University of Missouri
SMU
Tigers Turn It On Late
12/1/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 1, 1999
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Late-game heroics by Jeff Hafer led Missouri to a 63-60 nail-biting victory over Southern Methodist Wednesday night.
Hafer began by tying the game 57-57 on a 3-pointer with 3:10 left. Then, with 90 seconds left and the game still tied, Hafer stripped the ball from SMU (4-1) and passed it to Tajudeen Soyoye, who slam dunked Missouri (5-1) into the lead.
On Missouri's next possession Hafer made a layup of his own to extend the lead to 61-57.
"Tonight it was my time to step up and make some plays," Hafer said. "It's a position I've been in several times."
After Damon Hancock made a three-point play for SMU, Keyon Dooling made two free throws to close out the scoring.
Stephen Woods, who scored a game high 24 points for SMU, missed a 3-pointer with seven seconds left and a last-second 3 by Mike Niemi also fell short.
"In games like this it comes down to who makes the big play in the end," Woods said. "And unfortunately, they made the big play."
Southern Methodist scored only three points in the final 5:58 of the game.
The Mustangs rolled into the game undefeated and scoring 89.2 points a game. Missouri held them significantly below that average and pressured SMU into its worst shooting night of the season at 35 percent.
"Anytime you play a team that is unbeaten they have a certain strut," said Coach Quin Snyder. Those guys have some really big players who are capable of having big nights. I thought we did an excellent job."
After Missouri led 29-23 at the half, SMU went on an 11-0 run early in the second half to take the lead. Missouri held the lead temporarily at 47-46, but wouldn't again until Hafer's heroics.
Missouri was led offensively by Kareem Rush who scored 13 points. Soyoye and Johnnie Parker both added 10 for the Tigers.
After going scoreless in the first half, SMU's Jeryl Sasser scored 10 second-half points.
"We had five guys play great the other day," said SMU coach Mike Dement. "Today we only had about one and a half."
Missouri, the Big 12 leader in 3-pointers made, shot only 6-of-17 from long range against SMU, but was helped by 13-of-15 free throw shooting.
