Brown, Finch Both Get Early Going-Away Presents

Two college basketball coaches on their way out--Dale Brown of Louisiana State and Larry Finch of Memphis--received fond farewells in their final home games Saturday in the form of affection and victory.

At Baton Rouge, La., guard David Bosley--a walk-on who earned a scholarship, scored 15 points as LSU defeated Arkansas, 66-64, to end a nine-game losing streak. The Tigers, 10-19 overall and 3-13 in the Southeastern Conference, had lost their previous 11 games to the Razorbacks (15-11, 8-8).

“It was almost like it was planned,” said Brown, who is stepping down after 25 seasons at LSU in which he has compiled a 448-290 record. “It was almost like it was something supernatural.”

Brown, 61, resigned before the start of the conference season, citing greed and corruption in the college game. Nine of his players have either been suspended or kicked off the team this season, but that was forgotten in a day of a celebration and emotion.

Fireworks were shot from the backboards, gold confetti fell from the ceiling. President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore sent letters, the mayor of Baton Rouge and the son of the governor declared it “Dale Brown Day” in both the city and state.

Shaquille O’Neal, the national player of the year in 1991 at LSU, sat on the bench and addressed the crowd before the game. Dozens of other former players attended.

“The thing I’ll always remember about Coach Brown is the way he stood up for his players,” O’Neal said.

Brown, a complex man who used his job to speak out against social problems, seldom received credit for his coaching, despite 13 NCAA tournament appearances--two in the Final Four--and more Southeastern Conference victories than coach other than legendary Adolph Rupp.

On Saturday, Brown--with tears streaming down his face--listened to people praise him as a man and as a coach.

“A lot of people supported me the last 25 years, and it wasn’t all roses,” Brown said. “But they stuck with me.”

The scene at the Pyramid in Memphis wasn’t as emotional, but it was just as gratifying for Finch, whose inconsistent Tigers, 16-13 overall and 10-4 in Conference USA, rose to the occasion against No. 9 Cincinnati (24-6, 12-2) for a 75-63 victory.

“We came out and wanted to work extra hard to get this victory,” said senior forward Cedric Henderson, who had 24 points. “I’ve got a lot of great memories here at the Pyramid and I know Coach Finch does too.”

Said Finch: “We started playing on emotion and it’s kind of hard to overcome that.”

Finch, he third-leading career scorer as a guard for Memphis in the 1970s, is leaving the school after after 11 years as head coach and seven before that as an assistant.

Finch has a 220-128 record, which includes six NCAA tournament appearances--two in the round of 16. Declining fan support and poor recruiting in the Memphis area were two of the reasons cited for the university buying out the final three years of his contract, reportedly worth $500,000, on Jan. 30.

No. 2 Minnesota 75, No. 22 Indiana 72--The Golden Gophers (26-2, 15-1) extended their winning streak to 11 as Indiana freshman A.J. Guyton missed two three-point shots in the final seconds at Minneapolis.

Minnesota, which has won five of its last six games by three points or less, got strong play from its reserves as guard Charles Thomas and forward Quincy Lewis combined for 25 points, and center Trevor Winter had a career-high 10 rebounds.

In a postgame ceremony, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany presented the championship trophy to Minnesota, which had clinched its first conference title since 1982 with a victory over Michigan Wednesday.

Indiana (21-9, 8-8), tied for sixth in the Big Ten, probably must at least split its final games against Wisconsin and Michigan State to make its 12th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

No. 5 Utah 78, No. 11 New Mexico 58--Forward Keith Van Horn, playing in his final game for the Utes (23-3, 15-1) at Salt Lake City, had 29 points in the Western Athletic Conference game. Van Horn made 11 of 17 shots, including six of nine from three-point range.

Center Michael Doleac had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Utah, which will be top seeded for this week’s WAC tournament.

New Mexico (22-6, 11-5), which trailed by two points at halftime, got 18 points from center Kenny Thomas but had only one other player in double figures.

Florida State 59, No. 5 Wake Forest 55--Guard Kerry Thompson had a career-high 21 points for the Seminoles (16-10, 6-10), who helped Duke clinch the regular-season Atlantic Coast Conference championship by defeating the Demon Deacons (22-5, 11-5) at Tallahassee, Fla.

Florida State, which has defeated three conference teams when they have been ranked in the Top 10, and Wake Forest will play again Friday in the ACC tournament.

Wake Forest center Tim Duncan had 20 points and 17 rebounds for his 25th game in double figures in both categories this season and 82nd in his career. Duncan has 2,013 points, and is the fourth player in the last 25 years to get more than 1,500 rebounds.

No. 12 Clemson 55, Georgia Tech 53--The victory in Atlanta gave the Tigers (21-8, 9-7) their first winning ACC season since 1990. Georgia Tech (9-17, 3-13) has lost six in a row to slide into last place in conference and finished the regular season with the worst record in Coach Bobby Cremins’ 16 seasons.

Guard Terrell McIntyre had 18 points for Clemson, but leading scorer Greg Buckner, bothered by a sore knee, played only two minutes in the second half and had three points--13 below his average.

Oklahoma State 67, No. 13 Iowa State 63--Freshman guard Joe Adkins scored nine of his 12 points in the final five minutes as Cowboys (15-13, 7-9) defeated the Cyclones (19-7, 10-6) for the ninth consecutive time at Stillwater, Okla.

Iowa State was without seven-foot center Kelvin Cato, who didn’t make the trip because of a shoulder injury. The Cyclones’ top scorers, forward Kenny Pratt and guard Dedric Willoughby, had no points in the final 6:59.

Tulane 83, No. 17 Louisville 71--The frontcourt of forwards Rayshard Allen and Jerald Honeycutt and center Jody Nelson combined for 64 points for the Green Wave (20-9, 11-3) in the Conference USA game at New Orleans.

Louisville (22-7, 9-5), which has lost five of nine games, had only one player score more than eight points--forward Damion Dantzler with 15.

No. 18 Villanova 84, Rutgers 74--Guard Alvin Williams topped his career high in scoring for the second game in a row with 32 points at Piscataway, N.J. The Wildcats (21-8, 12-6) made a season-high 12 three-point baskets in 18 attempts.

Freshman Tim Thomas, a Paterson, N.J., high school standout who spurned Rutgers’ intense recruiting bid, was booed every time he had the ball on offense but wasn’t bothered by the crowd reaction, scoring 24 points.

Villanova earned the top seeding for this week’s Big East tournament, while Rutgers (11-15, 5-13) is virtually assured of its fifth consecutive losing season under Coach Bob Wenzel, whose job is in jeopardy.

No. 19 Colorado 83, Texas 60--Forwards Martice Moore and Greg Jensen and center Fred Edmonds all had double figures in points and rebounds in the Big 12 game at Boulder, Colo. The Buffaloes (21-8, 11-5) tied the school record of the 1968-69 team for most victories.

Edmonds had 21 points and 12 rebounds, Moore had 20 and 12, and Jensen 13 and 11. Colorado will be seeded third in this week’s Big 12 tournament after finishing second to No. 1-ranked Kansas in the North Division.

Guard Reggie Freeman had 24 points for Texas (16-10, 10-6), which earned the tournament’s No. 2 seeding by winning the South Division.

No. 23 St. Joseph’s 62, La Salle 59--Guard Rashid Bey made a three-point shot at the buzzer in Philadelphia as the Hawks (21-6, 13-3) continued to gain momentum toward what figures to be their first NCAA tournament berth since 1986 by winning for the 18th time in 21 games.

Freshman guard Donnie Carr, the nation’s fourth-leading scorer at 24.2 points a game, had 30 for La Salle (10-16, 5-11).

OTHER GAMES

Coach Tom Davis gained his 500th victory against 268 losses in 26 seasons as Iowa (19-9, 10-6) was an 84-62 Big Ten winner over Purdue (16-11, 11-6) at Iowa City. Guard Andre Woolridge was one of five Iowa players to score in double figures. Purdue guard Chad Austin, the Big Ten’s third-leading scorer at 17.3 points a game, had five--the first time in 20 games he had not been in double figures. . . . Reserve forward Jon Garavaglia made all seven of his shots as Michigan State (15-10, 8-8) was a 68-49 Big Ten winner over Wisconsin (17-7, 10-6) at East Lansing, Mich. Wisconsin’s winning streak ended at six games. . . . Guard Antonio Daniels made 12 of 16 shots and had 32 points as Bowling Green (21-8, 13-5) was a home-court 99-70 winner over Central Michigan (7-19, 4-14). Bowling Green finished tied with Miami of Ohio (18-8, 13-5) for its first Mid-American Conference championship since 1983. The MAC tournament starts Tuesday.

Forward Danya Abrams scored 25 points as Boston College (18-8, 12-6) was a home-court 76-74 Big East winner over Notre Dame (14-12, 8-10). Boston College finished in a tie with Villanova for the conference’s best record but will receive the lower seeding in the Big East tournament due to an 18-point loss to the Wildcats on Jan. 25. . . . West Virginia (18-8, 11-7) used a 20-0 run in the first half to hand Miami (15-11, 9-9) its fifth consecutive defeat, 82-54, in a Big East game on the Hurricanes’ court. . . . Massachusetts (18-12, 11-5) kept its NCAA tournament hopes alive by defeating Temple (17-9, 10-6) for the sixth consecutive time, 59-53, in the Atlantic 10 game at Amherst, Mass.