College Basketball Roundup : Tennessee, Auburn Win in SEC Tournament

Anthony Richardson scored 19 points and Rob Jones 17 as Tennessee used its inside quickness to down Vanderbilt, 71-51, in the opening game of the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament Wednesday night at Birmingham, Ala.

Tennessee (18-13) moves into a quarterfinal match tonight against Georgia, the team the Vols kept from the conference title with a pair of one-point regular season victories.

Darrell Dulaney led Vanderbilt with 17 points, all in the second half. Phil Cox, the All-SEC senior guard, finished his career with eight points, lifting his school record to 1,724 points as the Commodores finished the year 11-17.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Chuck Pearson scored 26 points to lead Auburn to a 68-60 victory over Mississippi. The Rebels will meet top-seeded LSU tonight.

Freshman Chris Morris scored 15 points for Auburn while Frank Ford had 14. Curtis Ritchwood led Ole Miss (11-17) with 22 points.

OTHER TOURNAMENTS Big East Providence 77, Seton Hall 75--Keith Lomax scored 24 points, including the game-winner with 34 seconds left in overtime at New York, as the Friars advanced to the quarterfinals tonight against top-seeded and second-ranked St. John’s.

Lomax connected on a short turnaround to break the 75-75 tie. Seton Hall’s Andre McCloud, who broke the Big East tournament scoring record with 32 points, then missed three shots in the final 23 seconds as the Pirates (10-18) were eliminated.

The Friars’ Ernie Lewis connected on a jumper with 57 seconds left to tie the score at 64-64 and force the overtime.

Western Athletic Conference New Mexico 62, Colorado St. 56--Forward Johnny Brown scored 26 points including a game-clinching three-point play with three second left, to lift the Lobos (18-11) past the Rams (18-12) in a quarterfinal game at Santa Fe, N.M. Freshman forward David Turcotte led the Rams, who shot 60% in the first half, with 18 points. Utah 66, Air Force 64--Guard Manny Hendrix’s 22-foot jumper with five seconds remaining gave the Utes (15-15) the victory over the Falcons (8-20) in the quarterfinal game at Salt Lake City. Hendrix led all scorers with 21 points.

Big Eight Iowa State 76, Colorado 52--Barry Stevens scored 25 points to become the conference’s No. 2 all-time scorer as the Cyclones won their first ever Big Eight postseason victory at Ames, Iowa.

The win also made Coach Johnny Orr’s team the first in Iowa State history to win 20 games in a season. The Cyclones (20-11) will meet Kansas at Kansas City on Friday night.

Stevens has scored 2,118 points and trails only Oklahoma’s Wayman Tisdale on the Big Eight list.

NONTOURNAMENT GAMES Michigan 77, Ohio State 72--Roy Tarpley scored 23 points and Antoine Joubert 19 as the Wolverines built a 17-point, second-half lead and then held on to defeat the Buckeyes at Columbus. The victory was the 15th straight for Michigan, 24-3 overall and Big Ten champion with a 15-2 mark. Ron Stokes led the Buckeyes (18-9 and 10-7) with 18 points while Troy Taylor had 16. Notre Dame 66, Marquette 60--David Rivers scored 20 points and Donald Royal got all 15 of his points on free throws as the Irish turned back the Warriors at South Bend, Ind. Royal’s 15 for 18 free-throw line performance included two crucial shots with 13 seconds left to turn away a late Warrior (17-10) rally. Notre Dame (19-8) outscored Marquette, 32-14, from the free-throw line.