HUTCHINSON, Kansas — An athlete's speed is typically measured in how many seconds it takes him to run a 40-yard sprint. Far more important to Dixie College is the fact that point guard Marcus Banks ran 94 feet — dribbling the basketball — in 5.2 seconds Wednesday night at the NJCAA championship tournament.
Banks' sprint, climaxed by the all-important layup, moved the Rebels past 12th-ranked Okaloosa-Walton Community College (28-5) from Florida and into the juco final four with a 68-67 overtime victory.
The bucket, which wouldn't have counted had there been as few as even 5.1 seconds remaining, sent the fresh-off-the-bus Dixie contingent of students, parents and other fans rushing onto the court to mob the 34-1, top-ranked Rebels who celebrated their improbable victory in championship fashion.
"That he went from one end to the other in 5.2, that was the amazing part," said Dixie coach Jeff Kidder. "We are not related to the time keeper so they didn't do us any favors there. He is one of the fastest guys up the court in America and he is fearless."
Things looked bleak for Dixie when, after trailing 67-66 with 10.2 seconds left, a prior Banks layup was stuffed by Okaloosa and then rebounded by Raider Tyrone Hayes, whom Dixie immediately fouled. With no Raiders on the blocks to contend for the rebound, Hayes missed his one-and-one attempt. It was collected by Jaime Lloreda and passed to Banks, who finished off the game 5.2 seconds later.
"A second chance is always great," Banks said. "Coach is always preaching to us not to give a team a second chance. They gave us a second chance and we got them."
Dixie did a little giving as well, including a five-point lead it held with less than three minutes to go in regulation. In that stretch the Rebels managed only one point on a Joshua Clark free throw. Banks gave up eight turnovers with two turnovers in the final two minutes including one that led to a Kedrick Brown breakaway layup. That score was preceded by a Demetruis King trey left the game tied at 56.
The Rebels still had a chance to win with 3.2 seconds in regulation but were called for a rare out-of-bounds traveling violation that left Okaloosa enough time to get off a King buzzer-beater that bounced away.
Despite the Dixie miscues on offense its trademark defense was excellent. Okaloosa struggled to score and even with the overtime fell well short of its 90 point-per-game average, this one night after holding the nation's third-best scoring team 30 points below its average.
"It was one of our best defensive efforts on the season. Our team 'D' was great," Kidder said.
The best individual defensive performance, and perhaps the best performance of all, was turned in by former Utah Ute Gary Colbert, who was given the difficult task of guarding Brown. The 6-7, 220-pound LSU recruit averages 23 points a game and is said to be an NBA first-rounder had he decided to turn pro instead of sticking with college.
"I got ready to play him in the film room. Coach got in my face and told me that if I played tough 'D' we would win the game," Colbert said. "He (Brown) is tough and he is big and strong but he is human."
Brown is also suffering from turf toe and still managed 17 points, but Kidder felt his player had done the job.
"Colbert was great on Brown. He did score some, especially late, but he had to earn every one of his points."
Dixie's sharp defense was all that kept them in the game during the first half when they played more than 13 minutes without scoring a basket and making only two free throws during the nightmarish stretch. During that segment the Rebels went from leading 6-4 to trailing 16-8 before Eddie Shelby broke the scoring dam with a three. Dixie stormed back to tie it at 23 before the break.
Shelby tallied 16 on the night, hitting 5 of 6 of his shots and going 5-for-5 from the free-throw line. Only Banks scored more for the Rebels with a game-high 21 points. Post men Jaime Lloreda and Clark played virtually the entire game and scored 12 points each. The Raiders trio of Brown, King (12) and Hayes (20) accounted for most of Okaloosa's points.
Dixie has Thursday off but will resume play Friday at 5:30 p.m. MST against third-ranked Wabash Valley who also survived an overtime Wednesday with a 94-86 win over Schoolcraft College.
REBEL YELLS: About 45 Dixie students, after listening to Tuesday night's victory on the radio, piled into a chartered bus at 7:30 p.m. Utah time and made the 18-hour drive to Hutchison, arriving about three hours before tipoff. The group included cheerleaders, members of the student council and at-large students . . . Faces in the Hutchinson sports arena included coaches from BYU and SUU, which is recruiting Colbert . . . Other recognizable basketball faces were out of work Bobby Knight (at the Dixie game), Arkansas' Nolan Richardson, TCU's Billy Tubbs and Creighton's Dana Altman . . . Other schools with representatives included Iowa St., Tulsa, Illinois (still playing in the NCAA's), Miami and Iowa.
E-MAIL: lc@desnews.com