College Basketball Roundup : Bias Does It All as Maryland Upsets North Carolina, 77-72, in Overtime

Lefty Driesell is convinced his Maryland Terrapins are better than last season’s team that won 25 games. Until Thursday night, nobody else believed it.

Len Bias scored 35 points in the game and Keith Gatlin scored four points in the final seven seconds of overtime at Chapel Hill, N.C., as the Terrapins upset top-ranked North Carolina, 77-72, and knocked the Tar Heels out of first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference game.

“You look at our schedule,” Driesell said. “We’ve played the toughest schedule in the country and I think it’s paid off for us.”

North Carolina (25-2, 9-2) lost for the first time in the new Dean E. Smith Activities Center and fell behind second-ranked Duke in the ACC standings.

Bias scored on a jump hook with 1:51 left to put Maryland (15-11, 4-7) ahead to stay, 73-72. He also made the defensive play of the game when he blocked Kenny Smith’s shot with 15 seconds remaining and got the ball to Gatlin.

Gatlin made the free throws and put the icing on the cake. After Carolina threw the ball away, Gatlin deliberately inbounded the ball off Smith’s back, picked it up underneath the basket and put in the final points.

“If Lenny Bias isn’t the player of the world, I don’t know who is,” Driesell said. “He made every kind of shot there is, he blocked shots and he got rebounds.

“It’s the greatest performance I’ve ever seen. I’ve had players score 50 points for me, but I’ve never seen an exhibition like that. He did everything.”

Brad Daugherty’s two free throws with 2:58 left in regulation gave Carolina a 68-59 lead. Bias’ four points in the next 13 seconds kept the Terrapins alive.

Jeff Baxter’s layup at 2:21 brought Maryland closer, and after North Carolina’s Jeff Lebo made a free throw with 58 seconds remaining, Bias hit a jumper from the top of the key with 50 seconds left to make it 69-67.

Baxter’s 22-footer with three seconds left sent the game to overtime.

Daugherty scored 23 points.

Michigan State 74, Michigan 59--Darryl Johnson had 26 points and Scott Skiles added 20 as the No. 19 Spartans knocked the seventh-ranked Wolverines out of the Big Ten lead at Ann Arbor, Mich.

The Spartans (18-6, 9-5) also handed Michigan (22-4, 10-4) its first defeat after 24 consecutive victories at Crisler Arena.

Richard Rellford’s layup gave Michigan a 43-40 lead with 17:51 remaining, but Johnson scored four straight baskets to give the Spartans a 48-43 lead with 14:11 left.

Michigan State wrapped up the victory with eight straight points for a 60-49 advantage.

The Wolverines scored only 22 points in the second half, shooting just 33% from the floor.

Gary Grant scored 16 points and Roy Tarpley had 15 for Michigan.

Indiana 61, Illinois 60--Steve Alford scored 24 points and the No. 15 Hoosiers took sole possession of the Big Ten lead despite being held scoreless by the Illini for the last five minutes at Champaign, Ill.

Illinois (17-8, 8-6) rallied from a 61-56 deficit but and lost a chance to win when Tony Wysinger missed at the buzzer.

Indiana (18-5, 10-3) was clinging to a one-point lead but was called for a backcourt violation with five seconds left. But the officials reversed the call and Indiana ran the clock down to five seconds before missing a shot and giving Illinois its final chance.

Bradley 88, Drake 79--Mike Williams had 26 points and nine rebounds as the 12th-ranked Braves beat the Bulldogs at Peoria, Ill., to wrap up the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship.

The Braves (27-1, 14-0) tied a school record with their 18th consecutive victory.

Drake (17-7, 9-4) led, 42-37, at halftime. Bradley finally took the lead, 55-54, when Williams made two free throws with 11:45 left, and went ahead to stay, 61-60, on a jump shot by Hersey Hawkins.

Jim Les had 20 points and Hawkins added 17 for the Braves.

LSU 74, Vanderbilt 68--John Williams scored 25 points and guard Derrick Taylor added 20 as the Tigers turned back the Commodores in a Southeastern Conference game at Nashville, Tenn.

The Tigers (20-8, 8-7) built a 34-22 early in the second half, but the Commodores (12-12, 6-9) scored nine straight points--five by Darrell Dulaney--to pull within 50-48 with 8:28 remaining.

LSU’s Don Redden blunted the rally with two quick baskets, but Vanderbilt remained close until a jumper by Taylor and two free throws by Williams gave LSU a 64-56 edge with 2:42 left.

The Tigers made eight straight free throws in the final minute.

Jeff Gary scored 24 points for Vanderbilt.

Purdue 85, Ohio State 79--Sophomore guard Troy Lewis scored 20 points and the Boilermakers rallied from 10 points down in the first half to defeat the Buckeyes in a Big 10 game at West Lafayette, Ind.

The Boilermakers (20-7, 9-5) made 23 of 29 free throws in the second half, including six in a row in the final minute.

Dennis Hopson scored 27 points and Brad Sellers added 22 for Ohio State (12-11, 6-7).

San Diego State 138, USIU 93--Senior guard Anthony Watson scored a school-record 54 points as the Aztecs outgunned the Gulls at San Diego.

Watson not only broke the single-game scoring record of 44 points set by Kim Goetz against Utah in the 1978-79 season, but with 22 of 23 free throws he eclipsed the school standard of 16 foul shots in a game set by Michael Cage against Florida State in 1982-83.

Steffond Johnson added 25 points for the Aztecs (9-16), while Joe Yezbak scored 30 for the Gulls (7-18).