emotions: Late scrum brought life to ugly game

By: Lenox Rawlings | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: March 14, 2010

GREENSBORO -- N.C. State's Javier Gonzalez wears his emotions on his sleeve.

In the ACC semifinals yesterday, Gonzalez wore his emotions on Derrick Favors' jersey. It didn't really work out for him.

Georgia Tech inched and clawed past State 57-54 mainly because the Yellow Jackets -- by a split hair -- gave into fewer frustrations than their underdog opponents.

With 90 seconds left in a monumentally ugly game, and with exasperated fans fleeing in droves despite the dramatic possibilities, Gonzalez considered the point guard's fastest path to wiping out a two-point deficit. Trying to elude a Tech defender at midcourt, Gonzalez whipped a dribble around his back and sensed a bump on his arm.

"I've probably done that a million times," Gonzalez said. "I probably do it 30 times a game, but this time it just hit the back of my heel."

Grabbed his jersey

The ball squirted free. The Yellow Jackets' Iman Shumpert scooped it up and promptly flipped ahead to Favors, the 6-8 rookie of the year. Gonzalez couldn't stop Favors but insisted that he recognized a mediocre (61 percent) foul shooter when he saw one.

"The only thing I was able to do was grab his jersey," Gonzalez said.

He grabbed the jersey, tugged hard and slung the 246-pound forward to the floor like a roped calf. Instantly, the officials called an intentional foul. Almost as quickly, State and Tech players rushed to the scene, yapping and jostling. Referee Brian Kersey plowed into the tense convention and shoved State's Farnold Degand in the chest, knocking him back.

"I could understand," Degand said. "The referee was trying to protect both teams from possibly hurting each other. I don't necessarily think anything was going to come out of that little scrum. I was going down there to protect my teammate. I feel if they were going to try to gang up on him, I wasn't going to have that. So, I think the referee was trying to do what was best for both teams. I actually thanked him, because it was something that could definitely help avoid trouble."

The commotion continued. The potential for fighting, evident throughout a loosely officiated grudge match, soon dissipated.

Favors, who led all scorers with 17, explained: "I didn't want to retaliate because I knew if we won, I probably would have gotten suspended for the next game against Duke. I didn't want to do that to my team, so I just walked away from it. I just soaked it up and walked away from it."

After the officials restored a modicum of order, Favors matched Gonzalez's expectations. He made one of two foul shots. The Yellow Jackets also retained possession. On the inbound play, Favors broke free in the lane, caught the pass and scored while drawing a foul.

He missed the free throw, which was par for an inefficient team that converted only 19 of 32. But the three-point possession stretched the lead to 52-46 and supplied just enough juice to carry Tech home.

More than one option

At the end, trailing by three, Coach Sidney Lowe called a four-option play that relied on Gonzalez to read the defense. In theory, the finest option was locating 3-point specialist Scott Wood in the left corner.

In reality, Gonzalez took Shumpert's slight retreat as the telltale sign. He pulled up on the right and launched a 3-point attempt, which he liked at first (and which Wood thought might succeed as a bank shot).

Neither of the above.

Teammate Degand got inside rebound position, and he got hammered, but the refs swallowed their whistles yet again. State didn't have time for another bomb.

Gonzalez, who had missed a potential game-winner against Tech two seasons ago, took the result hard. "This time, I had a shot to tie it," he said. "It happens. I'm not going to be 100 percent from the field. I've got to keep trying."

He can try again next year.

lrawlings@wsjournal.com.