LOCAL MIZZOU FAITHFUL REVEL IN VICTORY OVER SYRACUSE

Bob Neff would have traded his toughest car deal for the dilemma he wrestled with at the Playdium Thursday night.

The Ford Groves car dealer covered his face with his hands and continually anguished over the fate of the Missouri Tigers during the waning moments of regulation and overtime in the NCAA West regional semfinals.

When he was sure that the Orangemen of Syracuse had nothing left, Neff raised his arms in the air and pressed flesh with any equally euphoric high-fiver in the place. To the emotionally-charged victors went the spoils of a rare chance at the Final Four and the promise of a ritual that has been going on for some time.

"It's over baby, it's over," shouted Neff as a celebration erupted after Missouri dispatched Syracuse 98-88 in overtime.

"I never thought it would be a 10-point game," said Neff. "But that's the beauty of college basketball. You just never know. The passionate tend to get even more passionate when something like this goes on." Indeed, March Madness was in full bloom and Neff was in his competitive element.

The uncertainty of Missouri advancing into the West Regional finale wasn't evident when Neff settled into his seat in close proximity to the television just prior to tipoff. "Missouri is on a mission," declared Neff. "This is the team that's going to make it to the Final Four. I really believe that."

By the end of the game, however, Neff looked like he had just come out of the most serious negotiations of his life.

"I've got one cigarette left and I think this would be the perfect time to smoke it," said Neff, who discharged lighter and pent up emotions amid the din that followed a hard-fought victory.

"I can't imagine why anybody would want to be doing anything but watching this," said Neff, who shared observations and insights throughout the game with long-time friend Mike Kohlfeld.

"Are we gonna do it Bobby?" shouted Kohlfeld, who has known Neff since the car dealer moved from St. Louis in 1987. "If Mizzou gets past this game, they're going to the Final Four," promised Kohlfeld.

"It's a mission I'm telling you," said Neff. "These guys are on a mission."

After Missouri blew an 11-point lead in the last five minutes of regulation, however, Neff wondered if the Tigers weren't about to blow their best opportunity in years and leave him with egg on his face.

"C'mon, get it back, get it back," shouted Neff. "Yes, yes, Booker," shouted Neff after Melvin Booker sank a huge 3-point shot to open the overtime period. Kelly Thames made it 92-85 on a short jumper after just narrowly beating the shot clock. That made the packed house breathe a collective sigh of relief.

But Adrian Autry's 3-point shot with 56.5 seconds left pulled Syracuse within four points.

Then Missouri's Paul O'Liney scored on two fast-break layups in a 20-second span to clinch the victory.

The Mizzou victory left a look of deep gratitude on the face of Joseph Johnson. "I was here the last time Missouri played Syracuse in the NCAA tournament," said Johnson, who works for his father Gerald Johnson, an attorney in Cape.

"I hated to have to watch Missouri lose that game because it was one I was sure they would win," said Johnson, who spent a decade in St. Louis, from 1983-1993, before returning to the city he grew up in.

"I followed Mizzou when local guys like Stan "Stretch" Ray played for them," said Johnson. "That was in 1978. I remember when Paul Sherman played football for Mizzou. He went to Cape Central -- the same school I went to. That's where the connection started, and I've been following that team ever since."

Johnson was most vocal when Charleston High product Lamont Frazier stepped to the free throw line with the game still very much undecided. "Pride of the Bootheel, baby. Pride of the Bootheel," shouted Johnson after Frazier sank both free throws.

"What a night," said Neff. "What a beautiful night."