Hoyas have a winner in Wallace



WASHINGTON (AP) -- Alabama country kid Jonathan Wallace has been studying and playing basketball in the nation's capital for three years, yet he's still afraid of taxis.
"Taxis are dangerous," the Georgetown point guard said. "You don't know who's driving. I like driving my own car, or I like riding with my mom or my dad or aunt, somebody I know. If I don't know you, I'm not going to get in the car with you."
Ask him to choose between cattle and cabs, and, well, that's a no-brainer.
"I want cows," Wallace said with a smile. "I want cows and land one day."
Fortunately for Georgetown, Wallace does not carry his trepidation over city life onto the basketball court. He might be antsy about taking a taxi, but he had no hesitation when he took the game-tying 3-pointer with 31 seconds remaining that sent the game into overtime in Sunday's victory over North Carolina, a win that put the Hoyas in the Final Four.
Coach calls Wallace winner
"You win with people like Jon Wallace," coach John Thompson III said. "You look at him, he's not the fastest person in the world, he's not the strongest person, never will be. But he has character, he has guts, and he's a good man. He's willed his way through so many situations and is someone who has gotten the most of his God-given ability.
"That shot he made the other day was on the national stage and a lot of people across the country saw it, but he's been making those shots for three years now."
Of all the players who have contributed to Georgetown's run to the Final Four, Wallace took the most roundabout path. He grew up a bright kid on an 80-acre cattle farm near Huntsville, Ala., and had planned to play for Thompson in the Ivy League at Princeton. When Thompson took the job at Georgetown, Wallace wanted to follow.
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