The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 25

0 1 i 3 1 4 CI amammtomm A ORTS Zht Charlotte (tbserver Monday March 3 1986 Page Inside: (Classified Ads Page 5C) For Scores Call Score Phone (704) 379-6535 Ilk psO Ron Green i ne sm avio oo Last-Moment Shot Is Heaven For 'Cats )' 4 6m -flr 'NNTIV1 itt Z44 tasi (11 )0411 By GLENN ROLLINS Staff Writer ASHEVILLE Davidson is going back to the NCAA basketball tournament because senior forward Gerry Born hit a 25-foot jump shot he has practiced most of his life beating Tennessee-Chattanooga 42-40 at the buzzer Sunday in the Southern Conference basketball tournament final Born's turn-jumper from a few steps beyond the key gave the Wildcats (20-10) their first NCAA bid since 1970 That 22-5 team part of a succession of Davidson clubs that frequently ranked in the Top 20 and dominated the conference throughout much of the 1960s and early 70s also was the school's last to win 20 games This year's team second-seeded in the tournament defeated the club that won the conference championship by finishing first in the regular-season standings Now Davidson must wait until the NCAA field is completed next Sunday to find out who and where it plays Conference officials said it could be any of the eight first-round tournament sites but that Charlotte and Greensboro are possibilities Just knowing they were going was enough for the Wildcats who will take off to enjoy spring break until the end of the week In the quickly quiet dressing room at the Asheville Civic Center junior guard Chris Heineman shook his head and grinned "We keep yelling that we're going to the NCAAs" he said "but no one's really realized yet that we're actually playing at least one more game and that it'll be againstone of the top teams in the country" To get there Davidson had to persevere in a game in which the top-seeded teams in the league played perhaps the conference's worst game of the season But at the end there was Born hitting an improbable shot he has worked on and worked on "He's always making crazy shots like that at the See REBORN Page 4C With students on spring break news of Davidson's victory didn't rock the campus But it did prompt some reminiscences Story Page IB 7 AP Photo Gerry Born's shot netted Davidson the Southern Conference tournament title ff Tar Heels Duke lishes ASHEVILLE Glory comes down many roads It came to Davidson's Wildcats in the Asheville Civic Center on Sunday afternoon by way of Auburn Ala riding on the wings of a lucky bounce and dripping irony along the way It arrived in the form of a lovely rainbow a high-arching shot of about 25 feet off the fingers of Gerry Born that as he so eloquently put it "kissed the bottom of the net" As the ball plummeted through the horn was sounding and the Southern Conference basketball tournament was over Davidson had beaten Tennessee-Chattanooga 42-40 and for the first time since 1970 the Wildcats were conference tournament kings 20-game winners and in the NCAA playoffs As the shackles that had held them captive among the also-rang fell away from the Wildcats at last fans swarmed the court and hoisted Born to their shoulders His eyes were red with tears of joy and his mouth was red with blood from a nosebleed It was a most unlikely ending to a game that to that point had been as full of flash as a plowing contest with both teams struggling to locate the baskets sc The play that won it was 1 one Davidson coach Bobby mrok let Hussey had borrowed from Auburn coach Sonny Smith 44 during one of the summer- time brainstorming sessions they and several other i coaches share Mack Mc- Carthy in his first year as the Tennessee-Chattanooga Hussey coach was Smith's assistant at Auburn when his boss gave Hussey the play McCarthy said he figured that was the play Davidson would run "We drew that exact play out (during the time-out before the killer shot) and we knew they were going to run that one" he said Here's how it all happened: With 10 seconds to play and Davidson leading 40-38 Dwight Harris a Moccasin sub who had missed his three previous field-goal attempts launched a long Jumper that seemed ill-advised at the time but went through the hoop Born stepped out of bounds quickly to try to make the inbounds play before Chattanooga could get set He fumbled the ball and it accidentally bounced inbounds into the hands of teammate Derek Rucker "Someone on their team could've gotten it and scored and I'd have been the goat of the century" said Born Rucker seeing how this had transpired said he wasn't sure it was a legal inbounds play and in his confusion failed to call time-out until only three seconds remained The first inbounds after that time-out got the ball to midcourt with two seconds left Davidson called another time-out and Hussey called his old buddy Sonny Smith's play The first two options were to get the ball to Chris Heineman coming off a screen in the corner or to Rucker coming off a double screen along the sideline Both were covered McCarthy having guessed the play Born the "pressure release man" as he's designated in that situation dropped back and took the pass squared up and fired and released all the pressure in the place "He practices shots like that all the time just goofing around" said Heineman "It's something we work on every day believe it or not" said Hussey "but that's the first time Born's ever shot it" "I thought it was going to be off to the right" said Born "When I saw it kiss the bottom of the net I couldn't believe it" Neither could the Moccasins While the celebration swirled around them several Tennessee-Chattanooga players sat or laid on the floor moving only when they were about to be overrun by the Wildcats moving in to cut down the nets for the first time since oh so long ago There's one more little touch to all of this Born comes from Ringgold Ga 15 miles from Chattanooga His choice of schools came down to Davidson Georgia Tech and Tennessee-Chattanooga "When I was recruiting Gerry" said Hussey "I told him I thought he was good enough to help us become a championship team Somewhere along the way I might even have slipped and said 'Hey you may make the winning shot in a championship game for us'" Said Born: "A win over this team is sweeter than winning over the others in the league When we play at Chattanooga the fans really give me a hard time and I usually don't play well there To beat them in this game sort of gives me the last laugh They can never take this away" Soon the Wildcats go into the NCAA playoffs Hussey said he would love to be in the East Regional first-round playoffs in Charlotte Someone reminded him that it's the Southeast Regional that will be held in Charlotte "I stand corrected" he said "We're in the East and the South And right now we're in Heaven" freshman Kevin Madden he hit from the wing and again on a baseline drive He then drew a foul from Madden and hit a free throw for a 69-64 Duke lead with 4:35 left The Tar Heels switched defenders putting Kenny Smith on Henderson But it made little difference By the time Henderson's hot streak came to an end he had scored 11 of 13 Duke points and had his team In command 77-66 with 1:09 to play The Tar Heels fell silent in that stretch hitting two of four shots but See DUKE Page SC That turnaround might have come regardless But it was no sure thing until the late-game heroics of Henderson a forward who was one of five Duke seniors playing for the last time In Cameron Indoor Stadium The Tar Heels without injured starting guard Steve Hale and reserve center Warren Martin used high-percentage shooting to lead at times and trailed the Blue Devils by only 64-62 with six minutes 51 seconds remaining At that point Henderson stepped forward Matched against North Carolina championship tournament which begins next week a seed which would likely place them in Greensboro for the opening two rounds The Blue Devils (12-2 ACC 29-2) tied North Carolina for first place in 1979 but had not taken sole possession of the regular-season championship since 1966 That was also the last season that North Carolina failed to finish either first or second in the conference running up a 19-season streak at No 1 or No 2 before Sunday's defeat dropped the Tar Heels (10-4 26-4) to third By LEONARD LAYE Sports door DURHAM Duke's Blue Devils riding the shoulders of David Henderson in the final fateful minutes broke away from North Carolina for an 82-74 college basketball victory Sunday and finished alone atop the ACC's regular-season standings for the first time in 20 years The victory gave the Blue Devils the No 1 seed for the ACC tournament which begins Friday in the Greensboro Coliseum It also gave them the inside track to the top seed for the NCAA's ACC Tournament Tournament-Pairings Tilt Makes Blue Devils Favorites (1) Duke Noon Fit te) Woke Forest Analysis 130 pm Sat 4 VII inia 2 pm: Frt 5 N0 State Champion 1 pm Sun f2) Ga Tech By KEVIN QUIRK Staff Writer Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Sunday he was not even thinking about the ACC basketball tournament But everyone else is And most of those thinking about the tournament Friday through Sunday in Greensboro have to be thinking about Duke The Blue Devils should enter as favorites and not Just because they finished first in the regular season Or because of their momentum from beating North Carolina 82-74 Sunday Or because they haven't played one bad game all season Or because they have more veterans than some Army hospitals As No 1 seed Duke draws No 8 Wake Forest in its opening matchup Friday and the undermanned Deacons have not even been able to upset Clemson never mind the nation's top-ranked team More important the Blue Devils will be able to stand clear of 7 pm Fri (7) Clemson both North Carolina and Georgia Tech until the championship game Sunday The second-seeded Yellow Jackets and third-seeded Tar Heels meanwhile must dig their teeth into tougher meat to even get the chance to claw at Duke Georgia Tech opens with No 7 seed Clemson on Friday and beating the same ACC team twice in five days never is a snap And in No 6 seed Maryland North Caro lina locks arms with the same monster that Just gobbled up a nine-point Tar Heel lead in less than three minutes in regulation to win In overtime Feb 20 On North Carolina's spanking new Dean Smith Center court yet If those other two national contenders from the ACC get by Round I which also See BLUE DEVILS Page 5C 3:30 pm Sat 13) Carolina 9 pm Frt (6) Maryland a Labonte Hangs On At Rockingham Unknown Wins PGA Totwnament kit- 4k Inside By TOM HIGGINS Staff Writer ROCKINGHAM Terry Labonte driving a cool calculated race in keeping with his "Iceman" nickname held off fast-closing Harry Gant to win the Goodwrench 500 Sunday The triumph In the NASCAR Winston Cup Series event continued Labonte's mastery of NC Motor Speedway a 1017-mile track that many drivers rate among the circuit's most treacherous In his last nine starts at the track Labonte has finished first twice second twice third twice and fourth once Labonte driving an Oldsmobile was In command most of the race leading 304 of the 492 laps including the final 56 He amassed that total although he said he was "laying back in the first half because I know you can't win a long race like this one in the first few hours" It wasn't as close as the victory margin of 47-hundredths of a second might indicate "I felt I could be a little cautious at the end and still stay in front especially since there was some traffic ahead that I could use" said Labonte who once built a lead of 10 seconds and who held a two-second margin over Gant with 10 laps to go See LABONTE Page 3C Associated Press CORAL SPRINGS Fla Kenny Knox a career struggler and refugee from the minitours twice holed from off the green and held on for a one-stroke victory Sunday in the Honda Classic Knox bounced out of the lead by a windblown 80 on Saturday responded with a two-under-par 70 in the final round to score one of the most pronounced upsets In recent years on the PGA Tour Knox 29 who twice lost his playing rights due to lack of performance hadn't finished higher than eighth in three full seasons before he posted his 287 total one under par on the Tournament Players Championship course at Eagle Trace The victory was worth $90000 from the total purse of $500000 and almost doubled the total See KNOX Page 4C 4 JIM vasessit Georgia Tech Finishes 2nd Georgia Tech finished the regular season in second place in ACC basketball by virtue of a 74-63 victory over Clemson Page 4C Also The Carolinas 2C The Nation 2C Basketball Week 4C NBA 5C College Basketball4C NHL 3C Score Phone 379-6535 AP Photo Davey Allison (94) bashes Eddie Blerschwale.