JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The final frenetic moments of Saturday’s NCAA Tournament second-round game between LSU and Maryland delivered one of those classic agony-to-ecstasy March Madness moments.
Maryland’s 6-foot-10 freshman Jalen Smith had just buried a 3-point shot from the right wing to tie a game in which the Terrapins once trailed by as many as 15 points, with 25.8 seconds remaining in the game.
After an LSU timeout — during which interim coach Tony Benford called a set play for his 5-11 sophomore guard Tremont Waters — the Tigers held for the final shot. And, with the clock bleeding out, Waters snaked his way around Smith and into the paint, unleashing a finger roll that kissed the glass and went in with 1.6 seconds remaining.
It was a kiss of death for Maryland.
The fact that Waters’ play provided the winning points in LSU’s thrilling 69-67 win at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2006 was laced with irony, because for a long stretch in the second half, LSU played offense as if the 3-point line was some sort of force field preventing it from going to the basket.
Maryland coach Mark Turgeon switched to a 3-2 zone in the second half and the LSU players reacted like they’d never seen it before, maddeningly settling for ill-advised long jumpers.
Waters, a New Haven, Conn. native, was the hero for LSU, finishing with 12 points, five assists and two steals.
“Great players make great plays and they made plays and that’s why we’re moving on,’’ Benford said.
“Coach Benford and the coaching staff and actually my teammates said they wanted me to take the shot, so we just held the ball out, Naz [Reid] came and set a screen and I made a play,’’ Waters said.
“The players knew exactly what was coming,’’ Turgeon said. “We showed them [during the timeout] middle-ball screen for [Waters]. We all knew what was coming. It was whether we were going to be able to stop it or not. Kid just made a heck of a play. I wish [Waters] wouldn’t have got around Jalen, and I wish if he did get around Jalen, Bruno would have pinned it on the glass. But it didn’t happen that way. They scored.’’
When it was over, after a desperate full-court heave by Maryland fell short, there was a wild celebration and dog pile over near the LSU bench, and the Tigers’ smallest player was nowhere to be found.
“Yeah, I was in the bottom of the dog pile,’’ Waters said. “It feels amazing.’’
