College Basketball Roundup : St. John’s Struggles to Win, 61-58

St. John’s continued its poor shooting from the field Tuesday night, but the 15th-ranked Redmen nevertheless managed a 61-58 Big East Conference victory over Villanova at New York.

Last Saturday, St. John’s had its worst shooting performance of the season (39%) and lost to Syracuse by one point. Tuesday night, the shooting improved to 42%, but the result was much better.

“We’re just chopping away at it,” St. John’s Coach Lou Carnesecca said of the shooting woes that have befallen the Redmen (14-3 overall and 5-3 in the conference). “Tonight, we shoot 42% and we still won. Figure that out. We’ll overcome it.”

Willie Glass led the Redmen with 19 points. Shelton Jones added 17, 13 in the second half, and Mark Jackson had 15.

It was Jackson whose shooting deficiency was most obvious against Syracuse as the senior guard was 4 of 14 and missed a three-pointer at the end of the game that could have won it.

Against Villanova, Jackson still struggled. He was 5-of-11, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range.

Kenny Wilson, Mark Plansky and Doug West each had 14 points for the Wildcats (11-8, 4-4) who have lost five of their last six games. Harold Jensen added 11, all in the second half.

St. John’s, which took the lead for good at 40-39 on a jumper by Matt Brust with 13:05 to play, took its biggest lead of the second half at 50-43 on a hook shot by Marco Baldi.

Kansas 72, Iowa St. 48--Danny Manning scored 23 points as No. 20 the Jayhawks posted an easy Big Eight victory, their 44th straight win at Allen Field House in Lawrence, Kan.

Kansas is 14-5 overall and 5-1 in the Big Eight. Iowa State fell to 10-8 and 2-3.

Manning scored 11 of Kansas’ first 22 points and finished with 15 points in the first half as the Jayhawks led, 36-20, at halftime.

Army 81, Fordham 73--Senior guard Kevin Houston, the nation’s leading scorer, scored 42 points to lead the Cadets to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory at West Point, N.Y.

Fordham (8-10, 1-5) led, 54-48, midway through the second half, but Army (7-9, 3-3), which snapped a two-game conference losing streak, went on a decisive 15-3 run over the next six minutes to take a 63-57 lead and was never headed.

Houston, who scored 26 of his points in the second half, triggered the winning surge with two free throws. Before the run was over, he added seven more points on two field goals and a three-pointer.

Connecticut 66, Boston College 60--Freshman guard Tate George scored 15 points and freshman Steven Pikiell added 14 as the Huskies scored a Big East upset at Boston.

Connecticut is 7-10 and 2-6, and the Eagles are 8-9 and 1-6.

Boston College guard Jamie Benton, who had 18 points, hit the second of two back-to-back three-point shots with 1:02 remaining to pull the Eagles to within 58-56. However, the Huskies hit 8 of 11 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

The game was Connecticut’s first since sophomore starters Cliff Robinson and Phil Gamble were ruled academically ineligible for the remainder of the season Sunday.

Temple 76, Rutgers 56--Sophomore forward Mike Vreeswyk scored 22 points as the seventh-ranked Owls defeated the Scarlet Knights in an Atlantic 10 game at Philadelphia. It was the Owls’ 29th consecutive victory at McGonigle Hall and their 19th in 21 games this season. They are 8-0 in the conference. Rutgers is 3-13 overall and 1-8 in the conference.

Rutgers took an 11-5 lead, but Temple went on a 15-2 spurt and a jumper by Nate Blackwell gave the Owls a 20-13 advantage with nine minutes left in the half.

Notre Dame 66, Dayton 55--Mark Stevenson hit four key free throws to help the Irish pull away from the rival Flyers at South Bend, Ind.

Stevenson, who made all seven of his free-throw attempts, and Donald Rol each scored 17 points for the Irish (10-5). Anthony Corbitt led the Flyers (7-9) with 14 points.

DePaul 70, Weber St. 51--Dallas Comegys scored 16 points and Rod Strickland added 14 as the No. 8 Blue Demons romped at Rosemont, Ill.

DePaul (17-1), trying to rebound after its first defeat last weekend to Georgetown, had an easy time against a weaker opponent as Coach Joey Meyer was able to send the reserves in early.

A 15-5 spurt midway through the second half gave DePaul its largest lead of the game, 66-42.

Weber State (3-16) got 10 points each from Walt Tyler and Dale Baum. Both had two three-point field goals.

Oklahoma 87, Colorado 62--Daryl Kennedy scored 21 points and Harvey Grant added 18 as the 10th-ranked Sooners overwhelmed Colorado at Boulder, Colo.

Oklahoma (15-3, 4-1) ran off a 24-10 streak at the end of the first half to take a 40-27 lead at halftime, and the Sooners never looked back. Colorado fell to 6-12, 0-6.