College Basketball Roundup : St. John’s Is Champion of Big East, 72-53

St. John’s routed Providence, 72-53, Saturday at Madison Square Garden to win the Big East Conference regular-season championship.

“We won the pennant,” St. John’s Coach Lou Carnesecca said after the Redmen’s final regular-season game. “Today was the season. We didn’t want to back in.”

If St. John’s had lost, it still could have won the title if Georgetown lost to Syracuse today. It was the first outright Big East title for the Redmen, who were involved in three-way ties for the top spot in 1979-80 and again in 1982-83.

The Redmen (25-2 overall, 15-1 in the Big East) also clinched the top-seeded spot in next week’s Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden. They will face the winner of Wednesday night’s elimination game between Providence and Seton Hall the following evening.

Chris Mullin scored 18 points for the Redmen, and center Bill Wennington had 16 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Walter Berry added 16 points and freshman Shelton Jones a career-high 12 points--nine in the second half--along with seven rebounds.

Wennington and Ron Stewart carried Carnesecca from the locker room back to the court during a four-minute post-game ovation. It was St. John’s first game since Georgetown snapped the Redmen’s 19-game winning streak, 85-69, on Wednesday night.

Providence trailed, 51-46, with 6:23 remaining, but the Redmen ran off 14 straight points, seven by Jones, to take a 65-46 lead.

Providence (10-19, 3-13) was led by Ernie Lewis with 12 points.

Memphis St. 66, Louisville 59--At Memphis, Keith Lee, a 6-10 forward who holds all of Memphis State’s scoring and rebounding records, finished his regular-season career with 15 points and 12 rebounds to lead the fourth-ranked Tigers to their second win over the Cardinals this season.

Junior point guard Andre Turner added 14 points for the Metro Conference champion Tigers (24-3, 13-1).

Memphis State honored Lee in ceremonies before the nationally televised game by retiring his No. 24 jersey.

Jeff Hall scored 14 points for the Cardinals (15-15, 6-8), who finished the disappointing season on Coach Denny Crum’s 49th birthday.

N.C. State 66, Wake Forest 64--Anthony (Spud) Webb had three points and a steal in the last 31 seconds as the Wolfpack, ranked 16th and 19th, won at Raleigh, N.C., to take a share of first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Wolfpack (19-8, 9-5) are tied with Georgia Tech and North Carolina. A drawing will be held today to determine which team will be top seeded in next week’s ACC tournament.

North Carolina State trailed, 64-61, with 3:04 left. But the Wolfpack went ahead when Webb hit a short jumper with 24 seconds left. Webb then had his steal, was fouled and hit one of two free throws.

Kenny Green led Wake Forest (15-12, 5-9) with 20 points.

North Carolina 78, Duke 68--The Atlantic Coast Conference victory for the Tar Heels at Durham, N.C., left them tied for the conference championship with North Carolina State and Georgia Tech.

The ACC tournament, which begins Friday at Atlanta, determines the conference champion.

Center Brad Daugherty had 23 points and 12 rebounds as North Carolina (22-7 overall) ran its streak to 19 straight years of not finishing lower than second in the ACC. Duke (21-6, 8-6) got 25 points from Johnny Dawkins.

Michigan 87, Northwestern 66--Center Roy Tarpley had 21 points and 14 rebounds as the third-ranked Wolverines won at Ann Arbor, Mich. Richard Rellford added 19 points, hitting 6 of 9 field-goal attempts and 7 of 7 free throws.

The Wolverines (23-3, 14-2) clinched the Big Ten title last Thursday by beating Wisconsin, 88-68. Northwestern (6-21, 14-2) got 24 points from Andre Goode.

Illinois 86, Purdue 43--Ken Norman scored a career-high 25 points to lead the Illini at Champaign, Ill., as the Boilermakers suffered their worst defeat since a 98-54 loss to Illinois in 1948.

The Illini (22-8, 10-6) have won 22 straight at home. Purdue (18-8, 9-7) lost to Illinois by 24 points last season, but the Boilermakers routed the Illini, 54-34, in January.

Ohio State 78, Minnesota 77--Dennis Hopson scored on a rebound off a missed free throw with 1:02 left to play at Minneapolis as the Buckeyes (18-8, 10-6) held off the Gophers (13-13, 6-10). Hopson’s basket gave Ohio State a 77-75 lead. Troy Taylor scored 25 points for the Buckeyes.

Michigan St. 82, Wisconsin 63--Sam Vincent scored 27 points and backcourt mate Scott Skiles added 24 to lead the Spartans (18-8, 9-7) to a Big Ten win at East Lansing, Mich. The Badgers are 13-14, 4-13.

LSU 67, Kentucky 61--John Williams, two-time Los Angeles 4-A Player of the Year from Crenshaw High, scored 17 points and Jerry Reynolds got 13 of his 15 points in the second half at Baton Rogue, La., as the Tigers (19-8, 13-5) won the Southeastern Conference championship for the third time in six years. Kentucky (16-11, 11-7) got 22 points from Ed Davender.

Tennessee 86, Georgia 85--Tony White scored 27 points and made two free throws with nine seconds left at Knoxville, Tenn., as the Volunteers denied the Bulldogs of sharing the SEC title with LSU.

White and Michael Brooks combined for six free throws in the final 37 seconds to preserve what had been a 10-point lead. Brooks scored 20 points, and he hit 6 of 6 free throws to extend his school-record streak to 39 straight.

Georgia, ranked 14th and 15th, finished the regular season 20-7 overall and 12-6 in the SEC. Tennessee finished 17-13, 8-10.

Oklahoma 65, Nebraska 62--The sixth-ranked Sooners, despite a lackluster performance, weathered a spirited second-half Nebraska comeback at Lincoln, Neb., to complete their second straight 13-1 Big Eight season.

Oklahoma’s Wayman Tisdale led all scorers with 24 points.

The Sooners (24-5 overall) face Georgia Tech, ranked 10th by Associated Press and 13th by United Press International, today at Norman, Okla.. Oklahoma faces Oklahoma State in the opening round of the Big Eight tournament Tuesday at Kansas City. Nebraska (15-12, 5-9) faces Kansas.

Tulsa 67, Wichita State 66--Wichita State’s Mike Arline missed a free throw with three seconds left as the Hurricane, ranked 14th and 15th, defeated the Shockers at Tulsa, Okla., to earn a share of the Missouri Valley Conference championship.

Steve Harris scored 18 points for the Hurricane (21-6, 12-4). Wichita State (15-12, 11-5) fell out of a three-way tie with Tulsa and Illinois State.

Aubrey Sherrod paced the Shockers with 31 points and Xavier McDaniel added 21.

Texas Tech 61, TCU 53--Texas Tech won its first undisputed Southwest Conference title since 1973 by beating the Horned Frogs at Fort Worth. Tech (20-7, 12-4) will be seeded No. 1 in next week’s SEC tournament. TCU is 16-11, 8-8.

Tech’s Bubba Jennings, averaging 19 points per game, was held to only 10 points but scored Tech’s last six points in the final minute of the game. Vince Taylor was the Red Raiders’ top scorer with 15 points.

Dennis Nutt led the Horned Frogs with 21 points.

Tournaments Old Dominion 68, Alabama Birmingham 67--The Monarchs got two free throws from Charlie Smith with three seconds left to upset the Blazers in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament at Hampton, Va. The Blazers (25-7), the tournament’s No. 2-seeded team, led 33-16 late in the first half. A 10-0 run by Old Dominion tied the scored at 63-63 with 3:01 left to play. Mark Davis led the Monarchs with 21 points.

In today’s final, Old Dominion (19-10) faces top-seeded Virginia Commonwealth (24-5), which defeated Jacksonville, 75-57, Saturday. Mike Schlegel hit 10 of 10 shots to score 25 points to lead the Rams.

Fordham 62, St. Peter’s 55--Tony McIntosh scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half and teammate Steve Samuels, hitting on 7 of 7 from the field, added 16 points as Fordham advanced to the final of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament at East Rutherford, N.J. Fordham (19-10) faces Iona, a 59-57 winner over Army, Monday night. Defending MAAC champion Iona is 24-4.