Former Purdue coach Gene Keady finally won a game at the Final Four.
The record-setting Boilermakers coach made a one-game return to the sideline Friday in a college All-Star game and finally got his elusive win during college basketball's biggest weekend.
``It felt good,'' Keady said gruffly after the 106-101 victory. ``It felt good to have my old team back.''
It was the kind of homecoming Keady had dreamed about since retiring in 2005.
He was joined on the bench in Indianapolis by Illinois coach Bruce Weber, his former assistant, and Matt Painter, his former player. Painter succeeded Keady as Purdue's coach and agreed to an eight-year contract extension Friday.
And it seemed like old times for the whole group.
``Ideally, you want to come back to the Final Four as a team,'' Weber said. ``But when you don't, you get a chance to see former coaches and players, and that's the fun part of it.''
Clearly, the National Association of Basketball Coaches intended to give this game a home-state flavor.
Besides Keady, Weber and Painter, the Reese's team also included one of Painter's players, guard Chris Kramer. Bill Hodges, who led Indiana State to the Final Four in 1979 with Larry Bird, coached the Hershey's team which included two former Indianapolis prep stars - Deonta Vaughn of Cincinnati and Robert Glenn of IUPUI.
Aside from Keady's return, the game was dominated by non-Hoosiers.
Aubrey Coleman of Houston scored 15 points and twice led big rallies to get Keady's team within striking distance. Five other players, including Cal's Jerome Randle, reached double figures for Reese's. Randle finished with 12 points and was named the team's Most Outstanding Player.
Eric Boateng of Arizona State finally gave Keady's team the lead for good with a dunk with 4:48 left, and Art Parakhouski of Radford sealed the win with two straight baskets in the closing minutes. Both post players finished with eight points.
Coleman didn't think he did enough.
``I wanted to play more,'' he said, a comment that certainly would have drawn Keady's ire during his heyday. ``I still put up, I think, 14, but if I would have been on the court more - I'm a competitor. I can't sit when it's crucial times, I want to be on the floor. I don't want to be watching.''
Hodges' team was led by Marquette's Lazar Hayward, who finished with 23 points and seven rebounds. He was named the team's Most Outstanding Player.
Four other players reached double figures for Hershey's, including Rodney Green with 18 and Jermaine Beal with 17.
For a while, it looked like Keady wouldn't win this one, either.
His team fell into a 47-34 hole with 5:20 left in the first half before Coleman and UCLA's Michael Roll ignited a 10-0 run that got the team back within 51-50 with 3:18 to go.
Hodges' team rebuilt a 72-63 lead early in the second half, but Coleman made both of his 3-pointers during a 12-5 run that cut the lead to 82-79.
Boateng's dunk with 4:48 left finally put Keady's team in the lead for the first time in 33 minutes, and Parakhouski sealed it with his late baskets.
``It was rewarding, it was enjoyable, it was fun,'' he said. ``We're still a team, and it's always been about the team at Purdue, not one person.''
