College Basketball Roundup : Louisville Starts Hot, Stays Hot

Louisville Coach Denny Crum said he was scared to death at the half of Monday night’s Metro Conference game against Southern Mississippi.

“I saw the stats and we were shooting 68% and only had a four-point lead and I said, ‘Oh, no, here we go again,’ ” Crum said.

But the way Louisville went in the second half wasn’t as Crum feared, as Billy Thompson led four players in double figures with 19 points to give Louisville a 88-71 victory at Louisville, Ky.

Thompson took advantage of a smaller Southern Mississippi team to work free on the inside. As a team, Louisville shot 60% for the game.

Louisville improved its record to 13-12 overall and 4-6; Southern Mississippi is 7-18 and 3-9.

Memphis State 99, South Carolina 75--Senior forward Keith Lee had 28 points and 13 rebounds as the Tigers (20-2) romped in a Metro Conference game at Memphis. The 6-foot-10 Lee, who was averaging 21.3 points-per-game, had nine points in the first half, then led a Tiger assault with 12 straight points--four field goals and four free throws--in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

The victory avenged Memphis State’s only Metro loss of the season. South Carolina is 14-9 and 5-5 in the Metro.

Notre Dame 61, Loyola of Maryland 60--Ken Barlow scored 14 points as Notre Dame led the entire game but had to hold on for the victory at South Bend, Ind.

The victory boosted Notre Dame to 15-7, while the Greyhounds slipped to 13-12.

Wichita State 95, Drake 77--Xavier McDaniel had 31 points and 11 rebounds and Aubrey Sherrod added 26 points as the Shockers won a Missouri Valley Conference game at Des Moines, Iowa. Wichita State has won the last fifteen meetings against the Bulldogs.

McDaniel, who leads the nation in rebounding and is second in scoring, hit for 19 points in the second half while Sherrod added 20 after intermission.

Wichita State is 14-11 and 10-4 in the MVC; Drake is 11-14 and 3-11.

Fordham 74, Army 65--In the resumption of a game in New York that was interrupted Feb. 5 by a telephoned bomb threat, Fordham won a Metro Atlantic Conference game.

The bomb threat had stopped the game at the Rose Hill Gymnasium with Fordham leading, 26-23, with four minutes remaining in the first half. When the game resumed Monday night, each team scored five points before the halftime break.

In the second half, Fordham (17-8, 9-4) pulled away as Tony McIntosh scored 12 of his 22 points. The Cadets fell to 13-11 and 7-7.

Before the game resumed Monday night, Fordham security officers, New York City police and a bomb-sniffing dog searched the building.

The crowd apparently was not daunted by the threat. Whereas some 1,500 attended the first game, about 2,000 were at Monday’s game.

Providence 74, Seton Hall 73--Junior guard Harold Sparks scored 14 points, including two free throws with nine seconds remaining, as the Friars won a Big East Conference game at Providence, R.I.

The Friars are 10-17 overall and 3-11 in the Big East. The Pirates dropped to 9-16 overall, 0-14 in the conference.