Colleges

Miami completes rally with a late 3

By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published March 10, 2006

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Miami's Denis Clemente did precisely what he does every day in practice when a teammate drives across the court: He drifted to the corner for an open shot.

Then the freshman guard did what he has rarely done, at least of late.

He hit a clutch 3-pointer with 51 seconds left to help the Hurricanes rally for a 66-63 win Thursday against Clemson in the opening round of the conference tournament, keeping their slim NCAA Tournament hopes alive for another day.

"I'm really proud of my ballclub because we very easily could have folded," Miami coach Frank Haith said.

The No. 8 seed Hurricanes (16-14), who draw top-seeded Duke today, had lost their last two games, six of their past seven and fell behind the Tigers by 13 in the second half.

But the Tigers (18-12) weren't making shots, squandering offensive rebound after offensive rebound, then not getting back on defense. The 'Canes had a 27-5 edge in fastbreak points to get back into the game and set the stage for Clemente.

Down 60-59, Miami star junior guard Guillermo Diaz drove the left baseline toward the basket drawing the Clemson defense and was forced to give up the ball.

"If I don't have the shot, I just pass the ball to the open man," said Diaz, who had a game-high 22 points despite fighting the flu. "I saw him in the corner and that was a great chance, so I just gave it to him and I knew it was going in."

Really?

Clemente had hit 1 of 15 3-pointers in his past 11 games.

"I wasn't nervous at all," Clemente said. "I take those shots every day; we work on that shooting drill every day in practice. I'm confident in my shooting, and I always feel I'm going to make the next shot."

He did, but the Tigers still could have tied the score and forced overtime. Junior guard Vernon Hamilton's leaning 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim.

"I think we will probably be in the NIT," Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said. "It's disappointing we didn't make a run at winning the tournament. I felt like if we could advance, anything could happen. ... We have to find a way like we have all year long to go back, regroup and point toward the goal, which would be to win a first-round game in the NIT."

VIRGINIA 60, VA. TECH 56: J.R. Reynolds scored a game-high 23 to help the Cavaliers (15-13) hold off the Hokies (14-16).

Laurynas Mikalauskas added 11 points and 12 rebounds in his first start in more than two months for Virginia. The win ended a three-game losing streak for Virginia.

The Cavs led by 10 early in the second half before falling behind by four with about 6 minutes left. Virginia made three field goals in the last 141/2 minutes and committed 17 turnovers that led to 20 points for the Hokies, while also shooting 42 percent and missing 12 of 29 free throws.

Zabian Dowdell scored 15 to lead Virginia Tech, which remained winless in two seasons in the tournament.

MARYLAND 82, GA. TECH 64: Nik Caner-Medley had 20 points and Mike Jones added 19 to help the Terrapins (19-11) improve their postseason chances. D.J. Strawberry finished with 15 points and seven assists for Maryland.

Information from Times wires was used in this report.

[Last modified March 10, 2006, 02:00:16]