Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 20, 1993 TAG: 9303200128
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SYRACUSE, N.Y. LENGTH: Medium
UMASS RALLIES PAST PENN
After missing five games with a broken right hand, Mike Williams was no certainty to play Friday, much less provide Massachusetts with the outside shooting it would need to beat Pennsylvania."The talk we heard was that he was day-to-day," Penn basketball coach Fran Dunphy said. "I'm sorry his hand hurt, but I wish it had bothered him a couple more days."
The Minutemen, seeded third in the NCAA Tournament's East Region, had no answers for Penn's zone until Williams came off the bench to score 12 of his team-high 13 points in the second half.
Massachusetts, down by eight in the first half, took control midway through the second half, then withstood the Quakers' rally for a 54-50 victory at the Carrier Dome.
"I said at halftime we would not win the game if we kept playing the way we were," UMass coach John Calipari said. "We didn't get the ball in the lane or penetrate the zone."
Those remain areas of concern for the Minutemen, who play sixth-seeded Virginia in a second-round game Sunday at 12:20 p.m. The Cavaliers advanced with a 78-66 victory over Manhattan.
Massachusetts (24-6) shot 34.5 percent for the game, including 25.9 in the first half, when the Quakers built an eight-point lead.
Williams hit two 3-pointers to spark a 16-3 run that enabled the Minutemen to go ahead 42-32 with 11:15 left, but Penn closed to 51-48 with three minutes left.
The Quakers closed to 52-50 before Harper Williams hit two free throws with 7.8 seconds left. Harper Williams, the Atlantic-10 Conference player of the year, scored 10 points and had 11 rebounds.
Mike Williams, wearing an untidy wrap on his right (shooting) hand, played in his first game since being injured Feb. 27. He was the third Massachusetts player to break a hand this season. The 6-foot-2 sophomore is particularly valuable because of his outside shooting. He hit two game-winning 3-pointers this season.
"You look at Mike Williams and how he shot the ball, but that's not what helped," Calipari said. "It's how he guarded Jerome Allen [who had 12 points]. I told Mike to help us win the game on defense." \
see microfilm for box score