College Basketball Roundup : LSU Blows It Against Georgia, and Williams Takes the Blame

LSU was leading by one point and had possession of the ball with one second left in its Southeastern Conference game against Georgia Saturday at Baton Rouge, La. It appeared the Tigers had the victory wrapped up.

But freshman John Williams, two-time Los Angeles City Player of the Year from Crenshaw High, threw an inbounds pass the length of the court and out of bounds. Then Georgia freshman Cedric Henderson, taking the inbounds pass from Melvin Howard under his own basket, hit a short turnaround jumper as time ran out, giving the Bulldogs the win, 59-58.

“As far as strange games go, this has got to be at the top,” Georgia Coach Hugh Durham said. A dejected Williams said: “I consider it as my loss.”

The Tigers hadn’t lost at home this season. They are now 13-6 overall and 7-5 in the SEC. Georgia is 14-5, 6-4.

Henderson led all scorers with 21 points and led all rebounders with nine. Williams and Nikita Wilson each had 17 points for the Tigers.

Indiana 89, Minnesota 66--Uwe Blab scored 26 points and Steve Alford 24 at Bloomington, Ind., as the Hoosiers snapped their four-game Big Ten losing streak. The Hoosiers (12-7, 4-5) shot 84% in the first half to build a 57-24 lead. The Gophers, losing their sixth in a row to Indiana, dropped to 11-8, 4-5.

Blab, a 7-foot-2 senior from West Germany, hit 10 of 10 shots in the first half. He scored 16 of Indiana’s first 26 points.

“Our defense was the second-best we’ve played this year,” said Indiana Coach Bob Knight, who had benched all his upperclassmen except for Blab at Illinois last Sunday in an effort to jolt the team into more inspired play.

Despite losing to Illinois, 52-41, Knight said in that game that his team played “the best defense we’ve played in two years. Our defense in these last two games is a carryover from the Illinois game.” Indiana lost to Iowa, 72-59, Thursday night.

Michigan 94, Wisconsin 81--Antoine Joubert scored 24 points and Roy Tarpley 22 at Madison, Wis., as the Wolverines, ranked 10th and 11th, improved to 16-3 overall and 7-2 in the Big Ten. Wisconsin is 10-9 and 1-8. Gary Grant (M) 16 points; Scott Roth (W) 22, John Ploss (W) a career-high 21. Joubert, a 6-5 sophomore from Detroit, made 11 of 13 field-goal attempts.

Iowa 67, Ohio State 58--The Hawkeyes swept its Indiana-Ohio State road swing for the first time in Big Ten history as Greg Stokes scored 20 points and had 12 rebounds at Columbus, Ohio.

Iowa, 13-15 a year ago, is 18-4 overall and 7-2 in the conference, where its shares first place with Michigan.

Jeff Moe, starting in place of injured Todd Berkenpas, scored 18 points for Iowa. Ronnie Stokes, hitting from the outside, scored 24 points for Buckeyes (13-5, 5-4), who lost at home for the first time in 10 games this season.

Michigan St. 68, Northwestern 54--Scott Skiles had 17 points and Sam Vincent had 16 to lead a balanced Spartan attack in a Big Ten game at Evanston, Ill. Michigan State is 14-5, 5-4; Northwestern 5-14, 1-8.

Georgia Tech 72, Maryland 60--Yvon Joseph, 6-11 center from Haiti, scored 20 points, had seven rebounds and held Atlantic Coast Conference scoring leader Len Bias to 14 points as the Yellow Jackets won at College Park, Md.

Joseph came into the game averaging 11 points. Afterward, he said: “This definitely was my best game of the season.” Maryland Coach Lefty Driesell said: “If Joseph played against us every night, he would be the No. 1 draft choice. We tried everybody on him and could not defense him.”

Georgia Tech, ranked eighth and ninth in the wire-service polls, is 16-4 overall and 5-3 in the ACC. Maryland, ranked 17th in both polls, is 17-6 and 4-2. Mark Price (GT) 16 points; Adrian Branch (M) 20.

Wake Forest 91, North Carolina St. 64--Tyrone (Muggsy) Bogues, a 5-3 guard, led the Demon Deacons in this ACC game at Greensboro, N.C. The tiny sophomore scored 20 points, passed for 11 assists and made four steals while winning his matchup against the Wolfpack’s 5-7 Anthony (Spud) Webb, who hit two dunks in the closing minutes to finish with 18 points.

Top scorer for Wake Forest (13-6, 4-3) was Kenny Green with 21 points. Delaney Rudd had 16 for the Wolfpack (12-7, 4-4). Terry Gannon (NCS) 14, Lorenzo Charles (NCS) 11.

St. John’s 97, Connecticut 64--Walter Berry scored a career-high 29 points as No. 1-ranked St. John’s won easily in a Big East Conference game at Madison Square Garden. St. John’s is 17-1, 9-0; Connecticut is 8-10, 3-6. Chris Mullin (SJ) 20.

Memphis State 91, Virginia Tech 82--Keith Lee scored 25 points and had 12 rebounds as the third-ranked Tigers recorded their second Metro Conference victory over the Hokies in eight days. The Tigers are 17-1 overall and 7-1 in conference play. Tech is 14-5, 5-2.

Vincent Askew (MS) and William Bedford (MS) 18 point apiece, Baskerville Holmes (MS) 12; Perry Yount (VT) and Dell Curry (VT) 24 each; Keith Colbert and Bobby Beecher (VT) 17 each. Only four players scored for Virginia Tech.

Alabama Birmingham 81, South Alabama 73--Guard James Ponder scored 22 points, including six in overtime, to lead the Blazers in a Sun Belt Conference game at Birmingham, Ala. Ponder hit 9 of 15 shots from the field and 4 of 6 free throws. Alabama Birmingham, ranked 19th and 20th, is 19-5, 8-1; South Alabama 12-8, 4-4. Steve Mitchell (AB) 20, Jerome Mincy (AB) 17.

Louisville 77, DePaul 73--Junior guard Jeff Hall, shut down most of the game, hit eight of nine free throws in the final minute and a half as the Cardinals won at Louisville. Mark McSwain led Louisville (11-9) with 17 points. Dallas Comegys had 18 points for DePaul (14-5).

Oklahoma 83, Oklahoma State 81--Tim McCalister hit a 20-foot shot with two seconds left to give the Sooners the Big Eight win at Stillwater, Okla. McCalister hit seven of seven shots during a second-half comeback that erased a 10-point Cowboy lead.

Oklahoma’s victory tied the Big Eight record of 19 straight regular-season conference wins, set by Kansas State in 1958-60. The Sooners, ranked sixth and seventh, are 17-4 overall and 6-0 in the conference. Oklahoma State is 11-8, 2-4.

All-American center Wayman Tisdale scored 27 points for the Sooners. McCalister finished with 20. Oklahoma State was led by Joe Atkinson, who tied his career high with 30 points.

Iowa State 58, Kansas State 54--Barry Stevens scored 18 points to lead the Cyclones (16-6, 4-2) to a Big Eight win at Ames, Iowa.

For Kansas State (10-9, 1-5), it was the fifth loss in the six games since Coach Jack Hartman had a heart attack. Kansas State interim coach Darryl Winston benched starting guard Joe Wright, who scored 54 points in two games last week, for what Winston called a lack of effort. Winston also used leading scorer Tom Alfaro for only 24 minutes for the same reason. Alfaro scored just two points.

Kansas 91, Nebraska 80--Ron Kellogg had a career-high 39 points to lead the Jayhawks (17-4, 5-1) in a Big Eight game at Lincoln, Neb. The 39 points for Kellogg, an Omaha Northwest High School graduate, set a Bob DeVaney Sports Center record.

Kellogg, who hit on 16 of 19 shots in the game, had 22 points in the first half, but the Jayhawks led by only one, 40-39, at halftime. The Cornhuskers are now 13-6, 3-3.

Mississippi St. 48, Alabama 46--Jeff Norwood forced an Alabama turnover and hit a pair of free throws with two seconds remaining as the Bulldogs (11-8, 7-3) won at Starkville, Miss., to move into a tie for the Southeastern Conference lead with Florida. The Tide is 14-6, 6-5.

The Tide’s Terry Conner hit a 40-footer, but it came after the final buzzer.

Florida 93, Tennessee 86--Vernon Maxwell came off the bench to score 24 points and Eugene McDowell scored 23 points and hauled down 17 rebounds to lead the Gators (15-7, 6-4) in an SEC game at Knoxville, Tenn. It was the Gators’ first win in Knoxville since 1978. Tennessee is now 15-7, 6-4.

Kentucky 49, Auburn 47--Kenny Walker hit both ends of a one-and-one at the foul line with five seconds left in overtime to give Kentucky an SEC win at Auburn, Ala. The Wildcats are 11-8, 6-4. Auburn is 12-7, 4-6.

Indiana State 100, Tulsa 94--John Sherman Williams scored 31 points and Johnny Edwards 20 at Terre Haute, Ind., as the Sycamores ended the Hurricanes’ 14-game win straight with the upset Missouri Valley Conference victory. Tulsa, ranked 10th and 12th, is now 17-3, 8-1; Indiana State 11-8, 4-6. The Sycamores had lost their previous five games.

Wichita State 92, Southern Illinois 76--Xavier McDaniel scored 27 points and Aubrey Sherrod 26 to lead the Shockers in a Missouri Valley Conference game at Carbondale, Ill. The Shockers are 12-8, 8-1; Southern Illinois 10-10, 2-7.

Creighton 71, Bradley 68--Benoit Benjamin had 29 points, 12 rebounds and 12 blocked shots as Creighton won in overtime at Peoria, Ill. Creighton is 16-6 overall and 5-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Bradley is 11-8, 4-5.

BYU 66, Hawaii 60--Timo Saarelainen scored 26 points to lead Brigham Young in a Western Athletic Conference game at Provo, Utah. Saarelainen hit 14 of 19 shots as the Cougars improved to 13-8 overall and 7-3 in the WAC. Hawaii dropped to 5-15, 1-9.