Oklahoma State Nips St. Joe's in NCAA Thriller

<br>EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) _ Jameer Nelson's fadeaway jumper ticked off the rim right before the buzzer and Oklahoma State beat Saint Joseph's in a 64-62 thriller Saturday night to win the

Saturday, March 27th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) _ Jameer Nelson's fadeaway jumper ticked off the rim right before the buzzer and Oklahoma State beat Saint Joseph's in a 64-62 thriller Saturday night to win the East Rutherford Regional and earn a Final Four berth.

In Saturday's other game, Ben Gordon scored 36 points _ one shy of his career high _ and Rashad Anderson added a career-best 28 in Connecticut's 87-71 victory over Alabama in the Phoenix Regional final. The Huskies play the winner of Sunday's Duke-Xavier game in the Final Four next Saturday in San Antonio.

In East Rutherford, Oklahoma State's John Lucas lofted home a 3-pointer with 6.9 seconds left to put the Cowboys ahead. The Hawks did not call timeout and instead rushed up the court, putting the ball in the hands of Nelson, their unanimous All-American.

But Nelson's final college game came to a close when he missed. He sat on the court, above the top of the key, while Oklahoma State ran off the bench to celebrate and Lucas jumped into his former NBA star father's arms for a big hug.

Coach Eddie Sutton and Oklahoma State (31-3) thought they deserved to be a top seed more than Saint Joseph's (30-2) _ a view held by many people and given voice by CBS analyst Billy Packer.

The Cowboys proved it the right way, on the court, and advanced to play the Kansas-Georgia Tech winner next Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Lucas scored 19 points, including the final five for his team.

``I had a horrible first half,'' he said. ``I told myself in the locker room at halftime that I was going to step up.''

It was a frenzied final minute, played without a timeout as the 68-year-old Sutton and counterpart Phil Martelli let the players decide it.

Lucas' jumper put Oklahoma State ahead with 41 seconds left before Saint Joseph's, again relying outside shots, regained the lead on Pat Carroll's 3-pointer with 29.9 seconds to go.

Lucas then got free on the left wing and hit the biggest shot of his career. Nelson tried to answer, but his shot over Daniel Bobik was off-target.

Oklahoma State earned its first Final Four trip since Sutton took them there in 1995, when Bryant ``Big Country'' Reeves helped the Cowboys win the regional final on the same Meadowlands court.

Reeves was in attendance as Sutton got his third trip overall after also making it with Arkansas.

Joey Graham added 17 points, Tony Allen had 12 and Ivan McFarlin had nine points and 12 rebounds.

McFarlin and Terrence Crawford are the only Oklahoma State players left from 2001, when a plane crash killed two players and eight members of the Cowboys' basketball family.

Lucas is familiar with tragedy, too. He transferred from Baylor last summer in the aftermath of Patrick Dennehy's shooting death and the scandal that enveloped the school.

Nelson finished with 17 points and Delonte West had 20.

The game was billed as a matchup of the Hawks' speed vs. the Cowboys' strength, and that's how it went for a while. But in the end, it came down to what Allen said it would a day earlier _ ``buckets'' _ and Oklahoma State made the last one.

Down 33-27 at halftime and shooting poorly from the outside, the Cowboys came out gunning. And it worked, with Lucas and Bobik each hitting 3s _ the team had missed all eight of its long-range tries _ in taking a 43-37 edge.

No surprise, the Hawks put the ball into the hands of their stars. Nelson and West responded with 3s that put them ahead, setting up the frenetic finish.

Oklahoma State, as expected, came out pounding the ball inside and the result was two fast baskets. The Hawks were held scoreless for 3 1/2 minutes before Dwayne Jones dunked, and they quickly slapped on a full-court press that seemed to rattle the Cowboys and led to a turnover and layup by Nelson.

Trailing 10-7, the Hawks went into high gear and their speed unnerved the Cowboys and their coaches. West led a 14-3 run that had Sutton complaining about fouls while his son, assistant coach Sean Sutton, grilled Graham about how he left Carroll so wide open for a 3-pointer.

The Hawks led by a half-dozen at halftime despite making only three of 15 3s _ they usually hit about 41 percent _ and getting hammered on the boards by a 23-11 margin.

The CBS telecast opened with the Hawk and Cowboy mascots standing right behind the announcers. Asked about his previous comments on Saint Joseph's, Packer said, ``This is an outstanding team, they really play well together.''