De Paul`s sure-handed Terry Davis committed a rare turnover in the opening minute of Saturday`s furious Memphis State-Blue Demons struggle at the Horizon.
As the Demons hustled back on defense, Stephen Howard slapped skin with Davis in a gesture that said: ”Forget it. Everything`s OK.”
A few minutes later, Howard threw away a wild pass. Freshman Tom Kleinschmidt immediately gave Howard a reassuring word and a pat on the butt.
Little things. But when added to aggressive offense, 33-for-39 foul shooting and only nine turnovers, this supportiveness resulted in an 88-80 victory in the Demons` most spirited showing of the season.
De Paul needed togetherness as well as 62 points from the threesome of David Booth (25), Davis (20) and Howard (17) because the relentless Tigers never quit in the Great Midwest Conference matchup. Rallying from 16 points down at 50-34, they trailed only 83-80 with 55 seconds to play.
Booth thought that an early game flareup between him and the Tigers`
Billy Smith set the tone for the physical battle that produced 48 fouls, 27 on the the losers.
”He elbowed me. I elbowed him back,” Booth said. ”He pushed me in the back, and I fell down. I`m kinda glad it happened. We were up anyway, and that incident increased our intensity more.”
Booth and Smith shoved one another again. No punches were thrown. Officials called time and talked to the players at their benches. When play resumed, the refs called fouls on serious hand-checking, and De Paul was at the bonus after only 3 1/2 minutes.
”An intense rivalry has been born,” said De Paul coach Joey Meyer, referring to the physical play and the flareup. ”I hope it stays just that, a rivalry.”
Booth hit 15 of 16 free throws. Howard went 7 for 9 from the line, Davis 6 for 6. The Tigers went 17 for 20 from the foul line, compared to De Paul`s 33 for 39.
”The coaches told us to take the ball to the hole when they were in foul trouble,” Booth said. ”That`s what we did.”
So did Anfernee Hardaway, Memphis State`s multitalented, 6-7 rookie. He hit 12 of 13 free throws as he led all scorers with 26 points and all rebounders with eight.
But there was more to this De Paul victory than body-checking, taking the ball to the hoop, and hitting foul shots. De Paul (7-5, 2-1) showed more togetherness and more life on its bench than in any game since it edged Memphis State in overtime in its opener.
”I`ve always tried to be positive and pick up a teammate when he makes a mistake,” Howard said. ”I think it helps. There`s enough negative things on the floor with people yelling at one another.
”When you`re yelled at, you can lose confidence. I try to pick up their confidence.”
Meyer said that the type of togetherness Howard described ”is something we`ve tried to build. We`ve talked a lot about it. Without it, we won`t be very good.”
Meyer was especially pleased at the play of his three rookies: Howard Nathan, Brandon Cole and Kleinschmidt. On occasion, he played them together in a unit with Booth and 6-11 Jeff Stern.
”I was worried for a time at playing all three at the same time, but after 11 games, they`re not freshmen any more,” Meyer said.
Nathan, who said his ”confidence level was at its season`s best,”
scored nine points, dished out three assists and led everybody in steals with five. Kleinschmidt packed three rebounds, a putback basket, an assist and a fastbreak-starting pass into an 84-second burst when De Paul improved its lead from 36-28 to 42-28. Cole scored a basket, made a steal and had no turnovers in 10 minutes.
”We bring out the best in De Paul,” said Memphis State coach Larry Finch. ”I give them credit, but we didn`t quit.”
