The Daily Utah Chronicle. ku J iyoj U Page Eleven mJf i yts inmak by Tony Tsakakis Chronicle staff r OGDEN For Jerry Pimm's Runnin' Ute basketball team it was a night when even their best might not have been good enough. The Cinderella story for the Utah team in the 1983 NCAA basketball tournament came to an abrupt halt here Thursday night as the Utes fell to powerful North Carolina State 6 in r m M .',. stiromi! liVlCAAstowDinio . , . ...... - .- 6 ; . 75-5- the Dee Event Center. Forget that N.C. State won the Atlantic Coast Conference tourney, or even that it was nationally ranked going into the NCAA. It's just plain tough to beat a club that shoots 78.9 percent of its field goals in the second half, much less 68.3 percent for the game. Unfortunately, the Utes found that out against the Wolfpack, 2 which stopped Virginia, Saturday to advance to the Final Four in Albuquerque N.M. next weekend. "It was unbelievable shooting. The shots they made, they ' earned," Pimm said after his team finished its season with a record of 1814-Wthought they were good, but we never dreamed they were that good." The Wolfpack jumped but to a 2 lead before the Utes came back to tie it at 12-halfway through the first period. The Carolina crew fought off the Ute rally, though, and took a 6 halftime lead on a dunk by forward Lorenzo Charles. Utah came out with intensity in the second half and took a lead as junior Angelo Robinson canned two jumpers and 0 senior Pace Mannion added another bucket to bring the crowd of 11,800 to its feet. as N.C. State buried the But the Utah rally was short-live- d Sale Lake squad, mostly on the 3 shooting exhibition by post-seas- on much-herald- ed 63-6- 6-- 12 30-2- 32-3- . J) 10-1- senior guard Dereck Whittenburg, who finished with a a i puuus. The Wolfnack blistered the nets, racine to a 5 lead with seven minutes left and never slowed down in rolling over the Utes. . I thought we did an excellent job defensively for 25 minutes, but they hit some good shots," Pimm said. "I don't know what we could have done differently. They were just a better team than us tonight offensively." . Statistically, the Utes shot 45 percent for the game, while 3. the Wolfpack But it was N.C State's amazing shooting and the fact they went to the foul line 22 times compared to the Ute's five that spelled the difference. "The final score was not an indication of the game," Wolfpack coach Jim Valvano said after his club's victory. "We felt we had the opportunity to take the outside shot. We took the shot the defense would give us, On defense, we tried to keep them (Utah) out of their rhythm. "It was strange, this game was a lot tougher than the score indicated. I was most impressed with Pace Mannion and Peter Williams. We have a great deal of respect for Jerry Pimm's team." And vice versa. , gamc-niK- ii 58-4- 26-2- N.C. State (75) 4-- Bailey 10 2-- 2 10, Charles 9 7 27, Lowe 7-- 4-- 4 18, McQueen 4-5- 2-2 0-- 0-- 0- -0 0. Totals 28-4- 1 (.683) 19-2- 2 Utah P.WUliams7-1- 5 1- 2-- 0-- 0-- 1, -2 0-0 1- 2-- -2 0-- 0-0- 0, (.864) 75 (56) 13, Winans Cecil Furgis 0 2, Hill 0--0 0-- 0 0, White 27-6- 0 5 (.400) Totals (.450) 15, Mannion -1 6, Hendrix 6 0-- 0 4, Robinson -3 0 2, S. Hill 0-- 2 0 0, M. Rivers 2, Bozner 1- 1- 4, Myers 1 2 2, 2, Warren 0 l.Batde 0 Leonard 0 l,Thompson Whittenburg 10.13 10,McClain,l-10-0Gannon 7-- 0-- 0 0-- 6-- 10 1- 3-4- -4 1- -2 2-- 0-- Chronicle photo by John Jelte Ute senior forward Pace Mannion (20) looks for an opening against North Carolina State in NCAA western regionals semifinal action in Ogden Thursday. The Utes fell to the Wolfpack 6 to end their season. 75-5- 56. Runnin' Utes' upset wins prove skeptics wrong good job running our patterns," he said. "I think Utah played a good ballgame, not a great one. by Peter Behle Chronicle staff When the Runnin' Utes began NCAA in the tourney here most observers play felt Utah would be in for a quick trip home. . That was not the case. ;"Jf upset wins over Illinois and UCLA proved the skeptics wrong as the Utes moved on to the sweet 16 of the NCAA. ' : BOISE " Back-to-ba- ck ; It all began in the Boise State University Pavilion March 17 as the Utes topped Illinois in a nationally televised contest to open 9 the NCAA tourney. 4 Both coaches felt their team's anxiety, level had a great effect on the outcome. "In the first half we were tight," Illinois coach Lou Hensen said. "We played three freshmen most of the time, and I think it showed. I thought we were . shaky." Ute coach Jerry Pimm had opposite feelings about the play of his team. "I don't "think we played tight at all," he said. "We've had about five straight weeks of these games. The guys like e the underddg role." I lead and The Utes broke out to a quick 1 lead half. a held on for 3 The Fighting at the Illini came back to tie the contest at 44 with 3:15 I ieft.'-;K ":;-:JFour straight points by Manuel Hendrix gave' 4': Utes the lead that they would hot give up." ' "Our defense and board play was the key," J': Pimm said. We really jammed up the inside, P and made them bit from the outside." . 52-4- J tl me Vvr '".v-M- '. 1- -4 28-2- I Utt Oceie Furcir up against Efrem Winters and Anthcay Welch of Illinois In the KCAA Utts? f.rst round game in uorse, laano. utan won Ct w f ;7'- 7 Hensonthotishtlhec)mfe " Illinois loss than i Utewin. fnoretfBn We didn't do a Utah's upset string continued the following Saturday. ; ' . UCLA was the next victim, falling to Utah 67-6- 1 as Peter Williams, Pace Mannion and Angelo Robinson each scored 18 points to secure the Ute win. The underdog role was again a positive factor for, the Utes. "The pressure wasn't on us," Pimm said. UCLA Coach Larry Farmer admitted his team was nervous, but said the Bruins weren't looking past the Utes. "It was our first game (in the NCAA after a first-roubye), and we were excited," Farmer said. "We played a little tight at the beginning, but then we got. to our regular game. You don't take any team in the tourney lightly, they're all ' f v capable," he said. The Utes proved they were far more than capable. Utah again started out of the gates with a rush, outscoring the Bruins 13-- 8 in the first five t minutes. UCLA fought back to take a 34-3-2 ' ; lead at the half, ; . :r; break the The Bruins appeared to nearly game open at the start of the second half, pulling out to a 40-3- 5 lead. The Utes would hot cave in, though; and came back to take a 47-4- 6 lead with " 12 minutes left.,.r""''"v left With 5:37 and Utah up by 2, Pimm put the Utes into their spread offense. "We wanted to"be'6n'offense' and rest,' Pimm said. had - confidence that we could stick our freethrbvfs." nd ; : - - r x A-- v continued on " pst fourteen