By Chris Dufresne
Los Angeles Times
BOSTON ó Scottie Reynolds of Villanova joined Tyus Edney of UCLA in the annals of last-second dribble-drives toward flashbulbs and forever.
Reynolds’ floater with 0.5 seconds left Saturday lifted Villanova to a 78-76 win over Pittsburgh in the East Regional final.
“Oh man,” the junior said afterward, “there’s so many emotions going through my head. It’s something you think about as kid.”
Edney’s second-round game-winner against Missouri in 1995 propelled UCLA toward its 11th national title. What Reynolds’ shot does for Villanova will be answered next week in Detroit, site of the Wildcats’ first Final Four trip since 1985.
Reynolds was bumped so hard on the final shot, by Pittsburgh’s Gilbert Brown, he might have gotten bailed out by a foul. Referees let it go, and Reynolds let it ripple.
“I didn’t even see the ball go in, actually,” Reynolds said.
In baseball poetry, there was once a sequence that caught on ó a double-play combination involving Tinker to Evers to Chance.
In Villanova poetry, the exchange will be remembered as Redding to Cunningham to Reynolds.
With Pitt pressing full-court, Reggie Redding tossed the ball from out of bounds at the baseline to Dante Cunningham, who passed it to Reynolds. He took off, as Cunningham remembers, like a jet.
Reynolds sat at the post-game news conference clutching the game ball he used to make Villanova history.
“They said this is it,” a smiling Reynolds said. “So I believe this is it. They could be lying to me.”