If someone offers to sell you a bridge in Brooklyn, buy it. If someone tells you they have fair elections in the Philippines, believe it.
When De Paul can win a basketball game at the free throw line, anything`s possible. Anything except civilized behavior from the Indiana State fans, who turned Hulman Center into Animal House Wednesday night while the Blue Demons were halting their four-game losing streak with a 48-44 victory.
That De Paul, the epitome of the Gang That Couldn`t Shoot Straight, made 18 of 20 free throws to end its agony borders on the incredible. That the officials at Indiana State tolerate the hooliganism that masquerades as school spirit borders on the irresponsible.
The De Paul bench was bombarded with rolls of toilet paper and assorted other missiles throughout the night, and Demons` center Marty Embry finally tried to take matters in his own hands with 8 seconds to play.
Embry twice had to be restrained from climbing into the crowd after he was hit in the head with a roll of toilet paper during a timeout. By that time, De Paul already had taken the best kind of revenge.
The Demons, who are shooting only 59 percent from the foul line for the season, made 12 in a row and 16 out of 17 during the closely contested second half.
Dallas Comegys made the pair that put De Paul (14-10) ahead for good 32-31 with 11:39 to play. Then he strung together six more, all but the last two in critical situations.
Except for De Paul`s sharpshooting from the line, the game was an offensive washout. Neither team could knock down 40 percent of its shots from the floor, and the Sycamores` brilliant John Sherman Williams shot only 3-for- 14, missing all seven of his attempts in the second half.
Indiana State (10-15) went 14 1/2 minutes without a basket in one stretch, but trailed by only a point.
”This wasn`t the prettiest win in the world,” said Embry, ”but we knew we had to have it.”
They wanted it so badly that head coach Joey Meyer and Comegys drew technical fouls. It was only the second of his career for Meyer, and although the free throws put Indiana State ahead 16-8 at the time, it seemed to stem the tide.
”It feels so good to finally get a win under our belts,” said Meyer.
”We switched everything so we wouldn`t get caught up in screens,”
said Meyer in explaining how his team had controlled Williams. ”And I thought Terence Greene, when he had him, and Tony Jackson, when he had him, did a good job of getting to Williams without fouling.”
Williams still made 10 of 12 free throws to lead all scorers with 16 points. Comegys and Rod Strickland had 14 each for De Paul.
De Paul`s turnaround at the free throw line was more an attitude adjustment than anything else, said Meyer.
”We shot a lot of free throws these last three days on the road. We had a lot of time to work on it. But a lot of it is mental. When the first few go down, the players start relaxing and start believing,” said Meyer.
”We had a meeting this afternoon and we didn`t talk about basketball. This team just feels the weight of the world on its shoulders.
”We talked about believing. We told them to forget about what they read and hear and to tune out the outside world.”
Meyer admitted it was impossible to tune out the Indiana State fans while ducking garbage during timeouts.
”I got a little upset,” he said, ”because I was hit a couple of times myself. I`m not going to condemn Indiana State, but it`s not good for a visiting team to be subjected to that. We got hit six or seven times trying to talk to the players in the huddle, and you lose your concentration.”
Embry said he lost his cool after ”one roll hit me and I ducked another. I saw where it came from and decided, why not go there? I wasn`t going up there to say thanks.”
But De Paul`s assistant athletic director Bob Grim held Embry back while Strickland and Jackson hurled the missiles back into the stands.
