'JJ Stole the Basketball'
July 09, 2003 10:17 PM | General
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (March 15, 1984) – West Virginia wasn’t supposed to be very good in 1984.
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| JJ Crawl's steal and layup helped West Virginia upset Oregon State in the first round of the NCAA tournament. (WVU Sports Communications) |
The Mountaineers had lost their top scorer from the prior year in guard Greg Jones, and had one of their youngest lineups since Coach Gale Catlett took over in 1978.
In fact one of Jones’ replacements was a package-deal recruit named James "JJ" Crawl, who was only at WVU because his acclaimed high school teammate Renardo Brown was there as well.
However it was Crawl who sunk two key free throws in the Atlantic 10 tournament championships a week before that helped West Virginia get into the NCAA tournament in the first place. And a mere eight seconds would be all it would take for Crawl’s name to be forever etched into the minds of Mountaineer fans everywhere.
Pitted against the No. 11-seeded Mountaineers in the opening round of the NCAA championships was No. 6-seed Oregon State, which owned a 22-6 record and a No. 17 national rating.
The Beavers, coached by Ralph Miller, owned a share of the PAC 10 title with their 70-65 win over UCLA a week earlier and boasted all-PAC 10 performer A.C. Green. West Virginia’s 9-9 A-10 regular season record wasn’t inspiring, and its two tournament wins over Temple and St. Bonaventure were by a combined five points at the WVU Coliseum.
A prohibitive underdog, West Virginia coach Gale Catlett would have to reach deep into his bag of tricks to pull one out against Oregon State in the opening round of the Mideast Regionals on Thursday, March 15, 1984 at 8:10 p.m ET.
That is exactly what Catlett did.
The crafty coach employed a physical interior defense, aimed at stopping the much taller frontline of Green, Charlie Sitton and Steve Woodside.
Surrendering several inches, WVU forwards Lester Rowe and Michael King pushed and shoved enough to keep Green from having a big game, though the 6-8 forward did mange to score a game-high 18 points.
"Basically they were just holding," said Green of West Virginia’s inside defense. "The referees just let a lot more contact go on than we’re used to in the PAC 10."
West Virginia’s trapping defense also took its toll on the Beavers, forcing 18 turnovers, three critical ones in the final three minutes of the game.
"We had our opportunities," said Oregon State Coach Ralph Miller, "but we made three turnovers at the wrong time."
Oregon State’s last mistake was its biggest, and it took the game’s goat to become the hero.
With the contest tied at 62, Crawl, of Highland Park, Mich., had a chance to put the Mountaineers up with 19 seconds to go at the free throw line. However his attempt fell short and the basketball was rebounded by Oregon State, which immediately called timeout with 13 seconds left.
When play resumed, Oregon State was maneuvering to get a pass inside to Green when out of nowhere, Crawl stepped in front of Alan Tait’s toss and raced the length of the court to sink the game-winning basket.
It was two of just four points for the skinny 6-1 guard.
"Coach (Catlett) told me to deny the pass and that’s what I did," said Crawl. "Plus we studied Oregon State on films and pretty much knew what they would do in that situation."
Fortunately for West Virginia, Crawl was in the wrong place at the right time.
"I meant for him to deny the inbounds pass," admitted Catlett. "I’m glad he misunderstood me."
Shooting guard Vernon Odom led West Virginia with 15 points, followed by 11 from Rowe and 10 from guard Dale Blaney.
The Mountaineers trailed 31-28 at halftime and were outrebounded 30-22 for the game.
Oregon State, which went scoreless over the final 5:30, got 45 of its 62 points from its three inside players, and forced Rowe and backup forward Renardo Brown to foul out with 7:09 and 5:30 left in the game.
The victory over the Beavers was just Catlett’s third against a ranked opponent at West Virginia and it was the 250th of his career.
"It’s got to rank high up there with some of the great ones since I’ve come back," he admitted at the time. As for Crawl’s steal, Catlett looked above.
"I want to thank God," he said in front of the Birmingham Civic Center press gathering. "Those things don’t happen very often, especially against a great team like Oregon State."
West Virginia lost to ACC champion Maryland in the second round, but finished the 1984 campaign with a 20-12 record.
For Oregon State, it was 19 wins and a steal.
West Virginia 64, Oregon State 62
West Virginia (20-11)
Rowe 5-11 1-1 11, King 4-9 0-0 8, Kearney 4-5 0-0 8, Odom 5-12 5-6 15, Blaney 2-4 6-6 10, Crawl 2-4 0-1 4, Pinckney 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 4-5 0-0 8. Totals 26-50 12-14 64.
Oregon State (22-7)
Green 5-5 8-10 18, Sitton 6-11 3-5 15, Woodside 4-8 4-5 12, Flowers 1-5 0-0 2, Tait 3-6 4-6 10, Houston 2-7 0-0 4, Stangel 0-0 0-0 0, Miller 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 21-42 20-28 62.
Halftime-Oregon State 31, West Virginia 28. Fouled out- Brown. Rebounds-West Virginia 22 (Rowe 6, King 5, Kearney 6, Odom 3, Brown 1); Oregon State 30 (Green 10, Sitton 1, Woodside 6, Flowers 4, Tait 2, Houston 1, Stangel 1, Miller 3). Assists-West Virginia 13 (Rowe 1, King 3, Kearney 2, Odom 3, Blaney 3, Crawl 1 ), Oregon State 12 (Green 1, Sitton 3, Woodside 3, Flowers 3, Tait 1, Houston 2, Miller 1). Total fouls-West Virginia 24, Oregon State 15. Technicals- Oregon State bench.
Attendance – NA.
