March 10, 2000
By TERESA M. WALKER
AP Sports Writer
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Justin Love has heard that Saint Louis isn't supposed to have a shot at the NCAA tournament. The senior guard is determined to prove the doubters wrong.
Love scored 20 of his 26 points in a nearly perfect first half as Saint Louis defeated Tulane 64-46 Friday in the Conference USA semifinals in the Green Wave's worst game this season.
The senior now has scored a tournament-record 76 points in three games in getting the Billikens to Saturday's championship game. He topped the 71 points Marquette's Chris Crawford scored in four games in 1997.
"If you ever want him to do something, tell him he can't," Saint Louis coach Lorenzo Romar said of Love. "Now people say Saint Louis University, they can't win this. They can't do that. Justin Love kind of takes that personal.
"He doesn't talk very much. But he backs it up. He gets in his mind he's going to do something about it, he usually does."
The victory puts No. 9 seed Saint Louis (18-13), which upset top-ranked Cincinnati in the quarterfinals, into its first C-USA tournament title game. The Billikens will play either defending champion UNC Charlotte or DePaul for the league's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
Love hit all seven of his shots in the first half, including five from 3-point range, and finished 8-of-11 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. He said he's just trying to do what he can to make the most of his final season.
"We've just got one more step," Love said.
"Nobody expected us to be in the position we're in now. That just fuels us up and motivates us to do really well now."
Tulane (20-10) had more turnovers (23) than field goals (16) on the same court where it scored just 49 points last week in losing to Memphis. The Green Wave came out nearly lifeless compared to Love, and by the time he cooled off, it was too late.
Love's only miss in the first half came at the free throw line.
"We let Love get off early," Tulane guard Dylan Osean. "That really hurt us. He didn't miss a shot. That kind of took the wind out of us a little bit."
Saint Louis led by as much as 20 in the second half, and Tulane could only get within 12 twice.
Dave Fergerson added 11 points for Saint Louis.
Love's first basket, a 3-pointer, put Saint Louis ahead in the first minute, and the Billikens never trailed as they try to win the school's first-ever postseason tournament title.
The Green Wave couldn't get out of its own way. Tulane hit only two of its first 10 shots and turned the ball over 11 times in the half. It got so bad that Morris Jordan missed the basket completely with a jumper, hitting the side of the backboard instead.
"Our problem has been the same," Tulane coach Perry Clark said. "When we don't shoot, we don't win. We didn't shoot today. We didn't win."
Saint Louis quickly jumped ahead 23-6 on a jumper by Chris Braun with 8:56 to go.
Tulane managed to score the next nine points to get within 23-15. That would be as close as Tulane would get as Love came back into the game and started a 12-3 run with another 3 as Saint Louis took a 35-18 lead into halftime.
