College Basketball Roundup : Georgia Tech Bounces Back to Edge St. Louis

Georgia Tech, coming off a 49-44 loss to No. 3-ranked Michigan two days earlier, defeated St. Louis University, 62-55, Monday night at St. Louis.

The Yellow Jackets’ Mark Price, bouncing back from a 2-for-13 shooting performance against Michigan, sank 5 of 8 shots against the Billikens and triggered a 12-3 Tech surge in the final half that proved decisive.

But Tech still needed to make six of seven free throws in the closing minute to ensure the win.

Said Price, who finished with 31 points: “We’re struggling a bit right now. But when they got close, we held together.”

Tom Hammonds scored 16 points to lead Georgia Tech (2-1). Kevin Williams had 14 to lead St. Louis, also 2-1.

Duke 98, East Carolina 66--Mark Alarie scored 25 points as Duke, playing its second game in less than 24 hours and third game in four days, cruised to a victory at Durham, N.C.

The Blue Devils were coming off games on Friday and Sunday in the Big Apple NIT at New York’s Madison Square Garden, where they beat Kansas, 92-86, in the title game.

Monday night, Alarie scored 21 of his points in the first half as the Blue Devils (6-0) built a 53-33 halftime advantage in its home opener. Johnny Dawkins added 16 points, and Tommy Amaker scored 10 for the Blue Devils.

Alarie, a senior, also grabbed eight rebounds.

“I think we just had a little too much power inside,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Alarie was either scoring or being fouled in the first half. We got that big working margin. We’re just physically a lot better, so we should win and we did win.”

Michigan 87, Tennessee 52--Keyed by freshman Glen Rice’s performance off the bench in the first half, Michigan rolled to a victory at Ann Arbor, Mich.

Michigan (4-0) started off slowly, and Coach Bill Frieder inserted Rice along with Garde Thompson and Rob Henderson. It was 12-6 when the change was made, and Rice scored 10 of his 14 points to key a 27-10 Michigan surge.

The quick-shooting, 6-7 Rice got two baskets off rebounds and converted a high feed from Antoine Joubert to send Michigan to a 43-20 halftime lead.

Center Roy Tarpley fouled out for Michigan with 13:33 left, but the Wolverines were up 53-27 at the time. Tarpley ended up with 13 points.

Rob Jones led Tennessee (1-1) with 10 points.

Texas Tech 69, Oregon 68--Wendell Owens made a pair of free throws with eight seconds left to give Texas Tech a victory at Lubbock, Tex. The Red Raiders (3-0) led, 67-66, when Owens went to the line. Andrew Taylor hit an uncontested layup just before the buzzer to pull Oregon within a point.

Tony Benford, who fouled out with nine minutes left, led the Raiders with 16 points. Anthony Taylor paced Oregon (2-1) with 13 points. The Ducks hit 18 of 20 free throws.

Alabama 89, Utah 69--Alabama, outrebounding Utah, 46-29, won at Tuscaloosa, Ala., as the Crimson Tide’s Buck Johnson scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Derrick McKey had 13 points and 8 rebounds for Alabama (2-0). Utah (3-2) was led by Manuel Hendriz, who had 20 points.

Clemson 101, Rider 63--Guard Larry Middleton scored 27 points and set a Clemson record with 12 consecutive field goals to lead the Tigers at Clemson, S.C. Middleton, who broke Tree Rollins’ 1976 mark, was one of five players scoring in double figures for Clemson (4-0). Ron Simpson scored 29 points for Rider (1-2).

Minnesota 87, Eastern Illinois 69--John Shasky scored 22 points and Marc Wilson added 19 to lead Minnesota at Minneapolis. The Gophers (5-1) led by 14 at halftime and outscored the Panthers, 8-3, to start the second half.

And then, when the Panthers (2-1) closed to within 68-56, the Gophers responded with an 11-3 run. Eastern Illinois’ Kevin Duckworth, a 7-foot 280-pound senior, led all scorers with 24 points.

North Carolina St. 88, Tampa 64--Senior guard Nate McMillan scored 16 points to lead four players in double figures as the Wolfpack (3-1) won at Raleigh, N.C. Freshman Kelsey Weems added 13 points, Ernie Myers came off the bench to score 11 and sophomore center Chris Washburn had 10.

Junior forward Todd Linder paced the Spartans (3-2) with 20 points.

Wisconsin 90, San Francisco St. 61--Rick Olson used his outside jump shot to score 35 points and lead undefeated Wisconsin to a victory at Madison, Wis. Olson, a 6-foot-1 senior guard who had been averaging 16.3 points per game, set a school record with 17 field goals, eclipsing the mark of 16 set in 1958 by Bob Litzow.

The victory gave Wisconsin a 4-0 record, while the Gators fell to 0-5.

Stanford 108, UC San Diego 69--Steve Brown scored 20 points to lead six Stanford scorers in double figures as the Cardinal cruised past the Tritons at Stanford.

Stanford (2-0) forced the Tritons, a Division III team, into committing 31 turnovers, and had 17 steals. Brian Backens scored 16 points to lead UC San Diego (2-2).

Washington State 64, Gonzaga 61--Otis Jennings scored 17 points and Dwayne Scholten grabbed several key offensive rebounds late in the game as Washington State (3-1) won at Spokane. Scholten, who scored eight points and had eight rebounds, gave Washington State the lead for good at 60-59 when he scored off the rebound of a missed free throw by teammate Anthony Kidd.

Gonzaga (2-2) outrebounded the Cougars, 36-34, but shot just 39% from the field to Washington State’s 53%.