NEW YORK -- As the celebration began, Mount St. Mary's guard Eric Bethel ran toward center court and spun around on his back, break-dance style. His teammates soon followed, and within moments the entire Mount St. Mary's contingent -- players and fans -- were flapping, screaming and crying in one huge pile.

For the second time in school history, the Mount St. Mary's basketball team will play in the NCAA Division I tournament. And for the fourth time in college basketball history, a coach has experienced enough longevity and success to reach 800 wins. Those were the results of the Mount's 72-56 win over Central Connecticut State last night in the championship game of the Northeast Conference tournament.

Who could have imagined it a week ago? Not many, after the Mount finished the regular season with three straight losses and came into the NEC tournament here at Wagner University as the league's No. 6 seed.

But the Mountaineers (15-14) persevered, putting together three solid efforts, upsetting in succession third-seeded Robert Morris, second-seeded St. Francis (N.Y.) and fourth-seeded Central Connecticut. Mount St. Mary's had been swept by both St.

Francis and Central Connecticut going into the tournament. Last night the Mount held Central Connecticut (19-13) to a season-low 29.4 percent shooting from the field and limited it to just one field goal in the last eight minutes.

"This justifies everything, it proves that we can pull it together," said Mount guard Gregory Harris, who scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds to win the tournament's Most Valuable Player award. "We wanted to win this title so, so bad because of all the stuff we went through during the season."

As usual, the Mountaineers on the way to the victory put their fans on an emotional roller coaster. From blown leads to their key big men getting into foul trouble to long offensive droughts, the Mount would not make the final game easy.

"That's what we've been doing all season long, giving up," Harris said. "We just had to stay composed."

And Harris was the most composed player on the court, hitting eight of his 16 shots from the field on the game. Fifteen of his points came in the second half, and no shot of his was bigger than the long, long three-pointer with 6: 56 left that gave the Mount a 57-51 lead. From that point on, the Mount was seemingly in control of the game.

"Our offense struggled throughout the game," Harris said. "And during timeouts Coach would tap me on the leg and say 'all right, Greg, shoot your shot.' I just wanted to come through for my teammates."

Harris was not the only hero. Freshman center Melvin Whitaker overcame foul trouble that limited him to 25 minutes to score 10 points and block eight shots. Two of those blocks came in the final three minutes as the Blue Devils desperately tried to come back, and Whitaker also added a foul-line jumper with 3: 45 left that helped cushion the Mount lead.

Forward Rob Balgac scored only three points in the game, but he had two huge blocks in the final minutes.

But, aside from the shooting of Harris, perhaps the biggest contribution of the game came from senior forward Newton Gayle, although you couldn't tell by his line: zero points, one rebound, no field goals. Gayle had surgery on his left knee in early November this season, and that limited him to just four games played.

For the first two games of the tournament he was Mount St. Mary's biggest cheerleader, not playing and saving himself for a possible championship game. And with Whitaker and Konata Springer both getting into foul trouble (both eventually fouled out), it was Gayle -- with his left knee heavily bandaged -- who provided a big body and toughness when the team needed it.

In two regular-season games, only six points separated the two teams. Mount St. Mary's knew going into last night that, in order to win, the team had to contain Central Connecticut freshman center Corsley Edwards (Lake Clifton).

And that meant a solid effort from 6-foot-10 Whitaker, who started the game strong with nice post moves as he scored four of the Mount's first eight points.

After Central Connecticut tied the game at 33 early in the second half on a layup by Edwards, the Mount scored the next nine points on a three-pointer by Balgac and layups by Harris, Springer and Bethel (15 points).

After Bethel's score gave the Mount a 42-34 lead with 15: 44 left, Edwards had to leave the game after turning his right ankle. Edwards, who burned UMBC for 23 points and 13 rebounds in Central Connecticut's 82-72 semifinal victory, was held to 12 points last night.

"I wanted to be in the Dance. I grew up in ACC country," said Whitaker, who is from Raleigh, N.C. "That's all you hear -- NCAA this and NCAA that. This is all I could ask for. That was my main focus, to get to the Big Dance."

His effort helped Phelan get his 800th win, and the coach finally acknowledged last night that -- considering the circumstances -- it was special.

"1995 [the Mount's last NCAA team] was a great team," Phelan said. "But the combination of the two -- going to the NCAA tournament and winning 800 -- makes this just a little bit bigger."

NOTE: Whitaker joined Harris on the all-tournament team, along with Edwards, UMBC's Terence Ward, Central Connecticut's Charron Watson and Ray Minlend of St. Francis.

Pub Date: 3/02/99