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NCAA Tournament Recap (Oklahoma St-Auburn)
Posted: Sat March 13, 1999 at 8:46 p.m. EST INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Scott Pohlman outgunned Adrian Peterson and sent top-seeded Auburn into the regional semifinals for the first time in 13 years with an 81-74 second-round triumph over Oklahoma State in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament. Pohlman scored a career-high 28 points and seemed to answer every challenge by Oklahoma State's Peterson, who scored 27 points but was never able to give his team an advantage during a back-and-forth stretch run. "I don't know what it was," Pohlman said. "I was just getting good looks at it (the basket). I don't know how to explain it. I can't explain the feeling I am at now. I am so thankful that our team won the game and now we're in the 'Sweet 16.'" A diminutive 6-2 sophomore guard, Pohlman hit the biggest shot of the game, coming off a back screen to drain a short jumper from 15 feet with 51 seconds remaining that gave the Tigers a 76-72 lead. Peterson was credited with two points moments later when Auburn forward Chris Porter accidently tipped the ball into his own basket, cutting the Tigers' lead to two points. Auburn's Mamadou N'diaye connected on the first of two free throws with 28 seconds remaining, but after he misfired on the second attempt, Oklahoma State's Brian Montonati was whistled for fouling Bryant Smith, a 59 percent free throw shooter. "I just went up to the line like I normally do and if the ball came off the rim, it was mine," Smith said. "It came off just right and I tried to get it and he went out from under me and we went from there." But Smith calmly sank both foul shots with 27 seconds left, and after a bad pass by Doug Gottlieb, Pohlman iced the game with two more from the line with 13 seconds remaining. "It was a tremendous college basketball game," Auburn coach Cliff Ellis said. "You have to feel for Oklahoma State because they played so well. What a tremendous game it was. Neither team deserved to lose. Both teams went at in NCAA play." Smith netted 17 points for Auburn (29-3), which will face either Ohio State or 12th-seeded Detroit in the regional semifinals Thursday in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Tigers had not been past the second round since 1986, when they lost to Louisville in the West Region final. Desmond Mason contributed 26 points for the Cowboys (23-11), who were eliminated in the second round for the second consecutive season after advancing to the Final Four in 1995. "I thought it was a tremendous basketball game and I thought both teams played with a lot of intensity," Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton said. "I thought we got in trouble by the mistakes we made in the first half. It's always hard to play catch-up and it seemed like that is what we were doing all afternoon." Porter's steal and layup with just under 15 minutes to play gave Auburn a 52-44 advantage. The Cowboys immediately fought back as Peterson drained a 3-pointer and Mason scored four points on two free throws and a runner in the late, cutting Auburn's lead to 52-51 with 12:59 left. But thanks to Pohlman, who scored 11 straight points during a first-half run, the Cowboys could not tie it or take the lead. He drove for a layup with just over 12 minutes left and banked in a shot nearly a minute later, pushing Auburn's lead to 56-51. "Huge," Ellis said of Pohlman. "We were in trouble. Doc (Robinson) with four fouls. We were struggling. The biggest key to the win was him playing the point. Because they had us where they wanted it and he responded." After Peterson drained a 3-pointer from the left wing with 10:12 remaining, Pohlman answered with one from the right-wing for a 63-55 Auburn lead with 8:14 left. After a runner by Gottlieb, Smith had a tip-in and Pohlman hit a jumper to give the Tigers their biggest lead of the game, 67-57, with just over six minutes left. "Pohlman ran me to death today," Gottlieb said. "He played a tremendous basketball game. He moved without the ball well, obviously he was feeling it and he got some good looks. He hit big shots and every time he got open, it seemed like he hit the shot." This time it was Peterson's turn to answer. He drilled a 3-pointer to ignite an 8-2 run that included two alley-oop conversions by Mason. N'diaye threw down a dunk, but Peterson drained a jumper from the right wing, bringing the Cowboys within 71-67 with 3:14 to play. Robinson hit a jumper in the lane for Auburn, but Mason took a feed from Gottlieb and converted a layup with just under two minutes left. After Porter hit the second of two free throws with 1:36 remaining, Joe Adkins came off a screen on the right wing and nailed a 3-pointer, bringing Oklahoma State within 74-72 with 1:20 to play. Oklahoma State immediately called a timeout following Adkins' 3-pointer, but saw its hopes suffer a major blow moments later when Pohlman hit his short jumper to make it four-point game. Pohlman connected on 11-of-17 field goals and went 4-of-4 from the foul line for Auburn, which shot 52 percent (33-of-64) and was 5-of-17 from beyond the arc. Robinson netted 13 points and Porter grabbed nine rebounds to help the Tigers build a 35-28 advantage on the boards. "We just came out and played hard," Robinson said. "We don't worry about what people say as long as we got to do the things we have to do to win the ballgame. We just have to come down and execute on the offensive end." Gottlieb dished out 12 assists for the Cowboys, who shot 50 percent (26-of-52) and made 8-of-20 3-pointers. But they committed 16 turnovers while forcing Auburn into only nine. "I feel proud of the way we went out and played today," Peterson said. "We played well throughout the game -- we just made a lot of mistakes. I think that we beat ourselves if you look at the mistakes that we made."© 2000 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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