Missouri
Iowa
Tigers Topple Iowa, 88-82
1/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan 4, 2003
By CHUCK SCHOFFNER
AP Sports Writer
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Never underestimate the value of banking a shot off the glass - even if it's an accident.
Ricky Clemons took the steam out of Iowa by banking in a 3-pointer with 1:18 left, highlighting a season-high 27-point effort that led No. 16 Missouri to an 88-82 victory over Iowa on Saturday.
Missouri (8-1) was clinging to an 80-78 lead and only five seconds remained on the shot clock when Clemons fired from the left wing, two steps behind the 3-point arc. The ball banked in, drawing an exasperated sigh from the crowd of 14,582 and giving the Tigers an 83-78 lead.
"That was a H-O-R-S-E shot," Iowa's Jared Reiner said. "That's what you use to beat your friends in H-O-R-S-E. That was a tough break for us."
And a great one for Missouri, which got the ball right back on Arthur Johnson's steal and made five free throws over the final 51 seconds to wrap it up.
Clemons, a junior college transfer, made six 3-pointers in all in topping his previous best of 25 points against American in the opener. He shrugged off his last one.
"You just play the game," Clemons said. "If the shot goes in, it goes in. If it doesn't, it doesn't. We melt down the clock and we did a great job of not turning the ball over and getting the best shot with the shot clock running down. That's what Coach wanted."
It wasn't how coach Quin Snyder diagrammed it, but he'll take it.
"This is something we've really worked on, time and situation," Snyder said. "It was late in the shot clock. I would have said `Oh no,' and a lot of other things if he would have taken it about 10 seconds sooner.
"He's made some like that. He hasn't banked them. But when you play the right way, you get rewarded."
Or in Iowa's case, get stung.
"That could easily have banked out hard and started our fast break," Iowa coach Steve Alford said. "But that's basketball."
Playing on an opponent's court for the first time this season, Missouri won a well-played game marked by big plays on both sides and a technical foul on each coach.
Rickey Paulding added 17 points for Missouri, 13 in the first half, and the 6-foot-9, 265-pound Johnson threw his weight around inside to get 16 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks.
Chauncey Leslie led Iowa (8-3) with 19 points, Sean Sonderleiter scored a career-high 15 and Glen Worley and Brody Boyd each had 13, Boyd making four 3-pointers.
"Both teams did a good job," Snyder said. "It wasn't a game that anybody lost. I thought our kids made some big plays, even a bank shot. That helps, too."
Missouri was leading 67-62 when Snyder was given a technical foul. Leslie made two free throws and Jared Reiner scored on a putback to draw Iowa to 67-66, but the Hawkeyes never got the lead.
Clemons' 3 gave Missouri a 75-68 lead, but Iowa came back again. Leslie's free throw cut the lead to 80-76 and Reiner's two free throws made it a two-point game with 1:51 left. Then Clemons connected to deflate the Hawkeyes.
"That pretty much put the dagger in," Boyd said.
Iowa rallied from a nine-point deficit in the first half after Alford was called for a technical protesting the lack of a three-second call against Missouri. Alford had to be restrained by his father, Sam, an Iowa assistant.
Clemons made both free throws to give Missouri a 33-24 lead with 7:50 left in the half, but Boyd hit three 3-pointers over the next two minutes to help Iowa tie it at 38.
Missouri pulled ahead 47-42 when Clemons scored on a drive, but Iowa closed the half with a 7-1 run. Leslie blocked Paulding's jumper from the right baseline with 20 seconds remaining, then hit a 12-foot fadeaway with three seconds left to give the Hawkeyes a 49-48 lead.
The Hawkeyes led for the last time at 58-57 Worley's 3-pointer. Missouri quickly regained the lead when Jimmy McKinney picked up a loose ball and dropped in the basket and the Tigers went up 67-60 before Iowa came back.
