College Basketball Roundup : Indiana Has No Trouble With Louisiana Tech, 84-63

Even tough-to-please Coach Bob Knight found little wrong with Indiana’s first-half performance Friday night as the 18th-ranked Hoosiers built a huge lead and rolled over Louisiana Tech, 84-63, in the first round of the annual Indiana Tournament at Bloomington.

In the second game, Tony Benford hit a 15-foot jump shot and Greg Crowe put in two free throws with six seconds left as Texas Tech overcame a 14-point second-half deficit to beat Alcorn State, 74-70.

Texas Tech will play the Hoosiers tonight in the championship game.

“I really didn’t find a hell of a lot at halftime that I was unhappy with,” Knight said. “It’s a rarity when you go through a half playing eight or more players and get everyone playing well. And that’s what I thought I had.”

Indiana guard Steve Alford had 12 of his 25 points in the Hoosiers’ first-half spurt. In the second half, Louisiana Tech chopped five points off Indiana’s 21-point halftime lead, but Alford got hot again and the Hoosiers easily turned back the Bulldogs’ rally.

“Tech is a very good defensive team, and I thought they were very aggressive in the second half,” Knight said. “We missed a lot of things around the basket, and then we started to stand around.”

Indiana raced to an 8-1 lead against Louisiana Tech, built the margin to 13 midway through the first half and held the cold-shooting Bulldogs without a field goal the rest of the period.

The victory lifted the Hoosiers to 4-1 for the season, while Louisiana Tech dropped to 4-3.

Stanford 105, Seattle 54--Todd Lichti and Novian Whitsitt combined for 34 points to lead Stanford to an easy victory over Seattle.

Whitsitt, making his first start of the season, scored 11 of his 16 points in the first half to spark Stanford (4-1) to a 52-22 halftime advantage. Lichti, a 6-4 freshman, came off the bench to score 12 of his 18 points in the second half. Seattle’s record is 1-6.

Bradley 76, Loyola Illinois 75--Hersey Hawkins scored 27 points, and Mike Williams grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Bradley to victory over Loyola at Peoria, Ill.

Bradley (7-0) took the lead midway through the second half. Loyola held a 37-32 halftime advantage.

Maryland 91, Towson State 58--Len Bias scored 26 points and Tony Massenburg added 14 to power Maryland to victory over Towson State at College Park, Md.

Maryland (6-2) led by only six points at intermission but pulled away early in the second half.

Southern Mississippi 84, South Alabama 82--Randolph Keys rebounded a missed free throw and hit a soft turnaround jumper with two seconds to play in overtime to lift Southern Mississippi to a non-conference win over South Alabama at Mobile, Ala.

Southern Mississippi (5-0) has now won two consecutive overtime games. The Golden Eagles beat Arkansas State, 86-82, Wednesday night. South Alabama (3-4) lost its third straight game.

UC Santa Barbara 65, Chapman 57--Scott Fisher scored 18 points, seven of them in the final three minutes, to rally UC Santa Barbara to victory over Chapman in a non-conference game at Santa Barbara. Mike Kelly paced UCSB, (4-2) with 19 points. Kelly Huston added 15 points for Chapman (3-6).

Alabama-Birmingham 69, Hawaii Pacific 59--James Ponder scored 21 points in the opening game of the Early Season Tournament to lead Alabama-Birmingham to victory over Hawaii Pacific at Honolulu.

The Blazers (7-1) opened a 13-point advantage early in the second half, but the Sea Warriors (2-6)--an NAIA team--battled back and narrowed the margin to four points, 59-55.