Coach Guy V. Lewis forever tried to live down accusations that in the biggest game of his career, he shackled his freelancing team to protect a lead, with disastrous results.
The game itself was ugly, tied 52-52 as the final seconds clicked down. NC State had the ball, holding it for the last shot, but when a play was broken up, NC State's Dereck Whittenburg could only heave a desperation shot that clearly was going to fall short, forcing overtime.
Courtesy of Houston Dynamo
The Dynamo won a title in their first Houston season.
Courtesy of UH Athletics
UH's Elvin Hayes showed the college basketball world who was boss. That night, anyway.
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Except the ball somehow landed in the hands of Lorenzo Charles, who was loitering by the basket, and he dunked it as time ran out. The first of approximately 1,382,064 replays of NC State coach Jim Valvano running around looking for a player to hug aired, as stunned Cougars tried to comprehend things.
"My first thought was, 'That's my college career. No more college ball. It's over,'" Williams says. "'Fuck, we lost. I can't believe we lost the game, unbelievable, we lost the game. No more college ball.'"
The UH basketball program made the final game again the next year, losing to Patrick Ewing's Georgetown team, but that was the end of Phi Slama Jama. The program hasn't been the same since.
2. The 16-Inning Gutpunch
The Astros and the Mets were two formidable teams in the 1986 season. As we've mentioned, the 'Stros had a terrific rotation, and the Mets matched them. One thing the Mets couldn't do, though, was hit Mike Scott.
As the National League Championship unfolded, the Mets had a 3-2 game lead going into Game Six. All the Astros had to do was win, and they had an all-but-guaranteed Game Seven win in the bank with Scott pitching.
Oh, things went so well for the first eight innings. The Astros took an early 3-0 lead and kept it as the game entered the ninth inning. Then starter Bob Knepper gave up a couple of runs, reliever Dave Smith another and suddenly the Mets had the bases loaded with two outs. Danny Heep struck out, giving the Astros another chance.
And for seven extra innings, there was hardly a moment when fans' hearts were not in their mouths.
Super pitching and defense dominated until the 14th inning, when the Mets took a one-run lead. Ace reliever Jesse Orosco was on the mound for the Mets, but — in a moment that is the Houston equivalent of Boston and Carlton Fisk using every last bit of body English to keep a ball fair — Billy Hatcher hit the foul pole to tie the game back up.
Two innings later, the Mets took a more substantial three-run lead, and things looked bleak. But — squeezing every last drop of drama from fans who were already far past wrung out — the Astros scored two runs in the bottom of the inning.
The tying run was on second base, the winning one on first. Mike Scott was ready to dominate in Game Seven. The Dome was at an absolute fever pitch, ready to detonate.
And Kevin Bass struck out.
The season was over. It would be a long time until the Astros got as close to a World Series again.
1. The Terrible, Terrible Comeback
The Luv Ya Blue Oilers were replaced, after some dismal times, with the Run-and-Shoot Oilers.
Not everyone loved the Run-and-Shoot Oilers — instead of the smash-mouth football of Bum Phillips's time, the team now employed a gimmicky, high-octane offensive scheme that built up a lot of stats but could also run into trouble in the playoffs, when defenses got tougher.
Still, the Oilers had cruised to a 10-6 regular-season record and a Wild Card slot. In January 1993, they were facing the Buffalo Bills in the first round of the playoffs.
The Oilers had beaten the Bills 27-3 in the last game of the season, knocking out Bills starting QB Jim Kelly in the process. So when they took a 35-3 lead in the third quarter in the Wild Card game, even the most jaded fan was ready to relax.
After all, by this point the Oilers had outscored the Bills 62-6, and the Bills were relying on backup QB Frank Reich.
The Run-and-Shoot, the finely tuned machine, was ready to glide to victory. It just needed to hold onto the ball for some longish drives.
What happened from that point on was so shocking, so awful for Oilers fans that some still today shudder to remember it. Let us speak no more of the debacle.
But if you want to know what The Lowest Point in Houston sports history was, look no farther than a cold stadium in Buffalo.
richard.connelly@houstonpress.com
