Gonzaga beats Michigan St. in instant, epic classic
LAHAINA, Hawaii — College basketball simply can't be this good, this gripping, this early.
Before anybody has put a Thanksgiving turkey in the oven, Michigan State and Gonzaga played a game for posterity here Tuesday. It wasn't to move on to a Final Four, it was just to say you played in it, or coached it, or even that you saw it.
If you did, you won't forget it.
Gonzaga, eighth-ranked, finally took down 12th-ranked Michigan State, 109-106, in a three-hour, three-overtime Picasso in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational. The victory puts the Zags in the championship game today against Connecticut.
"I just tip my hat to the players on both teams," said Mark Few, the Gonzaga coach. "Our guys stuck with it and stuck with it and kept sawing wood and sawing wood and finally dug that thing out."
And stuck with it some more, and sawed some more wood.
In one of several delicious subplots, Gonzaga junior Adam Morrison rattled in a career-high 43 points, playing 52 minutes. He was answered repeatedly by Michigan State guard Maurice Ager, who poured in 36 despite playing with four fouls from the 18:29 mark of the second half until 19 seconds remained.
In 1989, I saw a 16th-seeded Princeton team take a would-be winning shot against vaunted Georgetown before losing in the NCAAs. I saw a series of cliffhanging NCAA Finals in the 1980s, a couple in overtime. . As a kid, I got to see Bill Bradley score 58 points for Princeton in a Final Four consolation game in Portland.
In each of the first two overtimes, Gonzaga had the last full possession, but couldn't convert. Morrison, David Pendergraft and J.P. Batista all misfired in the first one, and Raivio came up short on a trey in the second.
Ager, a 6-foot-5 senior gunner from Detroit, dropped in one of his seven treys to start the third overtime. Gonzaga got the lead back but lost it again when Ager's last three put the Spartans ahead 106-105 with 33 seconds left.
This time, Gonzaga attacked immediately and Morrison, knifing for the basket, finally fouled Ager out of the game. Morrison downed both free throws, and Gonzaga led, 107-106, with 19 seconds left. The Spartans freed freshman Goran Suton, a 6-10 forward of Bosnian descent, for a four-footer with five seconds left.
In one of the few acts of futility when it mattered, Suton missed the shot and Pendergraft snatched the rebound. Raivio hit two free throws for the final points.
It remained for MSU's Shannon Brown to try to launch a three at the buzzer from the wing. Gonzaga freshman Jeremy Pargo bumped him, but there was no call, leaving Izzo in a furious rant at an official.
"Yeah, there was contact," Morrison said. "But I think their side would agree if it was at the other end: The whistle should be swallowed."
Finally, it was done. Some 2,400 fans at the Lahaina Civic Center, the ones who weren't speechless, had two words on their lips: Instant classic.
Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com
Adam Morrison's big night
Points: 43
Field goals: 14 for 28
Free throws: 11 for 12
Rebounds: 7
Assists: 4
Minutes: 52
But I've never seen anything like this.
From the 4:40 mark until the end of regulation, there were 11 lead changes. From that same 4:40 mark to the finish, there were 20 lead changes and 11 ties. The word "clutch" could have described every shot. Michigan State made 26 of 29 free throws, Gonzaga 27 of 28.
From the 8:48 mark of regulation to the end, almost 24 minutes, neither team led by more than three.
In recent years, most observers recognize as the game's gold standard the Gonzaga-Arizona double-overtime game in 2003 in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Without the context of pressure, this game was better.
"I was telling our guys throughout this whole thing," said Few, smiling, " 'Come on, you're involved in one of the greatest games you've ever been in. You gotta get in a [defensive] stance.' They were drained."
Said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, "It was one of the best basketball games, as far as free throws made, big shots, plays out of timeouts that were just unbelievable, time after time."
After the switchback finish in regulation, the Zags appeared to have won it when guard Derek Raivio (26 points) hit two free throws with 7.1 seconds left for an 80-77 lead. But, with Morrison trying to shadow him, Ager drilled a trey at the buzzer and it went to overtime.
"That's one of the hardest things to come back from in sports," said Few, referring to the letdown going to overtime.
Morrison and Ager became friends at a Nike camp in Indianapolis over the summer, and now they have something to remember each other by.
Izzo said Ager was cramping in the second half and "had nothing left in his legs. I was just begging him to go, and he kept promising he would."
Today
Maui Invitational championship: Gonzaga vs. Connecticut, 7 p.m., ESPN