ROANOKE, Va. (AP) – Banged up and nearly blind in one eye,
Marcus Stewart got just what he wanted at the end of the Big South
championship game – a chance to put Winthrop back into the NCAA
Tournament.
Stewart scored on a driving layup with six seconds left in
overtime Saturday, giving the Eagles a 67-65 victory over No. 1
seed Radford for Winthrop's conference-record third straight
tournament title.
"I felt no pressure," Stewart said of the final play, called
with 34 seconds left and the game tied. "Everyone dreams of being
Michael Jordan and hitting the last shot. This was my Michael
Jordan moment."
The play capped a great finish for Stewart, who scored the
Eagles' last six points after entering overtime just 1-for-9 from
the field.
Part of the problem, Stewart said, was a bloodied left eye that
took an elbow early in the game and only started to get better in
overtime.
"He looked like he had fought Mike Tyson," coach Gregg
Marshall said of the eye, which still had a deep red mark long
after the big shot.
Stewart said it felt as bad as it looked during the game.
"I really couldn't see out of my left eye and my shots were
coming off," he said. "In overtime, my vision got a little bit
better."
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“ |
I felt no pressure. Everyone dreams of being
Michael Jordan and hitting the last shot. This was my Michael
Jordan moment. ” |
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— Winthrop's Marcus Stewart on his game-winning shot |
And so did the view from the Eagles bench, where Marshall had
dared not mention fatigue or anything negative before the
championship.
The Eagles had left the court only about 17 hours before tipoff,
when they finally wrapped up an improbable 67-62 double-overtime
victory over Liberty in a game Winthrop trailed by 16 points in the
second half.
"I talked about the chill you'll feel when that final horn goes
off and you've got the most points," Marshall told his team before
the game.
Now, they head for the NCAA Tournament for a third consecutive
year, the first team in Big South history to do so. And they got
there by beating regular-season champion Radford in decidedly
Radford country.
Highlanders coach Ron Bradley said his team helped the Eagles
out.
"We were too pumped up" early, Bradley said after being turned
away in his bid to lead the Highlanders to the tournament for a
second time. "Down the stretch we tightened up and made a few
fundamental errors."
The Eagles (18-12) were led by Tyrone Walker with 23 points and
10 rebounds, while Derrrick Knox had 14 points. Stewart finished
with eight.
Andrey Savtchenko paced Radford with 21 points and Jason
Williams and Raymond Arrington had 13 each. Williams drove 75 feet
for a layup with two-tenths of a second to play in regulation to
force the overtime.
Radford (19-10) had one final chance after Stewart's driving
hoop, but Camara Mintz's 3-point try from the right corner at the
buzzer missed and fans streamed onto the court.
Earlier in the overtime, Stewart gave Winthrop a 63-61 lead with
a baby hook with 3:34 left. After Mintz tied it again, Stewart made
two free throws with 1:16 remaining to again give the Eagles the
lead.
Savtchenko then banked in a game-tying layup with 40 seconds
left and was fouled and hurt, setting up a potentially
controversial moment.
With Savtchenko heading for the bench in agony, Bradley sent in
senior Byron Hall to take the free throw that would have given
Radford the lead. But Hall, just 2-for-4 from the line this season,
missed.
That set up the final sequence, with Winthrop calling a timeout
with 34 seconds left, burning off most of the shot clock and then
finding Stewart at the foul line for the drive that kept the
Eagles' going.
"Winthrop basketball is not about beauty and aesthetics,"
Marshall said. "It's about heart and guts and blood and tears."
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
Winthrop Clubhouse
Radford Clubhouse
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