College Basketball Roundup : North Carolina St. Beats Virginia, Ties North Carolina for ACC Lead

Lorenzo Charles sank a pair of free throws with four seconds remaining Sunday as North Carolina State’s Wolfpack overcame a 12-point deficit in the final 13 minutes to beat Virginia’s Cavaliers, 57-55, in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Charlottesville, Va.

N.C. State (18-7, 8-4), winning at Virginia for the first time in eight years, tied North Carolina for the ACC lead with its sixth-straight victory.

Charles, scoreless in the first half and held to only eight points in the game, got a chance to win the game when Spud Webb penetrated the Virginia defense and fed Charles, who was fouled by Tom Sheehey.

Virginia (15-12, 3-9) called time out after Charles’ free throws, but Thomas Calloway’s 30-footer at the buzzer rimmed out and the Cavaliers had their four-game winning streak snapped.

Terry Gannon scored 13 points for the Wolfpack, while Ernie Myers added 11 and Webb 10. Jim Miller had 14 points for Virginia.

Virginia built a 37-25 halftime lead and was ahead, 49-37, when Miller scored from the baseline with 12:42 left. Over the next eight minutes, State outscored the Cavaliers, 16-2. Webb pulled the Wolfpack even at 51, with a jumper at 5:30, and Charles scored at 4:33 to give State a 53-51 edge.

Virginia, which scored only one field goal in the final 12 minutes, pulled even at 53 and 55 on four free throws by Calloway.

After Gannon missed a long jumper with 1:17 left, Virginia had a chance to regain the lead. The Cavaliers ran the shot clock down to five seconds before Calloway missed from the corner and Nate McMillan rebounded, giving State its chance.

Georgia 79, Kentucky 77--Horace McMillan tipped in a missed free throw with 18 seconds left, and the Bulldogs beat the Wildcats for the first time at Lexington, Ky., since 1923 to move back into a tie with LSU for the Southeastern Conference lead.

Georgia (19-7, 11-5) twice trailed by 11 points in the second half, and was down, 63-53, when Kenny Walker scored for Kentucky (15-10, 10-6) with 9:15 to play.

The Bulldogs outscored Kentucky, 20-8, in the next six minutes to go ahead, 73-71, when Gerald Crosby hit a 22-foot shot with 3:21 left.

McMillan, who finished with 13 points, made the key plays from there, hitting twice from the left corner and then tipping in Crosby’s missed free throw.

Walker scored 25 points for Kentucky and Joe Ward had 18 for the Bulldogs.

Rice 71, Arkansas 68--Greg Hines, who scored 25 points, made two free throws with 14 seconds remaining at Houston, and the Owls knocked the Razorbacks out of the Southwest Conference regular-season championship race.

Arkansas (18-11, 9-6) beat Rice (11-14, 3-11) 20 consecutive years in Houston before losing the past two years.

Hines scored 14 points in the first 10 minutes as Rice built a 13-point lead, which Arkansas sliced to 39-33 at the half.

The Owls quickly rebuilt their 13-point lead, but Arkansas went on a 15-3 streak and climbed within one midway through the second half.

Tony Barnett, who scored 23 points, made a dunk with 1:02 left that boosted the Owls to a five-point lead. Arkansas got back to within three and had the ball with 20 seconds to play, but Barnett intercepted a pass and six seconds later Hines was fouled.

Joe Kleine, the SWC’s leading scorer, could not manage a field goal in the first half but came back to finish with 18 points.

Maryland 69, Wake Forest 66--The Terrapins made six free throws in the final 1:31, the last three by Tom (Speedy) Jones to hold off the Demon Deacons in an ACC game at College Park, Md.

Maryland (21-10, 6-6) led, 50-37, with 11:29 left before Kenny Green sparked a comeback which pulled the Deacons (14-11, 4-8) to within 63-62 with 1:51 left.

But the Terrapins, who had only one field goal in the final 8:30, clinched the victory by making 12-of-18 free throws down the stretch.

Adrian Branch scored 18 points for the Terrapins, and Green had 24 for Wake Forest.

Wisconsin 65, Minnesota 61--Rick Olson scored 28 points, including four free throws in the final minutes, to push the Badgers past the Gophers in a Big Ten game at Madison, Wis.

Tommy Davis scored 19 points for the Gophers (13-11, 6-8) and Scott Roth had 18 for Wisconsin (13-12, 4-11).