When Sports Were Played: Lane’s dunk a shattering experience
For today’s “When Sports Were Played,” we take you back to Jan. 25, 1988 and one of the most famous dunks in college basketball history. It also made broadcasting history with the call of Bill Raftery: “Send it in, Jerome!”
PITTSBURGH – Jerome Lane has pulled off one incredible feat after another in his three seasons with the Pitt Panthers basketball team.
But Monday night at Fitzgerald Field House, Lane outdid himself. And he literally brought down part of the house.
Taking a pass from freshman point guard Sean Miller, Lane took off near the foul line and slammed home a thunderous dunk that shattered the backboard. After a 30-minute delay, Pitt used the emotion and elation created by Lane’s super slam to roll to a 90-56 Big East Conference win over Providence.
“It was unbelievable,” Lane said. “It’s like a dream. I don’t believe it happened.
“It seemed like I got it from the side and it didn’t give. This is just a fantasy that you chalk up. That’s one that’s gone now.”
It was Pitt’s 13th consecutive win at the Field House and the 34-point margin of victory was the largest ever in conference play.
Nothing could outshine Lane’s marvelous show of grace and power on this night. The 6-6 junior from Akron finished with 17 points, 17 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocked shots.
“I think it might have been Jerome’s best overall game of the season,” said second-year Pitt coach Paul Evans. “I think he might have been a little too pumped up after the dunk. But he settled down and made some great plays offensively, defensively and on some steals.
“The slam was unbelievable. It wasn’t just a little crack; he went in strong. It was a hell of a dunk.”
Pitt (4-1, 14-2) struggled a bit right after the long break in action but got a lift when Miller hit a pair of technical foul shots at 12:21 to give Pitt a lead it would never relinquish.
The Providence technical was called on first-year coach Gordon Chiesa, who was out of the coaching box.
“The technical was a message by me,” Chiesa said. “Three times they were on (Delray) Brooks going up the court. It got their attention. On the next one, they called a cheap foul on (Charles) Smith. I don’t think the technical hurt us at all. It didn’t have an effect on the game.”
If it didn’t, then the statistics lied in this situation because Pitt scored eight more unanswered points to take a 22-13 lead. From there, the Friars (2-4, 8-8) never got closer than five and trailed by 11 at halftime.
The Panthers, ranked 11th this week in the Associated Press poll, quickly broke the game open in the second half. Pitt scored eight unanswered points in the first 2:33 of the half to open a 20-point lead.
“I thought the defense played very well in the second half,” Evans said. “Jerome, Bobby (Martin) and Charles caused a lot of problems for their offense. Right after the dunk, we were a little too giddy for me. But I thought we did a nice job in the second half.”
Smith shared game honors with Lane as he too scored 17 points. Martin, like he did in a loss Saturday to Oklahoma, played a strong second half and finished with a career-high 15 points. Freshman Jason Matthews added 14 points and Demetreus Gore had 13.
‘Pittsburgh played a great game,” Chiesa said. “They are an outstanding team. I have never seen a team play better in the second half.”