College Basketball Roundup : DePaul Isn’t Ready to Play, but Purdue Is and Romps to Victory

Purdue Coach Gene Keady surveyed his team’s 71-56 upset victory over 20th-ranked DePaul Monday in a nonconference game at West Lafayette, Ind., and observed: “It looks like we can play in the Big Ten now.”

Purdue, behind Todd Mitchell’s 15 points, led by as much as 20 points in the second half. The closest DePaul came after the break was 15 points, when a basket by Marty Embry made it 57-42.

Troy Lewis added 14 points for the Boilermakers, and Melvin McCants, playing with a sore ankle, had 13.

DePaul Coach Joey Meyer said the Boilermakers came better prepared. “I’d like to apologize for the way we played.”

The Blue Demons, shooting 41.5% from the field, missed scoring opportunities to bad judgment, Meyer said. “We would have an 18-foot shot and dribble in and take a tough 16-foot shot.”

Embry led DePaul with 15 points. Purdue is 9-2, DePaul is 6-2.

Nebraska 80, Arizona St. 67--Center Dave Hoppen scored 25 points and forward Bernard Day added a career-high 23 to lead Nebraska to a nonconference win at Lincoln, Neb.

Hoppen’s 25 points moved him into the No. 4 position on the Big Eight Conference career scoring list.

Nebraska led by as many as 10 points in the first half, but the Sun Devils closed the gap to 40-34 at intermission.

The Huskers (7-2) led by as many as 18 points in the second half as Hoppen, Day and guard Harvey Marshall, who had 10 of his 12 points in the final 20 minutes, easily handled the Sun Devil defense.

The Sun Devils (6-2) were led by 5-9 guard Arthur Thomas, who scored 14 points.

Georgetown 96, Seattle 57--David Wingate scored 16 points and Reggie Williams added 14 points at Landover, Md., to power fifth-ranked Georgetown to its ninth victory of the season.

The undefeated Hoyas wasted little time, putting away the visitors with a 25-6 spurt to start the game. The Chieftains missed 14 shots and turned the ball over three times during the streak.

Georgetown opened the second half by hitting eight of its first nine shots in rolling to a 63-29 advantage.

Junior Kevin Bailey scored 19 points, all in the second half, for Seattle, 1-11 after its eighth straight loss.

The victory was the Hoyas’ 38th in a row outside of the Big East Conference.

Kansas 94, George Washington 71--Calvin Thompson hit 10 of 11 shots from the field and scored 21 points at Lawrence, Kan., as the sixth-ranked Jayhawks gave Coach Larry Brown his 100th collegiate win.

Kansas (10-1) hit its first seven shots from the field to take a 16-2 lead. George Washington is 5-4.

Auburn 89, Boston College 85--Sophomore forward Chris Morris scored 25 points and senior forward Chuck Person added 24 to lead Auburn to victory in the championship game of the Citrus Bowl tournament at Orlando, Fla. Boston College’s senior forward Roger McCready exploded for 38 points and freshman guard Dana Barrows added 26 more, but their combined efforts were not enough to lift the Eagles over Auburn.

The win gave the Tigers a 6-4 record while Boston College slips to 7-1.

UC Santa Barbara 102, Montana State 92--Senior forward Scott Fisher tossed in a school-record 39 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Santa Barbara to victory at Bozeman, Mont. It was the 200th career win for Coach Jerry Pimm.

Fisher scored 28 of his points in the second half, including 10 in a row that gave the Gauchos an 80-65 lead with 10:15 to play. The Gauchos are 5-4; Montana State is 2-6.

Minnesota 71, Oklahoma St. 59--Marc Wilson scored 12 points and, along with Todd Alexander, sparked a second-half surge as Minnesota overpowered Oklahoma State at Minneapolis.

Minnesota (9-2) won for the seventh straight time at home, while Oklahoma State dropped to 6-3 and saw its three-game road winning streak ended.

The Gophers broke the game open earlier in the second half, outscoring the Cowboys, 17-6, to take a 50-36 lead with 11:50 left in the game. Wilson scored eight and Alexander six during that spurt.

St. John’s 98, Monmouth (N.J.) 58--Walter Berry scored 23 points as all five St. John’s starters were in double figures in this rout at New York. The Redmen (10-1) won their eighth straight game.

Monmouth (1-6) scrambled to a 12-12 tie six minutes into the game before St. John’s scored eight straight points on baskets by Ron Rowan, Berry, Willie Glass and Shelton Jones. The Redmen were not threatened thereafter.

Illinois 95, Howard 61--Efrem Winters, Ken Norman and Glynn Blackwell scored 16 points each to lead 16th-ranked Illinois to victory at Champaign, Ill.

The win improved Illinois’ record to 8-2 and increased its home court winning streak to 30 games. Howard fell to 2-5 on the season.

It was Illinois’ first game since it was officially announced that last year’s team most valuable player, Doug Altenberger, will not play this season.

Altenberger, a senior guard known for strong defense and good outside shooting, has been hampered by a recurring knee injury and will redshirt.

Princeton 54, Rutgers 47--The win was the 10th straight for the home team in this series, which dates back to 1917. Princeton holds a 62-30 edge.

Alan Williams scored six points to spark a 12-3 run late in the game to spark the Ivy League Tigers. Princeton held Rutgers to 16 points in the first half.

Princeton (3-5) snapped a three-game losing streak while Rutgers (4-4) lost for the first time in four games.

Fordham 44, Columbia 43--Eric Brooks converted three foul shots in the final 34 seconds to allow Fordham to snap a four-game losing streak at New York. Fordham and Columbia are both 4-5.

Navy 93, Army 63--The Naval Academy, powered by 6-foot-11 David Robinson, demolished Army at Tokyo to win the Suntory Ball, the first-ever college basketball tournament among the three American military academies.

The Midshipmen (6-2) were too big and too fast for their West Point rivals, building a 46-25 lead by halftime and dismantling the Army defense with their fast break down the stretch. The loss left the young Army team at 4-4.

Robinson, a junior who played only 27 minutes, finished with 19 points, while Vernon Butler had 16 points and 17 rebounds and Kylor Whitaker added a season-high 16 points, 14 in the first half.

The victory was Navy’s sixth straight over Army and gave the Midshipmen a 32-31 game edge in their overall series.