The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 15

1. 1 1 THE COURIER-JOURNAL COLLEGE BASKETBALL SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1997 C3 J. R. VanHoose waits and waits for word out of the Blue gymnasium, once again savoring a moment of quiet. Not an hour earlier the place had been deafening as an overflow crowd of more than 1,800 watched VanHoose tear up top-ranked Lexington Catholic with 38 points and 10 -t I I PAT FORDE SPORTS COLUMNIST (Louisville hasn't offered anything, either).

And J. R. VanHoose has to hear that noise banging off his eardrums day and night. "Choosing a college is one of the most stressing things that you can do," he said. "You come to (high) school and it's 'Where are you Just over and over again, hat just adds pressure." A YELLOWED piece of paper is pinned to the bulletin board in VanHoose's bedroom.

He wrote this list of 10 basketball goals he wanted to achieve wrote it in the fifth grade and has kept it through two moves into different houses. The list: 1. Fifteenth Region champions 2. State Tournament appearance 3. Final Four 4.

State champs 5. Mr. Basketball 6. Play at a Division I college 7. NCAA Tournament appearance 8.

Final Four 9. National champs 10. NBA Next to the first four he has written the date of the accomplishment, and all of the rest remain possible. But there is a detail on that list for those preparing for civil war to consider. Take a look at No.

6. It says "Division I college," not "Kentucky or bust." Life goes on, even if the uniform isn't UK blue and white. J. R. VanHoose has enough going for him to add to the family history no matter where he winds up.

Pat Forde's column normally runs Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in Sports. You can reach him at 582-4373. PAINTSVILLE, Ky. Noise is J. R.

VanHoose's constant companion. There are cheers in the home gym, boos on the road. There is the delightful patter and chatter of his 2-year-old brother, Alex. There are the two incessant sounds he hears all day, every day: the slap of basketball on wood, and the questions about his college choice. A loud life.

When he needs to turn down life's volume, the state's most accomplished high school player knows where to go. He goes to the library. "I know all the librarians by their first names," he said. VanHoose's refuge from basketball is the past. In the silent stacks of the Paintsville library he can explore his avocations: family geneology and the Civil War.

He can immerse himself in the quiet drama of tracing his ancestors back to Bull Run, Antietam, Cold Harbor Union and Confederate soldiers both. He can transport himself back to that moment just before noon, July 3, 1863, when two of his forbears went up the hill in Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg the very point at which American history irrevocably turned. "When the team goes on trips, all the guys are looking at Sports Illustrated and J. R. is over looking at Blue Gray Magazine," said his longtime girlfriend, Amy Stricklin.

"What these guys went through, that's what made this country what it is today," VanHoose said. "That's what I like to do, and that's where I go to relax. I'm not a party animal; I'd rather learn about the Civil War." This articulate and thoughtful young man said it sitting in an empty Paintsville High School center Michael Bradley of Massachusetts a guy who plays VanHoose's position. Would J. R.

get an offer at all? The din reached a crescendo when another junior, this one less-heralded guard Jaron Brown of Lexington Bryan Station, followed Blevins and Bradley into the fold. Are they really going to stiff J. This is the kid who was voted Most Valuable Player of the 1996 Sweet Sixteen as a sophomore after leading Paintsville to the state title. This is the kid on the cover of both The Courier-Journal's and Lexington Herald-Leader's high school basketball previews. This is the first junior since Darrell Griffith in 1974 to be ranked the commonwealth's best player in a statewide C-J preseason poll of coaches.

This is a kid who went into the Lexington Catholic game averaging 21.5 points, 14.5 rebounds, 4.5 blocked shots and 3.2 assists for a 25-3 team. And this is a kid from the mountains. The good people of Paintsville are as rock-solid in their support of the Wildcats as Louisville's West End is in support of the Democrats. Like most everywhere else in the mountains, their allegiance is generations old and likely to continue for time immemorial. But in the packed gym Friday night you could sense some small cracks in the foundation.

Nobody wanted to be too strident about it, because it is still early in VanHoose's recruitment and Pitino is a deity in these parts. It was Pitino, after all, who helped turn John Pelphrey, pride of Paintsville and Kentucky's Mr. Basketball in 1988, into an Unforgettable UK hero. But many locals silently nod when asked if the town is disappointed that UK so far has turned its back on a talented native son. They don't see how he could go from super soph to forgotten man so quickly.

"He handles everything so well," Stricklin said. "The only thing I can see that will really bother him is the Kentucky deal right now It's the hardest thing in the world to grow up in Kentucky and love Kentucky basketball, and then have to step outside of it and make a decision." Despite the din, VanHoose is trying mightily not to appear dismayed. "That's an ideal situation: Mr. Basketball in Kentucky goes to UK," he said. "But that doesn't work out for everyone." THING IS, from the VanHoose purview it all appeared to be working out so splendidly.

The kid leads Paintsville to the state title, wins the MVP, then takes a dreamy unofficial visit to UK over the summer. VanHoose walked into Memorial Coliseum and saw a gold plaque. On it was a list of great Cats who had worn No. 40 his number. At the bottom was his name.

"It was quite impressive," Stricklin said. But as coaches from across the country made their pilgrimage to Paintsville to watch VanHoose play from Kansas, from Syracuse, from Indiana and from Notre Dame on Friday night Pitino stayed away. And as the mailbox was hit with its daily barrage to date VanHoose estimates that he has received 1,800 mailings from 192 colleges, with a single-day high of 54 they stopped coming with a Lexington postmark. "Jan. 15 was the last letter from UK," he said.

"I was sitting in Richmond (at the All 'A' Classic) when Bradley said he was coming. I was like, 'That's "Then a week ago another letter comes. If you were really interested, why didn't you write me for a month? Are you going to drop me without saying anything? Did I do something to make you upset? "But I'm still a junior, and I've kind of accepted my situation. I don't want to commit until next November anyway, and you never know how things will be then." You do know one thing: The pressure will be on UK to take care of its own. Eddie Sutton was more or less browbeaten into taking two previous Mr.

Basketballs from Appalachia: Pelphrey and Richie Farmer. This isn't something the VanHooses relish. "I don't want them to be pressured," Beth VanHoose said. "I want them to take him because they want him, not because they feel like they have to." Know this: Pitino is not prone to letting the public make his recruiting decisions. He has reason to wonder whether VanHoose is right for his system whether he has the footwork, hands and perimeter skills he looks for in post players, and whether he's a legitimate 6-10 (he looks closer to 6-8).

But VanHoose already has offers on the table from programs such as Kansas, Tennessee, Florida (where Pelphrey is an assistant) and Indiana (he took in yesterday's Northwestern game with his dad, Bob). And the locals want to know why the young man considered the best player in the state isn't being recruited by the best state schools ercer goes home, Gophers avenge loss, clinch tie for league title, 67-66 puts game away with late surge Associated Press Revenge was sweet but exhausting for second-ranked Minnesota. The host Gophers avenged their only Big Ten loss of the season and clinched at least a tie for the league title yesterday with a hard-fought 67-66 victory over No. 23 Illinois, "We don't want a share of the title, we want the whole thing," said John Thomas, who sank two free throws with 4.7 seconds left to rescue the Gophers, who trailed for most of the game. "To win it outright has been our goal the entire year.

We're not going to stop until we get it." Thomas, a senior center who had been shooting only 59 percent at the foul line this season, was fouled by Chris Gandy and sank both shots for Minnesota (24-2, 13-1). "I wasn't nervous," said Thomas, who was 6 of 9 from the line. "I knew I had to make the first one, and I didn't want it to go into overtime. I wanted to end it. Everyone was pulling for me." Illinois guard Kiwane Garris, who led all scorers with 23 points, tried to drive for a final shot but lost control of the ball at the free-throw line as time expired.

"The ball just got away," said Garris, who was 4 of 6 from three-point range. "I didn't want to shoot the three. I was trying to get it into the paint and shoot it from there." Garris said the loss was particularly difficult for him. "I'm taking this loss hard because I'm a senior, and I won't get another chance to win a Big Ten title," he said. rebounds in an 82-78 Paintsville upset.

Now, in the calm, this student of history was discussing the small-scale civil war that is threatening to erupt around him. In the end it could pit brother against brother, blue against blue University of Kentucky blue against Paintsville Tigers blue. UK appears to be contemplating the heretical: passing up a probable Mr. Basketball from Eastern Kentucky, a kid who grew up cheering for the Wildcats. And this rumor of war is building into the biggest noise in J.

R. VanHoose's already loud life. "It does bother him, I'm not going to lie to you," said his mother, Beth. "He has wondered, and we sat down and talked to him about it. He can't understand what else he has to do to make them recruit him." THE RUMORS of civil war started rumbling in December, when fellow junior J.

P. Blevins of Metcalfe County announced he would play at UK. When would J. R. get his offer? They got louder when UK coach Rick Pitino landed 6-foot-ll senior SEC Prater stole the ball from Allen Edwards and passed it to teammate James Strong, who threw up a potential game-tying three-point attempt.

It bounced off the rim. UK (26-3, 11-2 Southeastern Conference) had won for the sixth consecutive time since falling to South Carolina. Vandy (17-9, 8-6) had lost for the first time in seven games since it fell to South Carolina. "I couldn't be more proud," Pitino said, "or more tired." After Mercer showered, he was ushered onto a makeshift podium a giant scale in a hallway outside the visitors' locker room. "We never doubted it," Mercer said.

"We never doubted we would win." And now there seems-to be even less doubt that this was his last appearance here as a college player. Pitino met with Mercer's mother Friday night. And although Birdie Mercer says that she would like to see her son stay in school, it is sounding more like a jump to the National Basketball Association is inevitable. In fact, an announcement could come before the season finale against South Carolina on March 2, so that Mercer could be honored on Senior Night. Pitino says he told his star: "If you know what you want to do, let's make an announcement.

I think it's better to stop all the questions. Just come out and say, Tm going I'd say, 'Great, let's go win the second For Mercer, this week might have marked the latest in a series of breakthroughs that has Pitino freely talking about the potential for repeating. Mercer has given UK fans spectacular dunks all season. This week he added something new: emotion. Against Alabama he got in a shoving match.

Yesterday he could be seen diving on the floor, pumping his fists, fighting back. "I'm noticing Ron Mercer has a little bit of a mean streak in him," Pitino said. "This finesse player, when attacked, fights back." His mother, his teammates and his hit the first basket of the game. In the second half, the Gamecocks came out firing with three-pointers by Ryan Stack and Watson and a dunk and a layup by William Gallman. They pushed the lead to 45-30 with 15:50 to play as the Vols missed eight straight shots.

The Volunteers didn't get closer than nine points the rest of the way. Earlier in the week South Carolina beat Arkansas and The Citadel. Georgia 82, LSU 59 Derrick Dukes scored 19 points to lead the Bulldogs over the visiting Tigers, snapping a two-game losing streak. Ray Harrison had 18 points, nine rebounds and four steals, followed by sophomore G.G. Smith with 17 points, including five three-pointers.

Despite a closely fought first half, Georgia (19-7, 8-6) used a 27-8 run in the beginning of the second half to lead by as many as 19 points. Rogers Washington led LSU (9-18, 2-12) with 18 points. By MARK WOODS The Courier-Journal NASHVILLE, Tenn. Ron Mercer never has been much for attention. So maybe it was to be expected that the University of Kentucky sophomore would spend most of this little homecoming party a trip back to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt quietly hanging out in the corner.

By the time it was over, though, he had 23 points as his team had erased a 22-pomt deficit and held on for an 82-79 victory in storied Memorial Gymnasium. And his coach could be found gushing about how it was one of the greatest comebacks he ever had seen. "This," Rick Pitino said, "is as good as it gets." Maybe so, but with 13 minutes to play, it was looking like Mercer and his teammates might be the latest victims for this strange 45-year-old structure built as a combination gymnasium and opera house that Sports Illustrated once named the toughest place to play in America. Mercer then had eight points. UK, which had trailed 40-18 in the first half, still was down by seven.

Then it happened. Memorial Magic met Mercer Magic. And it was no contest. He scored eight consecutive points, gving UK the lead for the first time, uring a seven-minute span, he made seven baskets and scored 15 points. The Commodores, meanwhile, made one basket.

"Ron took us on his back," UK guard Anthony Epps said. "We were just along for the ride." And what a ride. Right down to the finish. After erasing the 22-point deficit, then building a nine-point lead, Kentucky had to sweat out the final seconds. The Wildcats led 81-74 with 16.5 seconds to play.

Fans were heading for the exits. Then Vanderbilt's Billy DiSpaltro made two free throws. Epps missed 1 of 2 free throws. Vanderbilt's Drew Maddux made an off-balance three-point shot with nine seconds to play. Vanderbilt guard Atiba KENTUCKY 82 Player mln fg iga it fta reb to a pf tp Mercer 34 11 19 0 0 4 1 4 0 23 Padgett 21 4 10 0 1 2 2 10 13 350041146 32 4 8 5 6 4 4 5 3 14 Epps 33361220 10 09 Turner 24 3 4 0 0 0 0 3 2 7 9260021034 Mills 2 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 Pnckett 324600 12 2029 Team 2 Totals 200 34 65 6 8 32 13 25 20 82 VANDERBILT 79 Player mln tg Iga fta rab to a pf tp Di Spaltro 34 5 9 4 6 6 3 1 1 14 35 10 21 3 5 8 2 1 3 27 Bates 15 3634301 59 Pride 11 0 0 1 2 0 1 5 1 1 Maddux 39 4 11 8 8 4 4 6 1 18 Strong 6 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 Prater 2903221 1 402 Cugini 12 1 1 0 0 3 1 1 0 2 Langhi 19 1 2 2 3 3 1 1 1 4 Team 2 Totals 200 25 58 23 30 30 14 20 14 79 Halftlma Vanderbilt 44, Kentucky 34.

3-solnt goals Kentucky 8-16 (Mercer 1-2, Padgett 2-5, Edwards 1-2, Epps 2-4, Turner 1-1, Mills 0-1, Pnckett 1-1); Vanderbilt 6-16 (Whitehead 44, Maddux 2-5, Strong 0-1, Prater 0-2). Shooting percentages Kentucky 52.3; Vanderbilt 44.6. Steals Kentucky 10 (Marcer 1, Padgett 1, Magloire 1, Edwards 2, Epps 2, Turner 1, Mohammed 2); Vandefbilt 7 (Di Spaltro 1, Whitehead 2, Bates 1, Prater 3). Blocked shots Kentucky 5 (Padgett 1, Magloire 2, Mohammed 2); Vanderbilt 0, Attendance 15,311. best friend from childhood saw it, too.

"He needed it, because they've been elbowing him," said Birdie Mercer, one of "about 15 to 20" of Mercer's family and friends who came to the game. Epps, who finished with 10 assists and no turnovers, added: "In the past a lot of people would give him a cheap shot and he would just shake it off. Now he gets in their face. He ain't backing off from no one. I think that's the attitude we need." And that's what they got in the second half yesterday.

Mercer dived on the floor. He made jump shots from all over. He dunked. He hung on the rim and got called for a technical foul. After his hometown friend, Maddux, made two free throws following the technical, the scoreboard operator made a mistake and gave Vandy only one point.

The score should have been 59-58 in favor of Vanderbilt but instead read 58-58, prompting the fans to break into a chant. "Change the score! Change the score!" The scoreboard operator eventually did, Then Mercer did. He showed up for his party, after all. "The one thing I've noticed in Ron in the last few weeks is that he's really a lot more aggressive," Maddux said. "Take a guy with superior ability like him and you add killer instinct, and it makes him almost impossible to stop." Alabama 55, Auburn 50 Demetrius Alexander hit the clinching three-pointer and the Crimson Tide finished the game on a 13-0 run in a home win over the Tigers.

With his team ahead by one and the shot clock running down, Alexander, a 6-foot-8 forward, spotted up at the top of the key and swished a three-pointer to put Alabama (15-12, 5-9) ahead 54-50 with 15 seconds left. After a miss by Auburn (14-13, 5-9), Eric Washington hit 1 of 2 free throws to seal the Tide's third win in four games and its 13th straight home win over the Tigers. Brian Williams led the Tide with 15 points. BIG TEN Bobby Jackson scored 18 points for Minnesota, which can win the Big Ten title outright for the first time since 1982 with a victory over Michigan on Wednesday. "We're just happy to be in this situation," Jackson said.

Thomas had 12 points and seven rebounds for the Gophers, who tied the school record for most victories in a season, set by the 1976-77 team that featured Mychal Thompson, Kevin McHale and Ray Williams. The Gophers have won 19 of their past 20 games, with the loss coming at Illinois 96-90 Jan. 14. Their only other defeat was at Alabama in December. Reserve Bryant Notree scored 12 points for Illinois (18-8, 8-6).

Jackson, who fouled out with 3:25 left in the game, had a three-point play after a steal to give Minnesota its first lead of the game at 46-45 in the second half. Charles Thomas then scored twice on fast breaks during an 8-2 Minnesota spurt that put the Gophers up 54-48, but Illinois fought back and led 66-65 with 25 seconds to play on a dunk by Notree. Garris helped Illinois take a 20-11 lead in the first half by hitting 4 of 6 shots and scoring six straight points during a 10-2 run. But the Gophers' defense allowed just four baskets the rest of the half to forge a 30-30 he. Iowa 69, Ohio St.

56 Ryan Bowen scored 17 points and Andre Woolridge had 15 while Iowa's defense held Ohio State's top two scorers to a combined four points en route to a lopsided road victory. NORTHWESTERN 49 Player mln fg tga tt fta reb to pf tp Branch ....24 151232333 I SS 1 0 0 8 1 1 1 Johnson a 3 7 Harmsen ...18 490075019 29 030022140 Momar 1120000002 20b 18 so 10 1 43 25 10 ia 49 Indiana piayer mtn tg tga its reb to a pi tp SET" 0 I 2 2 2 0 3 1 21 030000010 0 7 011 MujSoiic'' 17 262251046 14 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 152222004 17 244420009 020010000 Team 3 Totate 200 19 'J3 17 5: (gLh Ammons O-l, Bormer 1-5, Johnson 1-2, Harmsen 1-3, lVt. Muier m. percentage. Northwestern 36.0; Indl- Steals Northwestern 1 (Johnson), Indiana 10 Z2tZ Eschmeyer 5, Bonner 1, Pomeday 1); Indiana 5 iJll f-Pmmon 16,13 to make us shoot the shots that we had to shoot," said Northwestern coach Ricky Byrdsong, whose team missed 14 of 17 three-point attempts, Indiana started a three-guard fresh- man lineup of Guyton, Lewis and Luke Jimenez that, excluding the play of center Evan Eschmeyer, effectively halted Northwestern's inside game, Juniors Reed and Miller didn't play in the first half.

"We started those three guys be- cause we wanted to get as much de- fensive pressure as we could," Dakich Knightless IU gives coach 699th Damon Stringer, Ohio State's leading scorer at 15.2 points a game, went scoreless while missing au seven of his shots from the field. Second-leading scorer Shaun Stonerook (12.1) had just four points and made only 1 of 4 shots. The Hawkeyes (18-8, 9-5) pulled away with a 10-3 run in the second half that stretched their lead to 54-38. Wooldridge, who scored 27 points in Iowa's 76-62 victory over Ohio State on Jan. 15, had seven assists in the rematch.

Neshaun Coleman scored 21 points for the Buckeyes (10-13, 5-9). Michigan State 71, Penn State 57 Ray Weathers scored 16 points and Antonio Smith had a career-high 17 rebounds to lead host Michigan State past Penn State. The victory was only the second in nine games for the Spartans (13-10, 6-8). Penn State (9-15, 2-13) lost for the eighth time in nine games. Pete Lisicky led the Nittany Lions with 13 points, and Greg Stevenson added 11.

Morris Peterson started the second half with a pair of baskets to give Michigan State a 35-24 advantage, and Penn State never got closer than seven points. Big Ten standings ConY aii com. JJ lKMm 7 8 Wisconsin ...9 6 16 7 Mien, state .8 is 10 ftj 1SI2 minois 6 is 8 Nonnwestem.2i3 719 Michigan ....7 6 17 8 win, 64-49 said. "We wanted to get in the passing lanes. We wanted to try to stir up things the best we could.

We thought those three kids in practice had kind of given us the best effort at that." Lewis, Guyton and Jimenez made one turnover between them in 90 combined minutes. "There was a tremendous crowd around the basketball if it got any closer than the three-point line," Byrdsong said. But Indiana had no answer for the 6-11 Eschmeyer, who had 23 points and 10 rebounds. Dakich called Eschmeyer a great player, saying: "You watch the Michigan State game (Wednesday), he gets 22 points, 17 boards. If you don't have respect for him, then you're not doing right." Dakich said the Wildcats' defense was a major factor in IU's shooting woes.

"They switched, and they did a really good job," he said. "That's a tough defense to play against. They packed it in. They switched everything, and they didn't really let anything go into the post." The Hoosiers' field-goal percentage was their lowest of the season. "We weren't slipping screens very well," said Lewis, who had seven assists.

"We weren't cutting hard. When we did that and really set up our cuts, we got baskets." "I was proud of our defense," Byrdsong said. "I felt like we had a good enough defensive effort to win the We were around their shots. We challenged shots very well. "I can't believe they would be proud of theto offensive output." Gamecocks down Volunteers Continued from Page 1 anas nine.

The Hoosiers, who made seven of their first 13 shots but missed 18 of their next 22, were most inept after Robbie Eggers basket gave them a 28-16 lead with 7:10 left in the first half. IU missed its last 11 shots of the first half and its first four of the sec- ond before Neil Reed's layup at 15:42 ended the drought. At no point did Northwestern, which has lost 26 straight games in Bloomington, overtake the Hoosiers. After crawling within 29-21, the Wild- cats made four turnovers and missed the first of a bonus free-throw situa- tion on their next five possessions. Je- von Johnson made only 2 of 4 foul shots following Knight's technicals with 34.4 seconds left in the half, and IU Still led 29-23 at intermission.

The visitors closed within 31-29 be- fore IU scored 12 of the next 16 points. Charlie Miller had a Critical three-pointer, and A. J. Guyton Con- verteda three-point play. Wh North- western trailing 47-38 at 121, IU 7- footer Richard Mandeville made back-to-back three-pointers.

Mandeville was the only Hoosier deadeye, making 6 of 8 attempts and 3 of 4 threes. He has made 11 of his past 13 shots. But. Guyton, who was coming off successive 31-point games, was only 5 of 19. Leading scorer Andrae Patter- son, slowed by a nagging ankle in- jury, didn't have a field goal in 14 minutes, and Reed, who scored 15 straight IU points late in a 66-63 come-from-behind victory over the Wildcats last month, had only one bucket.

"They did the things they had to do Associated Press South Carolina coach Eddie Fogler called his team's third game in five I days an endurance test. The record books will call it a 69-58 victory at Tennessee. The ninth-ranked Gamecocks (21-6, 13-1 Southeastern Conference) defeat-. ed the Volunteers for the fourth straight time. "It was a test of our endurance with three games this week," Fogler said.

"We've been on the go." If the Gamecocks were tired, it didn't show. "I could tell we were ready to play. We understand what we can be," Fogler said. "Our guards showed they were very, very good." Larry Davis led South Carolina's three-guard attack with 19 points, including 11 of the Gamecocks' 35 first- half points. Melvin Watson added 18 points, and BJ McKie 14.

Tennessee (11-13, 4-10) held the lead only brieflywhen Rashard Lee SEC standings EAST WEST Conf. All Conf. All WLWL WLWL S. Carolina .13 1 21 6 8 5 16 7 Kentucky ..12 2 26 3 Arkansas ....7 6 14 9 Georgia 8 6 19 7 Auburn 5 9 1413 Vanderbilt ...8 6 17 9 Miss. State ..5 8 1115 Florida 5 8 1313 Alabama 5 9 1512 1113 LSU 212 918 I ti A il rt -i i.