College Basketball Roundup : Robinson’s 45 Not Enough for Navy

Guard Rex Chapman led a balanced Kentucky attack with 22 points as the quicker Wildcats overcame a 45-point performance by David Robinson of Navy to post an 80-69 victory over the 18th-ranked Midshipmen Sunday at Lexington, Ky.

Robinson’s point total equaled his career high and set a Rupp Arena scoring mark, topping the 37 scored by Freeman Williams of Portland State on Dec. 16, 1977. The 7-foot 1-inch senior center hit 17 of 22 shots from the field and also had 14 rebounds and 10 blocked shots. He was given a standing ovation when he left the game with 14 seconds to play.

Kentucky, which has won four of its last five games, improved to 11-5. Navy fell to 13-5.

Navy trailed, 40-31, at halftime and trimmed the margin to three, 40-37, on Robinson’s two free throws at 18:34. Chapman then hit a three-pointer at 18:06 to ignite a 12-2 run that moved Kentucky to a 52-39 advantage within three minutes.

Guards Ed Davender and James Blackmon each had 13 points and center Rob Lock scored 12 for Kentucky. Derric Turner had 14 for Navy.

Kansas 74, North Carolina State 60--Danny Manning scored 30 points for the Jayhawks, 16 in the first half, and the No. 20 Wolfpack missed six of its first seven shots of the second half to lose for the second time in three games in the nonconference game at Kansas City.

“Danny Manning is a great player, but that was the worst performance I’ve ever seen by North Carolina State,” Coach Jim Valvano said. “We played terribly. We only shot 28%, and that’s the worst I’ve ever seen us shoot.”

North Carolina State (12-5) trailed, 39-31, at halftime and then had its slow start after intermission to fall behind by 11, 53-42, with 9:52 left in the game. Manning started that rally for the Jayhawks (13-5) by hitting a turnaround jump shot and then capped an 8-2 Kansas run by rebounding a missed shot and feeding freshman Keith Harris, from Santa Monica High School, for a fast-break layup.

Arkansas 87, Texas A&M; 69--Freshman Ron Huery scored 25 points, including three three-point baskets in the first four minutes, and Tim Scott added 15 and Andrew Lang 13 to lead the Razorbacks to the Southwest Conference victory at Fayetteville, Ark.

Arkansas is 12-8 and 3-4, Texas A&M; 12-6 and 4-3.

The Aggies closed to within five at the end of the first half, but Keron Graves fouled Huery with no time left on the clock. Huery then hit the free throws to give the Razorbacks a 44-38 lead by the intermission, and Texas A&M; Coach Shelby Metcalf responded by kicking a folding chair, which hit a University of Arkansas police officer. Metcalf argued with the officer and then complained to the official scorer, asking that the officer be removed from near his bench.

Wyoming 66, Hawaii 61--The host Rainbows jumped out to a 12-2 lead but ended up losing their 11th straight game as Fennis Dembo scored 23 points and Eric Leckner 15 to lead the Cowboys in the Western Athletic Conference game Saturday night in Honolulu.

Free throws made the difference in the second half, with the Cowboys (12-2 and 5-2) hitting 12 of 14 and the Rainbows (5-13 and 0-7) missing their only try.

Louisiana State 52, Mississippi State 50--Nikita Wilson hit an eight-foot jump shot with 52 seconds left to lift the Tigers to the Southeastern Conference win at Starkville, Miss.

Anthony Wilson, the only LSU player to score more than eight points, had 20 for the Tigers (12-9 and 3-6). Mississippi State dropped to 5-12 and 1-7.