Published: March 25, 2008 12:31 am      

MSU junior no longer Green

KANSAS CITY — Mountain State’s Rod Green had a recurring dream growing up.

“I was walking in front of a basketball court and there were a lot of people cheering for us,” Green said late Tuesday night. “I thought, this must be what it’s about. But I never knew where it was.

“When we got out here to the national tournament, I told (teammate) Ricky (Jackson), ‘This is where my dream was.’ That had to mean something.”

For Green, the dream became reality Monday night in the Fab Four. The 6-foot-6, 250-pound Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native came up big, scoring 10 points and applying tight defensive pressure on Georgetown big man Gus Chase in relief of foul-plagued James McGriff. The result was a huge 78-65 win over No. 1 and previously undefeated Georgetown.

MSU moves on to play defending national champion Oklahoma City in the national title game tonight.

“I just wanted to do something to help the team, not let my teammates down,” said Green, who helped hold Chase to 13 points and two rebounds.

“Rod didn’t play a minute in the last game and he was the first one cheering for his teammates,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said. “When we were doing tape study, (Demetrius) Guoins was a guy that dominated every team he played out here. We thought he matched up well against Chase, that he could give him trouble.”

And he did.

And then the 10 points was just an added bonus.

“He was huge for them,” Georgetown coach Happy Osborne said. “Quite bluntly, he wasn’t a guy we spent much time talking about. But he is a blocky type kid and we had a hard time getting around him.”

Green hit five of the eight shots he attempted and added three rebounds. He had played just seven minutes in the previous three games and didn’t score.

“He hadn’t been playing much out here but he stepped up when we needed him,” Jarvis Jackson said. “I’m proud of him.”

“He’s a big impact player,” added Adron Marshall. “We knew he could do that. He battles big ’Griff (Jason McGriff) every day. He played wonderful tonight.”

McGriff, who prepped at Redlands Community College, said the first person he was calling would be his wife.

“She was watching the game, with my aunts, my whole family,” Green said. “I know they’re all going to be ecstatic that I was able to help my team.”