College Basketball Roundup : Kentucky Upset by Georgia

Hugh Durham was relaxed in a tense situation.

His Georgia Bulldogs were clinging to a 67-65 lead over 11th-ranked Kentucky with five seconds left when Willie Anderson stepped to the free-throw line. And, as he has done in the past, Anderson clinched the win, hitting both attempts for the 69-65 upset in a Southeastern Conference game Tuesday night before a record crowd of 20,053 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky.

“Willie Anderson has hit some big shots for us,” Durham said. “He hit both baskets in wins in Mississippi last year. Against Southwest Louisiana, we had a one-point lead and he hit both ends of a one-plus-one with six seconds left.”

Eddie Sutton, the Kentucky coach, thought his team’s 85-51 victory Saturday over rival Louisville played a part in this defeat.

“Maybe our staff didn’t bring our guys down out of the clouds after Louisville,” he said. “I thought Georgia played a heckuva ballgame. Every time we made a run, they hit big-time shots.”

Georgia’s zone defense had a big role, too, as the Wildcats made good on only 9 of 28 three-point attempts. In all, they shot a season-low 40% from the field.

“Some say that playing a zone against Kentucky is digging your own grave,” Durham said. “But they penetrate well if you go man on them. We used zones quite a bit--two or three different kinds.”

Georgia improved to 8-3 overall and 1-1 in the SEC. Kentucky dropped to 6-2 and 0-1.

Syracuse 96, Boston University 67--Freshmen Stephen Thompson, Derrick Coleman and Rony Seikaly, recovering from a stress fracture of the left foot, led the seventh-ranked Orangemen at Syracuse, N.Y.

Coleman scored 22 and Thompson, the two-time City player of the year from L.A. Crenshaw High School, had 17, both career highs. Thompson got seven of his points during an 11-0 run that put Syracuse ahead after trailing, 19-14, midway through the first half. The Orangemen led, 42-35, at halftime, and Coleman took over from there, scoring 14 of his 22 points in the final 20 minutes. Seikaly added 15 points and 12 rebounds as Syracuse improved its record to 11-0. Boston is 5-4.

North Carolina 88, Southern Methodist 86--Jeff Lebo hit two three-point shots in overtime Tuesday night to carry the fourth-ranked Tar Heels to the championship of the The Dallas Morning News tournament.

Lebo hit six three-pointers and scored a career-high 22 points for North Carolina (10-1). The Tar Heels then had to survive Kato Armstrong’s three-point miss at the buzzer.

The game was tied, 81-81, at the end of regulation after Armstrong connected on two free throws with 11 seconds left.

SMU is 8-3.

Purdue 94, Towson State 58--The Boilermakers, coming off Monday’s loss to North Carolina, took out their frustrations on Towson State to earn the consolation title of the Dallas tournament.

“The North Carolina game was a disappointment in so much as we didn’t compete with them,” Purdue Coach Gene Keady said. “It’s hard to play for third place, but if you have pride, there’s no choice.

“If you have character, you get over it. We got a lot of depth practice, but I’m not sure what we accomplished.”

The Boilermakers (8-1) rolled to a 46-26 halftime lead and coasted to the victory, Troy Lewis leading the way with 19 points and Doug Lee and Melvin McCants adding 15 each. Marty Johnson and John Bays both scored 11 points for the Tigers (5-3).

Nebraska 66, San Francisco 60--The Cornhuskers held the Dons scoreless for the first seven minutes, jumped out to a 16-point lead and never allowed USF closer than four points to win the Rochester tournament in New York.

Nebraska is 7-3, San Francisco 9-3.

North Carolina State 97, Loyola (Ill.) 85--The 19th-ranked Wolfpack led by just one point, 60-59, with 14:50 to play in the game at Raleigh, N.C., before pulling away.

Bernie Bolton had 25 points to lead North Carolina State. Andre Moore scored 22 for Loyola.

Minnesota 78, Murray State 64--The Gophers, expected to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten standings, improved to 7-3 at Minneapolis with a win in their final nonconference game.

Coach Clem Haskins threatened Minnesota at halftime with a postgame practice if the performance didn’t improve, and the Gophers responded by breaking the 34-34 tie in the final 20 minutes. Kim Zurcher, a junior college transfer, scored 19 points, including five three-point plays.

Murray State is 4-5.

Duke 106, Northwestern 55--Junior Kevin Strickland scored a career-high 25 points, 21 coming in the first half, to lead the 20th-ranked Blue Devils at Durham, N.C.

Duke (8-1) shot 60.3%, compared to 33.3% for Northwestern (5-5).

Strickland led the way, hitting 9 of 11 shots and all five free throws in just 17 minutes. Point guard Tommy Amaker, who failed to score in Monday’s 30-point win over Appalachian State, had 16 points.

“I think Amaker’s maturity really showed tonight,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He came out firing after last night’s poor shooting performance.”

Kansas 81, Hawaii 80--Danny Manning scored 21 points, including two key free throws in overtime, as the 12th-ranked Jayhawks took seventh place in the Rainbow tournament at Honolulu.

Kansas Coach Larry Brown was hit with two technical fouls in the first half for protesting calls by officials. After the second, Jayhawk fans threw objects toward the referees, and a man sitting at the scorer’s table was struck by a shoe but not injured.

Kansas is 7-3, Hawaii 5-6.

Florida State 91, Tennessee 90--The Seminoles improved to 7-1 as Pee Wee Barber hit two free throws with 18 seconds left in overtime in the title game of the Red Lobster tournament in Orlando, Fla. Tennessee is 5-3.

Temple 75, Toledo 68--MVP Nate Blackwell scored 22 points to lead the 14th-ranked Owls (11-1) in the championship game of the Blade tournament at Toledo, Ohio.

Toledo (7-4) was led by Jeff Haar and Mark German, who scored 23 and 20 points respectively. Haar also had 11 rebounds.

Brigham Young 77, Santa Clara 66--Michael Smith scored 26 points and grabbed 9 rebounds to earn MVP honors and pace the Cougars to the win in the Cable Car tournament at Santa Clara.

Brigham Young (8-4) pulled to a 45-32 halftime lead with accurate shooting. The Cougars shot 50% from the floor, and Santa Clara (7-5) could only manage 33%. Smith made all 12 of his free throws.

Sophomore Jens Gordon had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead Santa Clara.

Fresno State 61, West Virginia 54--The Bulldogs denied Mountaineer Coach Gale Catlett his 300th career win as Jervis Cole scored 23 points at Fresno.

Wayne Yearwood scored 15 points for West Virginia (7-2). Fresno State is 5-6.