College Basketball Roundup : Kentucky Slows the Pace and Beats LSU, 53-43

When Kentucky shifted gears Thursday, it threw LSU out of sync and out of the Southeastern Conference lead.

The Wildcats used the 45-second shot clock for as long as they could against the Tigers, who average 79 points a game, and came away with a 53-43 victory.

“We realized we didn’t want to get into a running game,” Kentucky’s Kenny Walker said. “They could run all day. We had to keep control of the tempo.”

Walker scored 21 points and grabbed six rebounds to help make the strategy work.

Kentucky snapped a three-game losing streak and ended LSU’s winning streak at three.

“We continue to struggle on the road,” LSU Coach Dale Brown said, noting that his team is 3-5 in away games. “They closed practice yesterday. So evidently they made 900 passes in practice.”

Whatever the Wildcats did, it paid off.

The LSU players agreed that the slow pace took them out of their game.

“It might have taken out some of our intensity,” Nikita Wilson said. “We go on the road and it’s like dead action.”

Kentucky had breezed to a 25-16 lead by halftime, but LSU went on a 15-6 run in the next 11 minutes to tie it, 31-31 with 8:54 to play.

LSU trailed by only two a minute later, but Walker hit a 6-footer, Bret Bearup added a free throw and Walker scored again to make it 40-33 as the Tigers went more than 3 1/2 minutes without a point.

After that, LSU could get no closer than five points as Kentucky went to the free-throw line and made 9 of 12 shots in the final 1:51.

Wilson had 14 points and five rebounds for the Tigers before fouling out.

Michigan State 77, Wisconsin 68--Scott Skiles and Sam Vincent scored 29 points each to carry the Spartans to a Big Ten victory over the Badgers as Madison, Wis.

Michigan (13-5, 4-4) built a 38-24 halftime lead, but the Badgers climbed within 49-46 midway through the second half before the Wolverines pulled away for good.

Rick Olson and Scott Roth scored 24 points each for Wisconsin (10-8, 1-7), which lost its seventh straight game.

Michigan 76, Northwestern 52--Roy Tarpley scored 16 points and the Wolverines remained tied with Iowa for the Big Ten lead by routing the Wildcats at Evanston, Ill.

The Wolverines (15-3, 6-2) built a 37-27 halftime lead by shooting 67% from the field and hit their first four shots of the second half for a 45-27 lead.

Reserve Shon Morris scored 17 points for Northwestern (1-7, 5-13).

Ohio State 76, Minnesota 62--Brad Sellers and Clarence McGee each scored 15 points as the Buckeyes turned back the Gophers for a Big Ten victory at Columbus, Ohio.

The Buckeyes (13-4, 5-3) scored the first four points of the second half to take an 11-point lead and never led by less than nine the rest of way. Ohio State built the lead as high as 20 points several times.

Marc Wilson scored 17 points for Minnesota (11-7, 4-4).

Wichita State 88, Indiana State 72--Xavier McDaniel, the nation’s second-leading scorer, was held to 10 points in the first half but had 21 after intermission to lead the Shockers to a Missouri Valley Conference victory over the Sycamores at Terre Haute, Ind.

The 6-8 senior forward, averaging 27.4 points a game, picked up three fouls in the first half as the Shockers (11-8, 7-1) held a 41-38 lead at the intermission. John Sherman Williams scored 25 points for Indiana State (10-8, 3-6), which lost its fifth straight game.

Holy Cross 102, Iona 85--Jim McCaffrey scored a Metro-Atlantic Conference record 46 points at Worcester, Mass., and the Crusaders (5-14, 4-3) upset the Gaels (17-2, 5-1), who came into the game with the best record in the country.

Dominion 59, Alabama Birmingham 58--Kenny Gattison scored 21 points, including the winning basket with three seconds left, as the Monarchs (12-6, 6-2) upset the Blazers (18-5, 7-1) in a Sun Belt Conference game at Birmingham, Ala.

San Diego State 77, BYU 71--Leonard Allen scored four of his 29 points in the final 3:12 as the Aztecs (16-4, 7-2) finished with an 11-4 burst that turned back the Cougars (12-8, 6-3) in a Western Athletic Conference game at Provo, Utah.

West Virginia 76, Rutgers 71--Holman Harley hit a three-point field goal to force overtime, and Aundrae Davis scored all five of his points from the free throw line in the extra period give the Mountaineers (12-6, 8-1) an Atlantic 10 victory over the Scarlet Knights at Piscataway, N.J.

Louisiana Tech 80, Arkansas State 73--Karl Malone, held to five points in the first half, scored 21 in the second half and the Bulldogs (17-2, 4-1) rallied to beat the Indians (8-9, 2-3) in a Southland Conference game at Ruston, La.