European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday March 22, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 21 sports cardinals outlast tar heels from press dispatches Houston Louisville coach Denny rum says it s crunch time for his Cardi nals. And that s something the Auburn tigers know a Little about. The Mcaa West regional finals will feature eighth seeded Auburn a team that s never been this far and second seeded Louisville National champions in 1980. Auburn 22-10, wore Down Nevada la vegas 70-63 on thursday night while the Mcaa tourney Alabama s Jim Farmer guards Kentucky s Kenny Walker a photo cardinals 29-7, Defeated North Carolin for the first time in 57 years 94-79. In the Mcaa Southeast regional Louisiana state upset no.6 Georgia tech 70-64 and Kentucky slipped by Alabama 68-63 to set up an All Southeastern conference finale. West regional the Auburn tigers second place finishers in the Southeast conference will play the metro conference Champion cardinals for the first time on saturday. Early in the season we made a lot of mistakes in games like this and missed free throws Crum said. But As the season progressed and it came to crunch time we made fewer mistakes. Auburn is a Strong team and rebound Sas Well As any team we be  Louisville followed Billy Thompson s 24 Points and some Deadeye free throw shooting to a Victory Over the tar heels who overcame a 12-Point deficit then self destructed with turnovers and missed foul shots. Louisville hit 13 of its last 14 free throw Sand 28 of 33 for the game. Thompson was just great Joe Wolf who led the tar heels with 20 Points  was Tough to  Auburn erased a 14-Point deficit and muscled aside the Runnin rebels As senior Chuck person scored 25 Points. Armon Gilliam scored 21 Freddie Banks added 20 for who finished the season at 33-5. Southeast regional Atlanta forget the 0-3 performance against Kentucky during the regular Points and the rebels j. In i inv Urci Siul  us Iii Luc re Gull. Who pumped in 22 Points to Lead wildcats season says Louisiana state s Don Redden. 3 teams make regional finals i think you can just throw out the prior three games because this is for the final four and i think this is going to be a great basketball game Redden said. His 27points guided leu Over Georgia tech. If the pressure s on anybody it s Ken Tucky Redden said. They re the no. 1 seed and All their fans will be disappointed. They re supposed to get to the final four. We re Kinda like the Cinderella  the tigers 25-11, got an extra Day atthe Mcaa Ball behind Redden and Derrick Taylor who scored 23 Points. The defense is always the key in a basketball game Taylor said. You play Good a it complements your offence get things  Redden was the Guy i think that Hurt us Georgia tech guard Mark Price said. He hit three or four big time shots. That Stough to  we re the 11th seed. We Don t have an pressure Redden said. We re just going out playing hard and having  Price led Georgia tech with 20 Point Sand Hammonds added 16. Consecutive baskets by Alabama s Terry Coner helped bring the Crimson tide within 38-36 with 14 43 left but the wildcats came Back with a follow shot by Winston Bennett. Jim Farmer hit the Back end of a two shot foul before Cedrick Jenkins made a Baseline jumper from the left Side and James Blackmon added a jumper from deepen the left Corner. Buck Johnson hit a follow jumper for Alabama but Blackmon duplicated his previous jumper and Kenny Walker added two free throws. When it was Over Kentucky was in command 48-39 and on it Sway to the Southeast finals. Walker scored 22 Points to Lead Ken Tucky 32-3. Alabama which got 20 Points from Conrand 16 from Johnson dropped to 24-9. Kentucky coach Eddie Sutton said it was defense that saved the wildcats one More time. Our team was solid defensively but remade it hard on ourselves when we weren t Able to convert free throws Sutton said in reference to a wildcats Streak in which they watched their 67-57 Edge Cut in half by miss ing four of five free throws in the last 1 02. Schools learn it pays to play in Sec by de Shearer Atlanta a no one would blink twice at find ing three Southeastern conference football teams ranked among the top eight in the nation but to find three of its teams among the final eight survivors in the Mcaa basketball tournament is almost mind boggling. With each team claiming a Check of about $167,000 every time it plays a game in the Mcaa tourney this year s event is becoming an economic Boom for the  conference had Only one team ranked among the nation s top 20 when this annual March madness began last week with 64 teams in the Hunt for a berth in the final four at Dallas March 29-31. Now the Sec is assured of at least one team in the final four and could have two if the Auburn Tiger continue to mow Down higher rated opposition. Third ranked Kentucky expected to reach this Point bolted into the Southeast regional finals thursday night in Atlanta with its fourth Victory of the year Over Sec rival Alabama 68-63. The wildcats will be meeting another conference foe in the Southeast title game saturday afternoon Louisiana state. Leu earned its berth in the regional finals with its third consecutive tournament upset knocking off no. 6 Georgia tech the Hometown favorite 70-64. Auburn which eliminated big East Power St. John s last week beat no. 11 Nevada Las vegas 70-63 in the West regional semifinals at Houston thursday night. The tigers will meet seventh ranked Louisville in the West finals saturday. The cardinals downed no. 8 North Caro Lina 94-79 in the other semifinal. I Don t think you can say one basketball league is better than another Alabama coach wimp Sanderson said before heading for the sidelines in the round of 16 forthe third time in six years As the Crimson tide coach. I maintained All year that the Southeastern Confer ence was quite different from any other conference in America he said. It s the Only one that plays an 18 game round Robin schedule and then had to play in conference tournament. We Chew each other up. We re not allowed to schedule 13 non conference  the Atlantic coast conference which dominated the National rankings throughout the season has Only two of its original six entries still alive no. 1 Duke in the East and North Carolina state in the Midwest. The big eight conference which started with five teams now has Only two remaining no. 2 Kansas an Iowa state both in the Midwest. The big ten which also had six teams at the Start was Down to one on Friday Michigan state. The big East generally perceived As the Only threat to an acc domination in the tournament lost All four of i steams in the second round. The Sec now has an 11-1 record in the tournament 10-0 against outside Competition. The Only setback came when Kentucky stopped Alabama thursday night. I wish they d placed us in different regions said Ken Tucky coach Eddie Sutton who had called the Southeast Region the Sec invitational. If we were in four different regions there would be a Hance we could play the Sec tournament in Dallas " Sutton said. File photo Kentucky coach Eddie Sutton. Calls Southeast Region the Sec invitational