North Carolina Moves Out of Arena and Into First Place in ACC

North Carolina said goodby to Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill, N.C., Saturday and hello to first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Junior center Brad Daugherty scored 18 points and hauled down a career-high 16 rebounds as the Tar Heels, ranked 13th in the Associated Press poll and 15th in the United Press International poll, defeated Clemson, 84-50, in the final game in the 10,000-seat arena.

The Tar Heels are moving to a new arena next season.

The victory, coupled with Georgia Tech’s 67-62 loss to Duke, left the Tar Heels (21-5 overall, 8-4 in the conference) in first place by a half-game. North Carolina State is 7-4, and the Yellow Jackets are 8-5. North Carolina State plays Virginia today.

Duke 67, Georgia Tech 62--David Henderson scored 23 points as the Blue Devils (20-5, 7-5) won an ACC game at Durham, N.C. The Yellow Jackets are 19-6, 8-5.

Mark Price scored 26 points for Georgia Tech, which is ranked eighth and ninth in the wire-service polls. Duke, ranked fifth and sixth, led at halftime, 28-26.

Georgetown 68, Connecticut 47--Second-ranked Georgetown, which faces No. 1 St. John’s on Wednesday, had little trouble scoring a Big East win at Hartford, Conn., before 15,673, the largest crowd to ever watch a college basketball game in New England.

After guard Reggie Williams scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Hoyas (25-2, 12-2), Coach John Thompson said: “Now it’s time to sit down and discuss St. John’s.”

Georgetown center Patrick Ewing scored only eight points but blocked three shots, grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and forced the Huskies (12-13, 5-9) to rush shots and take them from longer range than usual.

Kansas 82, Oklahoma 76--Ron Kellogg scored 34 points as the Jayhawks, ranked 13th by UPI and 15th by AP, defeated the Sooners in a Big Eight game at Lawrence, Kan.

The Sooners, ranked third and fifth, had won 12 straight games and a record 24 straight in conference play.

The Sooners (22-5, 11-1) got 17 points from Wayman Tisdale. Kellogg, a 6-5 junior forward, hit 14 of 19 field-goal attempts for the Jayhawks (22-6, 9-3). He scored 22 points in the second half.

Kellogg also had 34 points in a 75-71 win over Memphis State two weeks ago.

Michigan 75, Michigan State 73--Antoine Joubert scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half at East Lansing, Mich., to give the Wolverines, ranked third and sixth, their 12th straight victory.

The Spartans, who got 34 points from Sam Vincent, had trailed by 10 points, 62-52, but pulled to within two at 75-73 with 13 seconds left. Then after Michigan freshman Gary Grant missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw, Scott Skiles missed a 30-footer at the buzzer.

Joubert, a 6-5 sophomore guard, didn’t start because he was disciplined by Coach Bill Frieder for missing a practice last week. Guard Garde Thompson started in his place and scored a career-high 14 points.

Michigan is now 21-3 overall, 12-2 in the Big Ten. The Spartans are 16-8, 7-7.

Ohio State 72, Illinois 64--Brad Sellers scored 28 points to lead the Buckeyes in a Big Ten game at Columbus, Ohio. Sellers, a 7-foot center, scored only six points in an 84-64 loss to Illinois earlier this season.

The Buckeyes (17-7, 9-5) are in second place in the conference. Michigan is in first, while the Illini (21-8, 9-6) are tied for third with Purdue.

Northwestern 78, Iowa 58--Andre Goode scored a season-high 23 points and Elliot Fullen added 19 to lead the Wildcats to a Big Ten upset victory at Evanston, Ill. Northwestern (6-19, 2-13) had lost 14 straight to the Hawkeyes (19-8, 8-6). It was the worst loss of the year for Iowa, ranked 14th and 16th in the polls.

Iowa went nearly eight minutes without a basket in the first half and trailed, 32-24, at halftime.

SMU 64, Texas 60--The Mustangs, ranked eighth and ninth, hit 13 straight free throws in the second half, including 11 straight in the final 2:34, to win a Southwest Conference game at Dallas.

Jon Koncak, wearing a patch over his left eye after suffering a first-half cut that required three stitches to close, scored 18 points and hauled down 13 rebounds for SMU (21-6, 10-4). Texas is 14-11, 7-8.

Koncak suffered his injury just 2:42 into the game, a gash above his left eye. After the stitches, he made his return a dramatic one, taking a feed from Carl Wright and slamming down a dunk.

SMU led, 29-22, at halftime and missed only one free throw in the second half. The Mustangs have won 15 straight at home.

Memphis State 81, Virginia Commonwealth 73--Keith Lee scored 23 points and guard Andre Turner added 19 as the Tigers (22-2) won at Memphis, Tenn. Virginia Commonwealth is now 21-5.

The Tigers scored 13 straight points to build a 15-2 lead in the first six minutes of the game and led, 41-30, at the half.

Virginia Commonwealth cut the lead to 59-57 with 7:20 remaining, but Tiger reserve guard John Wilfong came off the bench to hit two free throws, two 18-foot jumpers and another 15-footer to help give Memphis State a six-point advantage.

LSU 61, Florida 59--Jerry Reynolds got loose for a breakaway dunk with 10 seconds left to give the Tigers a Southeastern Conference win at Gainesville, Fla. LSU trailed by as many as seven points in the second half.

John Williams, who left the court in the first half with a sprained ankle, came back to score 14 points for the Tigers, 10 in the second half. Derrick Taylor scored a game-high 16 points for the Tigers (17-8, 11-5). Florida is 16-9, 8-8.

The victory put the Tigers a half-game ahead of Georgia and Kentucky, who are both 10-5 and face each other today.

Pitt 58, Boston College 55--Freshman Charles Smith, who scored 23 points, hit a short jumper with 16 seconds left and added two free throws 15 seconds later as the Panthers defeated the Eagles in a Big East game at Pittsburgh. The Panthers are now 16-8, 7-7, BC 18-8, 7-8.

South Alabama 80, Alabama Birmingham 68--Terry Catledge scored 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as South Alabama upset the Blazers in a Sun Belt Conference game at Mobile, Ala. Catledge became South Alabama’s all-time scoring leader with 1,821 points, and the first conference player to pass the 900 career rebound mark with 902.

South Alabama is now 14-12, 6-8, Alabama Birmingham 23-7, 11-3.

Wichita State 75, Bradley 65--Xavier McDaniel scored 33 points and grabbed a season-high 22 rebounds to lead the Shockers in a Missouri Valley Conference game at Wichita.

The Shockers (15-11, 11-4) trail Tulsa by 1 1/2 games in the conference race. Bradley is 14-11, 7-7.

Notre Dame 67, BYU 58--Freshman David Rivers scored 24 points and Scott Hicks added 19 as the Irish (17-7) won at South Bend, Ind. Timo Saarelainen, averaging 23 points a game, scored just 10 for BYU (15-11).

Colorado State 78, San Diego State 72--The Rams, getting 20 points apiece from Rich Strong and Todd Benn, upset the Aztecs in a Western Athletic Conference game at Fort Collins, Colo. The Aztecs are now 21-7, 11-5. The Rams, who led at the half, 34-28, are 15-11, 7-7.