys."
College basketball fans have
no qualms with Duncan's deci
sion either, only the regret that
they will not see No. 21 in Indi
anapolis.
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Hosiery 1 /- and-under All-Stars place second at tourney
The Hanes Hosiery 17 and
under All-Star team recently
finished 2nd in the North Car
olina State 17 and under tour
nament held in Charlotte, N.C.
They were defeated by the
Charlotte All-Stars from Meck
lenburg County in the Champi
onship game 64-51.
The Hosiery All-Stars'
road to the finals included a
54-53 win over Alamance
County in a heart-stopper. The
Hosiery team relied on the
sparkling offensive perfor
mances of B.J. Briston, Jordan
Lash, Nick Hairston, Donnie
Allen, and Josh Talbert in this
game and throughout the tour
w
nament. The defensive leaders
were Justin Thomas, John
Forte, Anthony Scott, and
Larry Wharton.
The tournament, held in the
Grady Cole Center, was attend
ed by teams from Lee County,
Orange County, Alamance
County, Charlotte, N.C.^ and
Winston-Salem.
The Hants Hosiery 17 and under AU-Slars
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