MU puts pressure on Lions

0 Comments | Milwaukee Sentinel, Mar 28, 1995 | by CHARLES GARDNER

Sentinel staff writer

New York, N.Y. Marquette turned up the heat on a deliberate Penn State team in the second half of Monday night's National Invitation Tournament semifinal.

A full-court pressure defense, termed the "Holy Cross press" by MU Coach Mike Deane, raised a holy inferno as the Golden Eagles beat the Nittany Lions, 87-79, and returned to the NIT championship game for the first time in 25 years.

The Lions committed 20 turnovers and seemed to unravel as Marquette guards Anthony Pieper, Tony Miller and Aaron Hutchins swarmed all over the Lions' backcourt.

"The full-court press really hurt them," Hutchins said. "They were a little confused about who was going to bring it upcourt."

The Eagles had practiced the press in Sunday's workout, and they executed it better than at any time all season.

"Maybe we surprised them a little," Deane said. "We needed to get the game faster."

Pieper, who trapped the inbounds pass on the press, added a strong defensive effort to his career-high 32-point game.

"We figured we had to do something different than let them run their offense and pick us apart," Pieper said. "We picked up the tempo and put the pressure on them.

"They started throwing the ball all over the place, and that was key for us. We got a couple easy shots and easy 3-pointers in transition."

Marquette went on a 20-3 run after Penn State scored the first point of the second half on a free throw by Dan Earl. Again Hutchins was the sparkplug, getting 10 of the points, working the press and even taking a charge when Lions big man John Amaechi tried to plow for an inside basket.

When the blitz had ended, Marquette had transformed a nine-point deficit into a 48-40 lead, and the Eagles had finally asserted themselves.

"Those quick guards drove by us and created havoc for us," Penn State Coach Bruce Parkhill said. "They are so much quicker, and we were having to help out off their good shooters."

Bronx revisited: The Eagles did not schedule a shoot-around at the Garden Monday, but they visited a familiar place Sunday afternoon Rosehill Gymnasium on the Fordham University campus.

The team took a 45-minute bus ride from its Times Square hotel to practice at the historic gym in the Bronx. Two years ago, Marquette beat Fordham there, 66-40.

It was a homecoming for MU assistant Mike Rice, who was a four-time letterwinner at Fordham from 1987-'91.

Hoop Dreams: New York scribes quickly descended on Marquette's Will Gates. Stories on the Eagles' senior guard and movie celebrity appeared in several papers Monday, including Newsday and the New York Times.

Newsday called Gates "the best-known reserve in college basketball."

It was somewhat appropriate that Marquette played Monday night just off Broadway, at roughly the same time the Oscars were being handed out in Hollywood. "Hoop Dreams," the acclaimed three-hour documentary detailing the lives and NBA aspirations of Gates and Arthur Agee, failed to receive a nomination in the best documentary or best picture category.

Golden opportunity: Perhaps the least likely team in the NIT's final four is Canisius, the unheralded Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference school from Buffalo, N.Y.

The Golden Griffins, who lost Monday's opening semifinal to Virginia Tech, 71-59, tied for second in the league race with St. Peter's.

Canisius played two Marquette opponents during the regular season, scoring a 72-69 upset at Cincinnati in the Bearcats' tournament and losing, 62-45, at UW Green Bay in late December.

The Griffins' Craig Wise, a 6-4 senior forward from Philadelphia, was named the MAAC player of the year and could be a sleeper pick in the NBA draft. He had a game-high 32 points in Monday's semfinal.

Honored guests: Veteran coaches Jud Heathcote of Michigan State and John Bach, now an assistant with the NBA's Charlotte Hornets, are being honored at the 58th annual NIT.