College Basketball Roundup : Free Throws Help Ailing Alford, Indiana Down Purdue, 88-77

Steve Alford, fighting off the effects of the flu, scored 31 points, including seven straight free throws during a late 13-2 second-half streak, to help carry Indiana over Purdue, 88-77, Saturday and into sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.

Purdue, tied with Indiana for the nation’s No. 4 ranking, trailed by 13 points in the first half in the game at Bloomington, Ind., but rallied to several leads of one point in the second half.

The Hoosiers, 8-1 in the Big Ten and 17-2 overall, built the lead to 17 points with 4:25 remaining before a pair of three-point baskets and a field goal by Purdue’s Troy Lewis helped cut the margin to nine with less than a minute left. Seventeen of Indiana’s final 23 points came on free throws.

Purdue dropped to 16-3 and 7-2 in the Big Ten, tied for second place with Iowa, a 100-92 loser at Michigan.

Center Dean Garrett backed Alford with 14 points, and forward Rick Calloway added 12. Lewis led Purdue with 23, while Melvin McCants and Todd Mitchell added 15 apiece.

“We had some guys who weren’t feeling well. I was one of them,” Alford said. “But for the most part, we did a very good job on them. Once we got them in foul trouble, that was the key. They couldn’t do much after that.”

Alford, coming off a season-low 10 points in Indiana’s victory over Illinois last Wednesday, didn’t practice the next two days. On Saturday, he made 8 of 18 shots from the field and 13 of 15 from the line. As a team, Indiana hit 24 of 28 foul shots as two Purdue starters fouled out and the other three finished with four fouls apiece.

“Free throws are like everything else,” Purdue Coach Gene Keady said. “Either you can hit them or you can’t. We didn’t make the free throws we needed and Indiana played a better game.”

Indiana Coach Bob Knight said: “I feel as strongly about our kids playing these two games (Illinois and Purdue) as any game since I’ve been here, simply because we’ve got about five kids who are really sick. . . . They forgot about it and did what we had to do. My hat’s off to them.”

Michigan 100, Iowa 92--At Ann Arbor, Mich., Glen Rice scored a career-high 33 points and had 10 rebounds for the Wolverines, who scored their eighth straight victory over the Hawkeyes.

Iowa, rated No. 3, fell to 19-2 and 7-2. Michigan is 15-6 and 6-3.

Garde Thompson added 23 points for Michigan, followed by Gary Grant with 20 and Antoine Joubert with 16. Iowa got 22 from Kevin Gamble and 15 each from Roy Marble and B.J. Armstrong.

Iowa closed to 84-78 with 3:43 left, but Rice hit a shot from the wing and both Thompson and Joubert made a pair of free throws for a 6-2 swing that put the Wolverines ahead, 90-80, with 1:58 to go.

Georgetown 83, Syracuse 81--Perry McDonald scored a career-high 23 points, including a six-foot turnaround jumper at the buzzer in overtime, to lift the No. 11 Hoyas over the No. 6 Orangemen in a Big East game at Landover, Md.

Reggie Williams had a game-high 30 points for the Hoyas (15-3 and 5-3). Derrick Coleman, Sherman Douglas and Greg Monroe all scored 17 for the Orangemen (17-3 and 6-2).

Georgetown trailed, 69-61, with 5:12 left in regulation, but McDonald and Charles Smith each scored four points in an 11-2 run that gave the Hoyas a 72-71 lead.

Providence 93, St. John’s 81--Ernie Lewis hit a pair of three-point shots in overtime as the Friars won their seventh straight game and moved into a tie with Syracuse and Pitt for the Big East lead at Providence, R.I.

Bill Donovan had 26 points, Delray Brooks 20 and Lewis 16 for Providence (16-3 and 6-2). Mark Jackson had 19 points, and Willie Glass and Shelton Jones had 17 each for St. John’s (14-4 and 5-4).

Providence held a 76-71 lead with 18 seconds remaining in regulation, but St. John’s tied the score on a three-pointer by Jackson and Marco Baldi’s layup.

Pittsburgh 73, Connecticut 52--Curtis Aiken scored 18 points despite sitting out the last 16 minutes for the 17th-ranked Panthers, who coasted against the outmanned Huskies at Pittsburgh.

Aiken made four three-point field goals and scored Pitt’s first eight points as the Panthers improved to 17-4 and 6-2 and the Huskies fell to 7-11 and 2-7. Aiken was given a rest after the Panthers put the Huskies away in the second half.

Jerome Lane, the nation’s leading rebounder, had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Pitt.

Alabama 83, Georgia 74--Reserve guard James Jackson made a three-point shot with 1:48 left in overtime to spark an 11-0 run that carried the ninth-rated Crimson Tide to victory in a Southeastern Conference game at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Alabama, the SEC leader, improved to 16-3 and 9-1, while Georgia fell to 12-7 and 5-5.

Derrick McKey led Alabama with 24 points, followed by Terry Coner with 19 and Jim Farmer with 17. Willie Anderson had 24 points and Dennis Williams added 22 for Georgia.

Auburn 81, Florida 68--Jeff Moore had 26 points and 13 rebounds for the 17th-ranked Tigers, who outshot the the 16th-ranked Gators, 53% to 37%, at Auburn, Ala.

Vernon Maxwell scored 20 points for the Gators, but Andrew Moten was held to 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting.

Auburn is 12-5 and 5-4, Florida 16-5 and 6-2.

Clemson 89, Virginia 83--Reserve guard Michael Brown scored eight points in the last 2 1/2 minutes, and the 14th-ranked Tigers snapped a two-game losing streak in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Clemson, S.C.

Horace Grant had 24 points and Michael Tait 21 for Clemson (19-2 and 5-2). Jerry Pryor had 13 for Virginia (14-5 and 4-3).

The closest Virginia got in the second half was 78-74 on Mel Kennedy’s three-pointer with 2:44 to go.

TCU 73, Arkansas 66--Carven Holcombe scored 29 points, and the 16th-ranked Horned Frogs outrebounded the Razorbacks, 46 to 30, in winning their 22nd straight game at home, a school record.

TCU, leading the Southwest Conference, is 18-3 and 9-0; Arkansas is 13-9 and 4-5.

Larry Richard added 20 points and 16 rebounds for TCU, while Ron Huery led Arkansas with 18 points.

Kansas 62, Louisville 58--Milt Newton and Danny Manning hit two free throws each in the final minutes, and Cedric Hunter made a steal with 30 seconds left as the 20th-ranked Jayhawks held off the Cardinals at Louisville, Ky.

Manning, who was averaging 21 points a game, was held to three baskets in five attempts by a collapsing Louisville zone. He scored eight points.

Keith Harris, a freshman forward, came off the bench to score a career-high 15 points for Kansas (15-5). Louisville (10-10) was led by Pervis Ellison with 22 points, 18 in the second half, and 10 rebounds.

DePaul 58, La Salle 54--Dallas Comegys scored 23 points, and Kevin Edwards scored on an four-point play as the eighth-ranked Blue Demons (18-1) slipped by the Explorers (11-9) at Philadelphia.

Oklahoma 86, N.C. State 82--David Johnson scored 19 points, including 11 straight points in crucial second-half surge by the 10th-ranked Sooners, who almost blew a 22-point lead at Raleigh, N.C.

Tim McCalister and Andy Kennedy also scored 19 points for Oklahoma (17-3). Charles Shackleford scored 24 points and Benny Bolton added 51 for N.C. State (12-7).