College Basketball Roundup : Georgetown Escapes in Overtime, 52-50

There are many reasons why Georgetown is the No. 1 team in the nation. For sure, defense is one them.

The Hoyas’ defense helped erase an eight-point second-half deficit against Villanova Saturday and also shackled the Wildcats in overtime to enable Georgetown to escape with a 52-50 victory in a Big East game at Philadelphia’s Spectrum.

Reggie Williams scored four points in overtime and David Wingate added two free throws with 12 seconds left to play to lift the Hoyas, 15-0 overall and 4-0 in the conference.

Villanova, ranked 16th by Associated Press and 20th by United Press International, is now 9-3 and 2-2. The Wildcats led, 36-28, with 9:35 remaining in regulation.

“I’m very proud of the fact that when we were behind, our guys gutted it out,” Georgetown Coach John Thompson said after his team’s second overtime game in eight days. The other was an 82-80 win over Boston College.

Against Villanova, the Hoyas shot only 28% from the field in the first half and turned the ball over 10 times against the Wildcats’ hustling zone. The Wildcats led, 27-19, at halftime.

Villanova’s Dwayne McClain led all scorers with 18 points. Wingate was the Hoyas’ top scorer with 11 points, while Patrick Ewing managed 10.

Notre Dame 63, Marquette 62--Notre Dame freshman David Rivers hit a baseline jumper at the final buzzer as the Irish won at Milwaukee.

Rivers, who finished with a game-high 24 points, took the inbounds pass from Tim Kempton with six seconds to go and drove the length of the floor, stopping to the left side of the basket to put up the winning basket as time expired.

Rivers had three defenders on him during the six-second dash that spoiled a furious comeback by Marquette.

The Irish, who made 27 of 31 foul shots to only 12 of 16 for the Warriors, led, 57-46, with 5:36 left to play. But over the next two minutes, Marquette scored nine straight points to cut the margin to 57-55, and it was close after that.

Kempton scored 14 points for Notre Dame (7-3). Marquette is now 8-5. DePaul 69, Houston 58--Marty Embry scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, both game-highs, to lead the Blue Demons at Rosemont, Ill. Embry, who fouled out with 2:31 left in the game, scored 11 points in the first half, including six straight during a key 12-2 DePaul run early in the game.

The Blue Demons are now 10-3 and have won 34 straight at home. Houston is 10-4.

Alabama 60, Kentucky 58--Jim Farmer’s layup with 12 seconds remaining at Tuscaloosa, Ala., clinched the victory for the Crimson Tide.

Terry Coner led Alabama (11-3 overall and 3-2 in the Southeastern Conference) with 16 points and eight assists. Kenny Walker had 25 points for Kentucky (8-5 and 3-2).

Indiana 90, Wisconsin 68--Steve Alford scored 20 points as the Hoosiers, ranked 11th in both polls, won at Bloomington, Ind. Marty Simmons (I) 15, Winston Morgan (I) 14; Rick Olson (W) 20.

The Hoosiers are now 11-3 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten. Wisconsin is 10-3 and 1-2. Minnesota 65, Iowa 57--Tommy Davis scored 18 points to lead the Gophers to the Big Ten upset over the Hawkeyes at Minneapolis.

Davis was also the star of Minnesota’s upset victory over Illinois 10 days ago, scoring on a breakaway layup with three seconds left.

Against Iowa, the Gophers led by only six points with less than four minutes to go when backup guard Marc Wilson stole a pass, spurted down court and blew an easy layup. But Davis was a step behind to grab the rebound, score a layup and draw a foul--turning a goof into a three-point play.

Minnesota is now 9-4 overall, while Iowa dropped to 13-3. Both teams are 2-1 in the Big Ten.

Michigan 81, Purdue 65--Michigan Coach Bill Frieder said his Wolverines, lead by Roy Tarpley with 23 points and 10 rebounds, played a near-perfect second half to shake off the Boilermakers in a Big Ten game at West Lafayette, Ind.

Michigan is now 10-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference. Purdue is 10-4 and 1-3.

Illinois 75, Michigan State 63--Anthony Welch scored 23 points to lead the Illini at Champaign, Ill. The Illini, ranked 15th and 16th, are now 13-4 and 2-2 in the Big Ten. The Spartans are 12-2 and 3-1. The Illini’s Bruce Douglas had 14 points, while Sam Vincent had 20 for Michigan State.

Ohio State 79, Northwestern 59--The second-half outside shooting of Troy Taylor, who scored 17 points, helped the Buckeyes pull away at Columbus, Ohio. The Buckeyes are now 10-3 and 2-2 in the Big Ten. The Wildcats are 4-9 and 0-3. Ohio State’s Brad Sellers had 13 points, despite missing 10 of his first 12 shots.

San Diego State 89, BYU 70--Center Leonard Allen and guard Anthony Watson scored 20 points each to lead the Aztecs at San Diego. The Aztecs (12-2 and 4-0 in the Western Athletic Conference) were aided by 20 turnovers by the Cougars (7-7 and 1-2). Memphis State 82, Southern Mississippi 60--Keith Lee scored 22 points and grabbed 19 rebounds as the Tigers, ranked fifth and sixth, romped at Memphis. Southern Mississippi Coach M. K. Turk said: “Keith Lee was again nothing short of sensational.”

His final bucket of the game made him the first Tiger ever to go over the 2,000-point career mark. William Bedford also added 14 points.

Memphis State is now 11-1 overall and 1-1 in the Metro Conference. The Golden Eagles are 4-10 and 0-1. Louisville 63, Florida State 62--Louisville’s Herbert Crook hit a jump shot with three seconds left at Tallahassee, Fla., to give the Cardinals a Metro Conference victory. Louisville’s Jeff Hall had 16, while Florida State’s Randy Allen and Maurice Myrick had 12 each. The Cardinals are now 9-4 overall and 2-0 in the conference. The Seminoles are 7-5 and 0-2.

The injury-riddled Cardinals trailed the Seminoles for much of the game, falling behind by as many as 14 points. But after a brawl with 10 minutes left led to the disqualification of four players, the Cardinals started coming back. Louisville lost Manuel Forrest and Mark McSwain, but Florida State lost its leader, 6-10 center Alton Gipson.

Alabama Birmingham 58, South Florida 52--Jerome Mincy tossed in five of The Blazers’ 11 free throws in the last two minutes at Tampa, Fla. Mincy finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. The Blazers are now 13-4 overall and 2-0 in the Sun Belt Conference. South Florida is 9-4 and 0-2.

LSU 75, Tennessee 65--The Tigers trailed by 11 points in the second half before reeling off 14 straight points to take a 44-41 lead on a jumper by John Williams at Baton Rogue, La. Jerry Reynolds had 13 points and 14 rebounds for LSU, and Nikita Wilson added 16. The Tigers are 10-3 overall and 4-2 in the SEC, the Vols 11-6 and 2-2. Boston College 69, Seton Hall 66--Michael Adams scored six of his 24 points in the final two minutes at Boston to lead the Eagles (11-2 overall and 2-2 in the Big East). The Pirates (9-5 and 0-3) rallied from a 15-point first-half deficit to close within one at 63-62 with 2:33 left when freshman Martin Smalley completed a three-point play.

Arkansas 64, Texas 58--At Fayetteville, Ark., center Joe Kleine scored 32 points to lead the Razorbacks, who held off a late Longhorn rally in a Southwest Conference game. The Razorbacks led, 38-24, at halftime as Kleine hits 7 of 7 field-goal attempts and 6 of 6 foul shots in the first half.

Arkansas is now 12-4 overall and 3-4 in the Southwest Conference. Texas is 9-5 and 2-2. Oklahoma 98, NW Louisiana St. 62--The Sooners’ Wayman Tisdale became the Big Eight’s all-time leading scorer in this nonconference game at Norman, Okla. Tisdale entered the game needing six points to break the record of 2,115 points set in 1975-78 by Mike Evans of Kansas State. He scored 21.

Pete Maravich, who played at Louisiana State, holds the NCAA career scoring record of 3,667 points. Tisdale now has 2,131 points.

The Sooners are now 11-4, while the Demons of the Gulf Star Conference are 1-13. Shawn Clark (O) 19, Tim McCalister (O) 16.

North Carolina 65, Virginia 61--The Tar Heels’ Buzz Peterson made only one shot, but it snapped a 59-59 tie with a minute remaining at Charlottesville, Va. “Peterson’s shot was a big shot,” Tar Heel Coach Dean Smith said. “That really gave us a lift. He only took one other shot, and it’s hard to make shots when you haven’t been in the game.”

With 19 seconds left, North Carolina’s Curtis Hunter got free for a dunk to make it 63-59.

North Carolina (12-1 overall and 3-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference), got 16 points from Kenny Smith and 12 from Brad Daugherty. Leading Virginia (7-7 and 0-4) was sophomore Olden Polynice with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

The Cavaliers played without starting point guard Tim Mullen, who was suffering from back pains.

Louisiana Tech 76, Texas Arlington 65--Louisiana Tech, led by guard Wayne Smith’s 18 points, come from behind to win at Arlington, Tex. Tech, ranked 13th and 14th, is now 13-1 and 1-0 in the Southland Conference. Arlington is 8-6 and 0-1.

Louisiana Tech trailed by three points with four minutes left, but then outscored the Mavericks, 18-7. Willie Simmons (LT) 14, Godbolt (LT) 13; Dennis Kwiecinski (TA) 17.

Rutgers 88, Penn State 71--At University Park, Pa., John Battle, the Atlantic 10’s leading scorer with a 24-point average, scored 27 points to lead the Scarlet Knights (7-5 overall and 3-1 in the Atlantic 10). Craig Collins scored 24 for Penn State (4-7 and 0-3). St. Joseph’s 76, St. Bonaventure 56--Freshman center Rodney Blake’s career-high 24 points led St. Joseph’s at Olean, N.Y. Elmer Anderson (B) 20. St. Joe’s is now 5-7 overall and 1-3 in the Atlantic 10. The Bonnies are 8-4 and 2-1.

Syracuse 71, Providence 63--The Orangemen, ranked seventh and eighth in the polls, had to come from behind to win at Providence. The Orangemen, trailing 45-47 midway through the second half, outscored Providence, 18-6, to take a 55-51 lead with 7:58 left.

Syracuse is now 10-1 overall and 2-1 in the Big East. Providence is 8-7 and 1-3. Rafael Addison (S) 19, Ron Seikaly (S) 15, Michael Brown (S) 14; Don Brown (P) 16. East Tennessee 94, The Citadel 90--Mark Watkins hit two free throws in the final seconds of overtime at Johnson City, Tenn., to give East Tennessee its first victory since the team was involved in a plane crash in December. East Tennessee is 3-8 overall and 1-3 in the Southern Conference. The Citadel is 7-5 and 1-1.

Georgia 80, Vanderbilt 73--Freshman center Cedric Henderson, making his first college start, scored 26 points, 18 in the second half, and as the Bulldogs held off a late Vanderbilt surge at Athens, Ga. It was the first Southeastern Conference victory for Georgia (9-4 overall and 1-3 in the conference). Vanderbilt fell to 8-5 and 1-3.

West Virginia 82, Massachusetts 59--Guard J.J. Crawl had a game-high 18 points as the Mountaineers capitalized on sloppy Massachusetts ball-handling in an Atlantic 10 game at Morgantown, W.Va. The Mountaineers are now 7-5 and 3-2, the Minutemen 4-8 and 1-3.

New Mexico 91, Air Force 50--Johnny Brown scored 28 points to lead the Lobos (10-5 overall and 3-1 in the Western Athletic Conference) at Albuquerque, N.M. The Falcons are now 4-9 and 0-4.

Wake Forest 83, Clemson 61--Delaney Rudd scored 24 points and Kenny Green 19 to lead the Demon Deacons (10-4 overall and 2-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) at Winston-Salem, N.C. The Tigers are now 9-4 and 1-2.