East Rutherford, NJ (Basketball News) - John Lucas scored the last five Oklahoma State points, including a three-pointer with 6.9 seconds remaining that sent the Cowboys to the Final Four with a thrilling 64-62 victory over Saint Joseph’s.
The second-seeded Cowboys (31-3) overcame a six-point halftime deficit in this East Rutherford bracket regional final, and erased a Pat Carroll three-pointer that gave the top-seeded Hawks (30-2) a brief 62-61 lead with 29.9 seconds left in the game.
The OSU offense looked stagnant at the other end, but Lucas calmly drained a three over Hawks defender Tyrone Barley for a two-point Oklahoma State lead, giving him a team-high 19 points for the game.
"It’s sinking in now, it’s sinking in with me," Lucas said afterwards. "That was the biggest shot in my life."
Naismith Award winner Jameer Nelson had a last-second chance for Saint Joseph’s. But his jumper at the foul line fell short — ending the Hawks’ magical season just one win away from their first Final Four trip in 43 years.
"Every time I shoot the ball, I think it’s going in," Nelson said. "I wouldn’t shoot the ball if I didn’t think I was going to make it."
Nelson crumbled to the ground after the buzzer sounded, and was helped to his feet by some Oklahoma State players.
"They were trying to help me out with my emotions, telling me we really don’t have anything to hang our heads about," he said. "That’s good sportsmanship. They didn’t have to do that, they could have just celebrated."
The Cowboys will now face either Kansas or Georgia Tech next Saturday in San Antonio — a fate that will be decided when the Jayhawks and Yellow Jackets meet in the St. Louis bracket final Sunday.
"It was my goal to get to the Final Four and win it," Lucas said. "We’re two games away from accomplishing it."
Joey Graham scored 17 points with 11 rebounds in this one, as OSU dominated the boards against a diminutive Saint Joe’s lineup, finishing with a 42-24 edge. Ivan McFarlin added nine points and 12 rebounds, and Tony Allen scored 12.
The Hawks, whose only other loss this season came against Xavier in the Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinals, were led by Delonte West’s 20 points.
After the game, Saint Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli spoke about the end of his team’s season.
"The result of the game doesn’t change their lives dramatically," he said. "If it’s the hardest thing they ever have to deal with, then they’ll have a blessed life. The greatest pain is that that group will not be together again."
Senior guard Nelson, a unanimous All American, added 17 points, eight assists and eight boards in his last collegiate game. He was the Hawks’ leading rebounder in this one, and ends his sparkling four-year career at Saint Joseph’s as the school’s all-time leader in points and assists.
The Hawks had just five turnovers in the game, and only two in the first half.
But two of their first three possessions of the second half resulted in giveaways, and Oklahoma State came out of the break with a 12-2 run to take a 39-35 lead on Lucas’ jumper at the 15:35 mark.
"I think the thing that won the game in the second half is we started running," Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton said. "We’re a better ball club when we can run. We really beat them on the boards, but they are a terrific basketball team. Anyone that says they didn’t deserve to be the No. 1 seed, they don’t know what they’re talking about."
The Cowboys later went ahead 43-37, but Saint Joe’s scored six straight after that and tied it at 43 on West’s three-pointer with 12:42 remaining.
Saint Joe’s found itself down 57-53 later, but a Carroll three and West’s jumper with 3:25 remaining erased that deficit and gave the Hawks a 59-57 edge.
The Cowboys knotted the score at 59 on a Graham layup, then took a 61-59 lead on Lucas’ fadeaway jumper with 40 seconds left. However, Carroll’s trey from the top of the key put Saint Joe’s ahead 62-61.
Carroll scored nine points on a trio of three-pointers, but was just 3-of-11 from behind the arc. Saint Joseph’s shot 39 percent as a team; Oklahoma State made 47 percent of its shots.
In the first half, the Hawks used pressure defense and one good run for a 33-27 lead at intermission. They scored 16 of their 33 points before the break on 10 Oklahoma State turnovers, using the takeaways to negate a 23-11 Cowboys advantage on the boards.
Nelson and West combined for 20 of Saint Joseph’s 33 points in the first half, including six during a 12-2 run that erased a two-point deficit and gave the Hawks a 21-13 lead. Chet Stachitas converted a big three-point play during the surge, which was capped by two Nelson free throws with 7:51 to play.
Saint Joseph’s went ahead by as many as nine points in the first half when two Dwayne Jones free throws made it 28-19 at the 4:35 mark.
That was the largest deficit Oklahoma State had faced in the tournament, but the Cowboys responded with an 8-1 burst to get as close as 29-27. Allen had four points during the spurt, and led Oklahoma State with 10 at the break.
Three-point specialist Carroll was only 1-of-6 from beyond the arc in the first half, and the Hawks were just 3-for-15 at a team.
Oklahoma State missed all eight of its first half three-pointers.
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