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BRIAN LANDMANTECH 67, OK. ST. 65: Will Bynum's layup with 1.5 seconds left lifts the Yellow Jackets to their first NCAA final.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - He had missed his last shot and a free throw before that, but everyone in the Georgia Tech huddle agreed that junior guard Will Bynum should have the ball at the most crucial of moments.
Good plan.
The junior guard, using a screen by center Luke Schenscher, drove by Oklahoma State's John Lucas and got the ball up over forward Ivan McFarlin with 1.5 seconds left to lift his team to a 67-65 win in Saturday's Final Four semifinal at the Alamodome.
"This is the biggest shot I ever took in my life," said Bynum, who finished with 11 points off the bench. "It's a dream come true making a shot like this at this high level. Words can't describe how I feel right now."
The Yellow Jackets (28-9) advance to the championship game for the first time in school history. Their only other Final Four appearance came in 1990 when they lost to eventual champion UNLV in the semifinals.
But coach Paul Hewitt will tell you his bunch wouldn't be on the precipice of history were it not for Bynum choosing to transfer from Arizona to Atlanta. Oh, yeah, he nearly opted for Oklahoma State.
"It is pretty ironic," said Hewitt, who vividly remembers getting the call from Bynum only to hear a little later on ESPN that Bynum would be going to Oklahoma State. A few hours later, Bynum called again to tell him when he would be reporting.
Good thing.
"There's no doubt if he's not on our team, we don't get out of the first round," Hewitt said.
Bynum scored 11 against Northern Iowa, picking up the slack when Jarrett Jack was in foul trouble. In the Sweet 16, Bynum again came up big with a driving, reverse layup that put Tech up for good against Nevada. His 3-pointer with 1:53 left in overtime all but buried Kansas in the region final.
"Had he come to Oklahoma State, we probably wouldn't have gotten Lucas," said Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton, who is 0-for-3 in the Final Four. "He made a good decision."
But Sutton said his team lost the game in the opening half. Thanks to the senior guard Marvin Lewis hitting 5 of 8 3-pointers, snapping out of a slump (5-of-20 in the NCAA Tournament), the Yellow Jackets took a 37-30 halftime lead.
They extended it to 45-33 early in the second half before the Cowboys (31-4), the Big 12's regular-season and tournament champions, began playing the kind of tough defense they had been all season and, especially, in the NCAA Tournament.
It didn't hurt that junior forward Joey Graham, the former Brandon High star, had 17 points and 10 rebounds. It also didn't hurt that Bynum missed a one-and-one with 2:01 left and then, with his team ahead 65-62, he missed a driving layup.
"I was upset I missed that shot, but again, the coaches and players told me, "Stay ready. Stick with it. I'll get another opportunity,' " he said. "And I did."
But not before Lucas swished a tying 3-pointer with 28 seconds remaining that brought the large horde of orange-clad fans among the 44,417 to a feverish pitch.
Then the Yellow Jackets asked the 7-foot-1 Schenscher, who had played brilliantly with game highs in points (19) and rebounds (12), to set a screen at the top of the key.
With about 10 seconds on the clock, Bynum rolled around Schenscher and drove toward the basket. If bodies began to converge on him, he was supposed to find an open teammate.
"In my mind, I was thinking, "Take the shot,' " he said.
"I know he's telling you the truth, there," Hewitt said.
Good thing.
He hit the winner.
"I'm just hurt right now," Lucas said. "I just put all the blame on me. I was supposed to lock up and I didn't. It doesn't matter if I hit the (tying) shot. I didn't do my part on the other end."
"The coaches and players, they instilled a lot of confidence in me," Bynum said. "They had confidence in me to take the last shot. Luckily I made it."