No. 11 Miami Escapes Rutgers

Between the pre-game ceremony and the late-game heroics, Tim James had quite an afternoon for the Miami Hurricanes.

First the Hurricanes honored James by retiring his jersey No. 40. Then the All-Big East forward, playing his final home game, blocked two shots in the final 15 seconds to help No. 11 Miami hold off Rutgers 68-63 Saturday.

With the victory, Miami clinched at least a No. 2 seed in next week's Big East Conference tournament.

"I knew we needed the blocks," James said. "I'm extremely happy I was able to make some plays to save the game."

Miami (21-5 overall, 15-3 Big East) won its eighth game in a row. If Syracuse upsets Big East leader Connecticut on Sunday, the Hurricanes will share the league title with UConn and earn the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament next week.

Rutgers trailed 54-37 midway through the second half before mounting a comeback that cut the margin to 64-61.

But with 15 seconds left, James blocked an eight-foot shot by guard Geoff Billet, and after Rutgers grabbed the long rebound, James blocked a 3-point attempt by Billet that would have tied the game.

"I don't know how Tim ended up on him," Miami coach Leonard Hamilton said. "But with Tim's athleticism, he's capable of doing it."

Vernon Jennings and James each hit a pair of free throws in the final eight seconds for the Hurricanes to clinch the win. James' clutch performance was especially fitting after he became the only Miami player other than Rick Barry to have his jersey retired.

"We kind of scripted it that way," Hamilton joked. "We wanted the game to be close, and we wanted Tim to do something heroic at the end. That was the game plan all along."

The Scarlet Knights (17-11, 9-9) have lost four consecutive games, badly damaging their NCAA tournament chances. The Knghts are 0-7 against the teams they've played that are most likely to make the tournament, but coach Kevin Bannon was encouraged by Rutgers' latest performance.

"I feel these kids are going to go into the Big East tournament with a chip on their shoulder," he said. "We feel we can still be an NCAA team. We've got to go win a couple of games."

James led Miami with 14 points, and sophomore Dwayne Wimbley scored a career-high 12. Johnny Hemsley added 11, all in the second half, and Mario Bland had 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Rutgers' Jeff Greer scored 22 points and Rob Hodgson added 13. The Knights shot just 36 percent and were outrebounded 40-27.

"We played the cream of the crop in the league," Bannon said. "They're playing great basketball right now. They have great balance. Their bench has gotten deeper. And they play at both ends they're very efficient off and they're terrific at the defensive end."

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