College Basketball Roundup : McCalister Scores 44 in Sooner Win

Tim McCalister hit five three-point field goals and scored a career-high 44 points Friday night to lead Oklahoma to a 119-110 victory over Brigham Young at Norman, Okla., in the opening round of the preseason National Invitation Tournament.

McCalister, a senior guard, tried six shots from outside the three-point line, which has been established at 19 feet 9 inches in college basketball.

In other first round games, Western Kentucky upset Notre Dame, 80-63, at South Bend, Ind.; Texas Christian surprised Lousiana State, 83-74, at Baton Rouge, La.; Villanova defeated Howard, 71-61, at Philadelphia; Michigan outscored Bradley, 115-107, at Ann Arbor, Mich.; Temple edged Virginia, 79-75, at Charlottesville, Va., and Nevada Las Vegas defeated Arizona, 92-87, at Las Vegas.

The first round will be completed tonight when Cleveland State plays at Memphis State.

In second-round games Monday night, Nevada Las Vegas will be at Oklahoma, Temple at Villanova, TCU at Western Kentucky and Michigan at the winner of Cleveland State-Memphis State.

McCalister scored 21 points in the first half, but BYU’s Jeff Chatman had 18 to help the Cougars take a 53-51 halftime lead.

Oklahoma went on a 16-4 run in the first five minutes of the second half to grab a 67-57 lead. During that span, McCalister had consecutive three-pointers and Darryl Kennedy, who scored 25 points, had eight points.

Brigham Young pulled within a point on two occasions down the stretch before the Sooners went on a 19-7 run to put the game away.

Ricky Grace scored 18 points for Oklahoma. Chatman wound up with 26 for the Cougars, while Bob Capener had 23 and Jim Usevitch 20.

Of McCalister’s effort, BYU Coach Ladell Anderson said, “That was one of the great games I’ve had played against one of my teams. We had a couple of freshmen who learned a lot tonight. He just played a great game.”

Western Kentucky 80, Notre Dame 63--Tellis Frank scored 17 points for the Hilltoppers, who built a 20-point lead early in the second half. David Rivers, Notre Dame’s junior guard and team leader who was seriously injured in an off-season auto accident, didn’t start but came off the bench to score eight points. The Irish were led by Donald Royal with 17 points.

Michigan 115, Bradley 107--Gary Grant scored a career-high 34 points, and Glen Rice had 27 points and 19 rebounds for the Wolverines. Bradley, playing its first game under former NBA coach Stan Albeck, led at halftime, 53-51, but was outscored, 14-0, over the first 3:30 of the second half. Hersey Hawkins led Bradley with a career-high 37 points and Len Bertolini added 22, including five three-pointers.

TCU 83, LSU 74--After spotting the Tigers a 15-4 lead, the Horned Frogs ran off 19 straight points to take a 23-15 lead. Carven Holcome led the winners with 20 points. The taller Horned Frogs outrebounded the Tigers, 53-41, with Larry Richard grabbing 21. LSU played without starting center Ricky Blanton, who is out with a knee injury and backup Zoran Jovanovich, who was injured Thursday in an auto accident. Anthony Wilson, the only returning starter from LSU’s Final Four team, scored 21 points but was only 9 of 24 from the field.

Villanova 71, Howard 61--Villanova’s Doug West, who had practiced only twice in the last two weeks because of an ankle injury, came off the bench to score 18 points and grab 8 rebounds for the Wildcats. Villanova led, 34-33, at halftime and broke the game open with a 17-2 run late in the second half. Howard Spence led Howard with 19 points.

Temple 79, Virginia 75--Nate Blackwell scored a career-high 24 points for the Owls, who took command with a 12-3 run midway in the second half after trailing 49-47 at halftime. Temple ended Virginia’s home winning streak against non-Atlantic Coast Conference teams at 49. The Cavaliers’ last non-conference home defeat was a 65-61 loss to Old Dominion in December 1978. Richard Morgan led the Cavaliers with 15 points.

Nevada Las Vegas 92, Arizona 87--Freddie Banks scored 21 of his 26 points in the second half, and Gerald Paddio had 16 second-half points to lead the Rebels at Las Vegas. Arizona led by nine points with about five minutes remaining, but a full-court press and three-point field goals by Banks and Paddio gave UNLV its first lead of the second half, 83-82, with 2:12 left. Craig McMillan led Arizona with 24 points.