Rutgers falls short in final home game of season
Mike Vorkunov / Associate Sports Editor
Issue date: 3/3/08 Section: Sports
The night began with one program saying its goodbyes to an old friend and ended with the other saying its hellos to a new feeling. But ultimately, it all hinged on one final play, a run to imperfection, that brought the Rutgers men's basketball team to a 54-52 loss in its final home game of the year.
Down 54-52 to South Florida with 16 seconds remaining on Senior Day, head coach Fred Hill Jr. put the ball in junior guard Anthony Farmer's hands to tie the game. Farmer had scored the last six points for the Scarlet Knights, giving them their first lead of the game with 1:47 remaining.
But after a foul shot and a layup by the Bulls to tie the game up, Dominique Jones hit a mid-range jump shot to give his team the lead. That left the Knights with one last possession to make sure senior center Byron Joynes did not walk off the Louis Brown Athletic Center floor for his last time with a loss.
Farmer received the ball on the perimeter and tried to split a trap but instead lost his dribble. He passed the ball off to junior forward JR Inman, who bobbled the ball before eventually gathering it to dish it to freshman guard Mike Coburn.
With time quickly running out, Coburn had trouble with his handle as well before finally recovering possession and taking a three-pointer from just inside the block R at half court, which bounced off the side of the rim.
The shot allowed South Florida to pull out their first-ever road victory in the Big East in 26 tries.
"You gotta give South Florida a lot of credit for what they did," Farmer said. "On the last play, I'm a junior, I have to make a better decision than that and I know better. In the play I made, I didn't put myself or my teammates in the right position to get a good shot off to win the game."
"I just wanted to read the D and get myself what I thought was right, putting myself and teammates in the best position to win the basketball game. They showed very hard, and I have two options: either I attack the hip or try to split. I went with the split and it wasn't there, and it was a bad decision on my part."
Down 54-52 to South Florida with 16 seconds remaining on Senior Day, head coach Fred Hill Jr. put the ball in junior guard Anthony Farmer's hands to tie the game. Farmer had scored the last six points for the Scarlet Knights, giving them their first lead of the game with 1:47 remaining.
But after a foul shot and a layup by the Bulls to tie the game up, Dominique Jones hit a mid-range jump shot to give his team the lead. That left the Knights with one last possession to make sure senior center Byron Joynes did not walk off the Louis Brown Athletic Center floor for his last time with a loss.
Farmer received the ball on the perimeter and tried to split a trap but instead lost his dribble. He passed the ball off to junior forward JR Inman, who bobbled the ball before eventually gathering it to dish it to freshman guard Mike Coburn.
With time quickly running out, Coburn had trouble with his handle as well before finally recovering possession and taking a three-pointer from just inside the block R at half court, which bounced off the side of the rim.
The shot allowed South Florida to pull out their first-ever road victory in the Big East in 26 tries.
"You gotta give South Florida a lot of credit for what they did," Farmer said. "On the last play, I'm a junior, I have to make a better decision than that and I know better. In the play I made, I didn't put myself or my teammates in the right position to get a good shot off to win the game."
"I just wanted to read the D and get myself what I thought was right, putting myself and teammates in the best position to win the basketball game. They showed very hard, and I have two options: either I attack the hip or try to split. I went with the split and it wasn't there, and it was a bad decision on my part."