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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- Eddie Sutton knew they all wouldn't be easy for Oklahoma State.
The Cowboys did their usual fine job defending the 3 to move
within one victory of the Final Four.
The third-seeded Cowboys held Seton Hall to 7-of-34 shooting
from 3-point range and beat the 10th-seeded Pirates 68-66 Friday
night in the East Regional semifinals. The first two tournament
wins were by a combined 28 points and were cakewalks compared with
No. 3.
|  | | Brian Montonati -- who scored 15 points against Seton Hall -- and the Cowboys are moving on. |
Oklahoma State (27-6) will meet fifth-seeded Florida on Sunday
for a berth in the Final Four. Florida beat top-seeded and
top-ranked Duke 87-78.
The last time the Cowboys advanced this far in the NCAA
Tournament was in 1995 when they reached the Final Four for the
first time under Sutton.
"When we've done well in the tournament, there's always one
close game we could have lost," Sutton said. "In 1995, the Wake
Forest game could have gone either way. I don't know if this game
prepared us for Florida, though. They have a really good basketball
team, the deepest left in the tournament."
The Pirates (22-10), who needed overtime in each of their two
wins in the tournament, played without injured senior point guard
Shaheen Holloway. The Pirates are the third of three Big East teams
to lose in the round of 16. Syracuse and Miami also fell in the
regional semifinals.
"Any time you're right there you can taste it, feel it," Seton
Hall coach Tommy Amaker said. "We didn't capitalize when we had
the opportunities. We ran into a very good basketball team that
played a heck of a game and made big plays."
Defending the 3-pointer has been of the Cowboys' strengths all
season as they were eighth in the nation, allowing 29.7 percent.
They were even better against Seton Hall, which was 23-of-44 in
the first two games of the tournament, including an East
Regional-record 15-of-30 in the second-round upset of second-seeded Temple.
"We're a very perimeter-oriented team. That's what we do and
how we've been able to get to this point," Amaker said. "We did
not shoot the ball well, but we still came up just two points
short. We were hoping a few of those 3s would start to fall for
us."
Holloway sprained his left ankle eight minutes into the victory
over Temple. Ty Shine replaced him and scored a career-high 26
points, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 18 seconds left
in overtime. Holloway, who didn't practice all week, didn't dress
for the game and had to settle for a role as a cheerleader and
extra assistant coach in his final college game.
"It was tremendously hard. It was nothing like I ever felt in
my life, especially when I came out there and I saw the crowd,"
Holloway said. "I sat back and took a deep breath because I really
didn't want to be emotional. I didn't want to cry. I wanted to stay
strong for the team."
Desmond Mason had 16 points for the Cowboys, and Brian Montonati
and Fredrik Jonzen added 15 each.
Rimas Kaukenas led the Pirates with 17 points and Darius Lane
added 16, but he was 7-for-24 from the field, including 2-for-18
from beyond the arc. Shine, who was 7-for-10 from 3-point range
against Temple, had 11 points on 4-for-16 shooting, including
2-for-10 on 3s.
The Pirates were right there until the end and Oklahoma State
needed some good interior defense as well to hold them off.
Jonzen, a 6-foot-10 sophomore center, blocked Kaukenas on a
rebound layup with five minutes to go and also threw away Al Harris
with 1:40 left and Seton Hall within 60-57.
"Fredrik has developed into an outstanding basketball player,"
Sutton said. "He's become a very good defender, our best rebounder
and our best inside player."
Glendon Alexander was 4-for-6 from the free-throw line for the
Cowboys over the final 16 seconds, holding off Seton Hall with his
last one with 0.5 seconds to play that made it 68-66.
"Right now I'm in awe stepping to the line in front of 30,000
fans and the nation watching you and your team's destiny in your
hands," said Alexander, who finished with nine points. "I didn't
feel no pressure. It was a great feeling."
Doug Gottlieb had 12 assists for Oklahoma State, well above his
8.6 average for the season, and the Cowboys committed just six
turnovers.
"It was good for our team to be tested," Gottlieb said.
"Obviously, we didn't execute as well as we would have liked to,
but they're a good team and they're playing undermanned. Three guys
played 40 minutes. That shows that they've got it inside their
hearts. Seton Hall played as hard as they could play."
Seton Hall was trying to reach the regional final for the third
time ever and the first time since 1991.
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Seton Hall NCAA Team Report
Oklahoma State NCAA Team Report
Chat: NCAA Tourney
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Coach Tommy Amaker is disappointed yet proud of the year the Pirates had.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Desmond Mason talks about the bench stepping up.
wav: 211 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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