Box Score March 7, 2004
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By RUSTY MILLER
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - During the darkest moments of the season, the Illinois
players still believed. The payoff came Sunday.
Deron Williams' free throw with 16.5 seconds left provided the final margin
in No. 18 Illinois' 64-63 win over Ohio State, securing the Illini's first
outright Big Ten title in 52 years.
"Nothing comes easy for us," coach Bruce Weber said. "It hasn't come easy
all year. We were 1-2 and 3-3 (in the Big Ten) and a lot of people doubted. But
the players kept saying, 'Big Ten champs!' in every huddle, at practice, in
games or whatever.
"And 11-1 later, here we are."
The Illini (22-5, 13-3) dominated most of the game, leading by as many as 16
points in the first half and 17 in the second, before a furious Ohio State
comeback in the final nine minutes.
"That was a little scary, wasn't it?" backup center Nick Smith said as he
signed postgame autographs.
Williams hit a free throw to give the Illini a 64-60 lead. Ohio State
(14-15, 6-10) countered on a 3-pointer by Tony Stockman with 6.2 seconds
remaining.
After a timeout, the Illini inbounded to Williams, an 86 percent free-throw
shooter, who was fouled with 5.2 seconds left.
Williams missed the first of a one-and-one situation, however, and Ohio
State's Terence Dials rebounded. Brandon Fuss-Cheatham brought the ball the
length of the floor as time slipped away.
He tried to slide past Illinois center James Augustine, but ran into his
right side, the ball squirting loose as the final buzzer sounded.
"I was cringing that I might hear a whistle," Augustine said. "I saw
somebody coming down the lane and I stepped to the side and put my hands up. He
just lost the ball. I was nervous I would hear a whistle."
The Illini had lost a critical game a year ago under similar circumstances.
"Obviously it wasn't a foul because the same thing happened to us last year
at Wisconsin and the refs didn't call it," Williams said. "This year it went
our way."
Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien said he saw replays that showed Augustine
reached in and knocked the ball away.
"I think he got fouled," O'Brien said, while admitting he was looking at
the video through "tinted glasses."
The Illini have won at least a share of a Big Ten title in three of the last
four seasons and four of the last seven.
"We didn't play perfect basketball at the end, but I guess we had enough
points to win the game by one," Weber said with a grin.
Illinois players ran back on the floor at Value City Arena with the Big Ten
trophy several minutes after the game ended, wearing T-shirts declaring their
conference championship while celebrating with hundreds of supporters.
Dee Brown led the Illini with 18 points, Williams had 14 and Luther Head 13
as the Illini won their 10th in a row - their longest streak since winning the
first 11 games of the 1989-90 season.
It was also their 10th consecutive conference win, the best for the school
since winning 13 in a row at the end of the 1954-55 season and the beginning of
the 1955-56 Big Ten season.
The Illini will be the top seed in the Big Ten tournament and play a Friday
quarterfinal against the winner of No. 9 seed Ohio State and No. 8 Indiana.
Dials scored 22 points for Ohio State. Stockman added 13 points.
It wasn't until just over 13 minutes remained before Ohio State had more
total field goals than 3-pointers made by the Illini.
The Buckeyes were fortunate to get a shot off before the shot clock expired,
but Stockman tossed up a high, arching 3-pointer that never caught metal with
2:32 left to cut it to 61-58.
Brown hit a 12-foot fadeaway as the clock ticked to 2:00, but Ohio State
came right back on Stockman's backdoor pass to Dials with 1:44 left to set up
the wild finish.
"We probably got on our heels a little bit," Weber said. "I kept saying,
'Don't watch the clock. Just play."'
Thousands of Illinois fans made the trip, many in chartered buses. They
celebrated by holding up signs that said, "Party Like It's 1952" after the
game.
Illinois also won its sixth Big Ten road game in a row. The last time that
happened was in 1956.
With the loss, Ohio State was all but assured of missing a postseason berth
for the first time in six years. The Buckeyes played in four straight NCAA
tournaments before losing in the opening round of the National Invitation
Tournament last year.
