Tuesday, April 1, 1997
M.HOOPS:
Arizona wins its first NCAA basketball title in overtime,
87-79By Jim O’Connell
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — Now there’s only one No. 1 left for the Arizona
Wildcats  themselves.
Arizona, the team that was supposed to be a year away, just
needed an extra five minutes to win its first NCAA basketball
championship.
Led by the backcourt of junior Miles Simon and freshman Mike
Bibby, Arizona kept Kentucky from repeating as national champion
with an 84-79 overtime victory Monday night.
With three juniors, a sophomore and a freshman in the starting
lineup, next year was supposed to be the one for Arizona. Instead,
the Wildcats (25-9) made their first championship appearance a
thrilling one in a game featuring 20 ties and 18 lead changes.
Fourth-seeded Arizona became the first team in tournament
history to knock off three No. 1 seeds  Kansas, North
Carolina and now Kentucky, the winningest programs in college
basketball history.
Kentucky was trying to become the second repeat champion since
UCLA’s stretch of seven straight titles ended in 1973. Duke
repeated as champion in 1992.
Instead, Arizona won the first overtime championship game since
Michigan beat Seton Hall 80-79 in 1989.
Simon, who missed the first 11 games of the season because of
academic problems, finished with 30 points. Bibby, the son of
former UCLA star Henry Bibby, who won three college championships
himself as a player, had 14 of his 19 points in the second
half.
Arizona became the losingest team to win it all since Kansas was
27-11 in 1988.
One of the wildest final minutes of regulation in NCAA
tournament history set up the overtime.
Bibby made two free throws with 1:01 left to give Arizona a
72-68 lead. Ron Mercer, Kentucky’s hero in last season’s
championship game, then hit a 3-pointer with 51 seconds left to
bring Kentucky within one.
Bibby stood out near halfcourt dribbling the ball as the shot
clock wound down. He finally made a move with seven seconds left on
it and found Bennett Davison for a layup that made it 74-71 with 18
seconds left.
Anthony Epps wasted no time in tying it, hitting a three with 12
seconds to play.
Arizona’s final chance to win in regulation ended when Simon
turned it over on a drive with two seconds left.
The overtime was a free throw shooting contest, in which Arizona
scored all 10 of its points from the foul line.
Kentucky (35-5) made just two field goals in the overtime, a
basket by Anthony Epps with 1:46 left and a 3-pointer by Cameron
Mills with 6.4 seconds remaining.
The Associated Press
Arizona’s Bennett Davison celebrates after defeating
Kentucky.