11/30/1987

Cats win Shootout

Arizona heads off Orange rally, 80-69

By Jay Gonzales
The Arizona Daily Star

Anchorage Alaska — the University of Arizona held off second-half rally by Syracuse University to score an 80-69 victory over the third-ranked Orangemen for the championship of the Great Alaska Shootout last night.

Arizona ranked ninth in the Associated Press Top 20 poll released shortly before the game, pulled off the upset before record championship-game crowd of 5,885 at Sullivan arena.

The Wildcats took a six-point lead into the second half and had built it to 12 within six minutes. Then, the Orangemen made the surge that UA guard Steve Kerr said he was expecting from a team that came within one point of winning the NCAA championship last season.

Still trailing by 12 with just more than 12 minutes remaining, Syracuse scored eight straight points on a basket and free throw by center Rony Seikaly, a drive into the lane by Sherman Douglas, a free throw by Douglas, and a jumper by Derrick Coleman.

UA forward Sean Elliott, voted the tournament’s most valuable player, interrupted the streak with a follow-up basket, but Syracuse didn’t stop.

Douglas scored on a fast break lay-in after a steal, then after an Elliott miss, drove the lane, scored and drew the foul. He converted the free-throw to cut the Wildcats lead to one, at 60-59

Elliott was off on an 18-footer on Arizona’s next trip down the floor, and Coleman gave Syracuse a 61-60 lead with a dunk on follow shot.

“Syracuse is obviously a great team, and we knew they were going to make a run,” Kerr said. “They’ve got some great players, and they made a couple of key steals.

“But the main thing is we knew we were going to meet that challenge.”

Anthony Cook put Arizona back in the lead, 62-61, with a drive in the lane, before Ken Lofton provided the spark that Elliott said meant the game.

On Syracuse’s possession, Tom Tolbert blocked a pass into the middle, and Lofton recovered the ball and out raced the Orangemen to the UA basket where he dunked it for a 64-61 lead.

“When Kenny did that dunk, that was that and it was over,” said Elliott.

If it wasn’t then, it was closer moments later when Lofton hit a three-point basket giving Arizona the same lead it took into the second half.

“When I go in, I like to go in and make something happen,” said Lofton, a non-starter who is the first player off the bench. “I want to do something really exciting to make the team get fired up.”

Seikaly missed a chance to get the Orangemen closer when he missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, and Tolbert put Arizona up, 69-61, with 3:48 play.

The Arizona lead was cut to six with a little more than a minute left, but Elliott made for free throws, Kerr made two, and Lofton made one to hold off the Orangemen.

Joe Turner came off the bench to spark the Wildcats in the first half when starting center, Tom Tolbert collected his third foul with 15:40 left in the half. Tolbert was the Wildcats second-leading scorer headed into the game with a 19.5 average. He had scored four by the time he went to the bench.

Over the next six minutes, Syracuse built a 26-19 lead behind the three-point shooting of reserve forward Matt Rowe, who hit 3 three-point baskets within two minutes. Center Rony Seikaly had four points during the spurt, while working inside against Turner, who gives up about 40 pounds to Tolbert.

But after Arizona gave up the lead, Turner and Elliott work the offensive side, combining for 10 points during a five-minute span that put the Wildcats back on top, 34-32.

Turner had three field goals from underneath the basket, two of those on feeds from Elliott. Elliott scored on a 16-foot jumper and a drive down the lane.

Arizona took its biggest lead of the game, 42-35, with 55 seconds left when Craig McMillan hit a three-point basket, one of his three in the half, after Elliott rebounded a missed foul shot by Turner.

Syracuse cut the lead by a point before halftime on a free throw by Seikaly, and Arizona led, 42-36.

WILDCAT NOTES: Tolbert and Kerr were also named to the all-tournament team… The Wildcats return to Tucson today on Alaska airlines commercial flight No. 60, arriving at Tucson International Airport at 5:40 p.m.