The latest article in the Hilltopper Flashbacks series is the 1987 NCAA matchup between the Toppers and West Virginia. Western headed into the tournament with a 28-8 overall record but after peaking at #8 in the AP polls early in the season, the Toppers suffered some tough upset upset losses along the way, eventually fell from the polls and entered the NCAA as a #10 seed faced up against a very strong West Virginia ball club.

The game featured two strong, physical frontlines and the game resembled a gridiron matchup more than a basketball game at times. Western, despite being hampered by foul trouble on Clarence Martin and other key players managed to hang on for a dramatic victory and earn the right to face eventual national runner-up Syracuse in the next round at the Carrier Dome....... PREGAME STORY

Johnson Helps Slip Western Past West Virginia

By Stan Sutton
Courier-Journal
March 14, 1987

Clarence Martin at Work (Real Video 1.9mb)
Kannard Johnson hits the game-winning shot (WMF - 3.8MB)

Syracuse, N.Y. - If Darryl Prue's ancestor's had shot rabbits as accurately as he shoots free throws, they would have starved to death.

Prue has missed 22 of his last 26 free throws, one of those at crunch time Friday night as his West Virginia basketball team lost to Western Kentucky 64-62 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament's East Regional.

With 51 seconds left and the score tied at 62-62, the Mountaineers passed the ball to Prue, which is like handing your infant to a mountain lion. Western's Kannard Johnson was so thrilled to see Prue with the ball that he willingly committed his fourth personal.

Prue, who earlier had shot a free throw so wide that it hit only glass, laid another brick. Western came down court, whereupon Tellis Frank missed a falling 12-footer and Johnson had his follow shot blocked out of bounds by the 6-foot-8 Prue.

There were three seconds left as the Hilltoppers (29-8) called a timeout. Before the last of those three seconds ticked off the Carrier Dome clock, Johnson ducked behind Prue to lay in the winning basket.

"It wasn't a pretty game to watch." Western coach Murray Arnold said, "but it had a gorgeous ending."

Including Prue's 39 percent, West Virginia (23-8) had the worst foul shooting percentage in the 64-team tournament field. And with Prue missing all three of his attempts, the Mountaineers made only 14 of 22.

"He had his back toward the ball," Johnson said of Prue on the winning basket. "He thought I was going to set a pick. I just ducked in."

"He snuck by me," said Prue, overwhelmed with disappointment.

"We tried to put big kids in the game. We were going to try to make them throw it outside," losing coach Gale Catlett said. "The kid went to sleep."

"If you can get the ball downtown, duck in," Arnold had told Johnson during th timeout. But the other option, one Arnold presumed Frank would have to use on the inbounds pass, was to find guard Brett McNeal for a perimeter jumper.

Western never led by more than six nor trailed by more than five in a brutally physical game marked by 37 personal fouls. The match had 14 ties, 12 lead changes and, despite constant defensive pressure only seven second-half turnovers.

Western center Clarence Martin played only eight minutes before fouling out three minutes into the second half. Johnson, Bryan Asberry and James McNary all finished with four personal fouls and Frank played 31 minutes with three fouls. For those reasons, an overtime period did not fit into Western's game plan.

Asberry's 16-point, six-rebound effort was a godsend for the Toppers, because Frank went the first nine minutes of the second half without a bucket. But Frank came on for a team-high 17 points.

Prue, a sophomore transfer from Georgetown, made 7 of 9 shots in the first half, obviously all coming closer than 15 feet. But Western tightened the screws on its defense and held him to only five second half shots and a total of 18 points.

The Hilltoppers, who won for the 13th time in their last 15 games, trailed 47-42 with 13 minutes left to play but took a 51-50 lead on a three-point play by Frank at 9:14. With six minutes left Western led 57-52, but two foul shots by Tyrone Shaw tied things at 62 with 2:33 left.

"I was really amazed at how physical the game was. It was like a pro game," Catlett said. "It didn't lose the game for us, but it was tough to adjust.