College Basketball Roundup : Las Vegas Buries Auburn, 104-85

Freddie Banks scored 36 points, including 27 on three-point shots, and Armon Gilliam added 31 points as No. 3-ranked Nevada Las Vegas routed No. 18 Auburn, 104-85, Sunday at Auburn, Ala.

Nevada Las Vegas led Auburn by 11 at halftime, when Coach Jerry Tarkanian reminded his team what happened the last time they played the Tigers.

“I told the team that we were up on Auburn by nine at the half of last year’s NCAA tournament game,” Tarkanian said.

In that game, Auburn came back to defeat the Runnin’ Rebels, 70-63, in the NCAA West Regionals at Long Beach.

On Sunday, Nevada Las Vegas led, 60-49, at halftime, and Auburn’s Frank Ford hit the first field goal of the second half with 19:04 left to cut the margin to nine.

But the Rebels of the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. outscored the Tigers of the Southeastern Conference 29-10 over the next 10 minutes to build an 89-61 lead with 9:13 remaining. During that stretch, Gilliam had nine points and Banks six.

Banks hit 9 of 13 three-point attempts and 13 of 21 overall as the Rebels improved their record to 21-1. Auburn is now 12-6.

“I think the three-point shot was effective for us, but we have been shooting it a lot all year,” Tarkanian said. Las Vegas, as a team, made 14 of 28 three-point shots.

Auburn Coach Sonny Smith said the Rebels are “the best team I’ve seen,” in large part because of their outside shooting.

“It was unbelievable,” Smith said. “They did it from every area of the court. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Auburn made only 15 of 27 free throws, including 11 of 22 in the first half.

“I think any chance we had to win the ballgame was lost in the first half because of our inability to hit the free throws,” Smith said. “I think it would have been a different game if we had been able to hit them.”

Chris Morris and Jeff Moore each scored 17 points to lead Auburn and Mike Jones added 16 before 12,584 fans, the second-largest basketball crowd in the Tigers’ history.

Oregon 68, Stanford 55--Guard Anthony Taylor, held scoreless in the first half, scored 16 second-half points to lead Oregon to a Pacific 10 victory over Stanford at Eugene, Ore.

Center Sven Meyer, who had a game-high 10 rebounds, and forward Jesse Nash each scored 14 points for Oregon, which is now 12-8 overall and 6-5 in Pac-10 play.

Center Howard Wright had 14 for Stanford (11-9, 5-6).

The lead changed hands 14 times before Oregon moved ahead for good, 37-36, on a basket by Meyer with 14:22 left to play.

Georgia Tech 76, Maryland 72--Duane Ferrell made 10 of 15 shots and scored 25 points to lead Georgia Tech to an Atlantic Coast Conference victory over Maryland at Atlanta.

Georgia Tech, 11-7 overall and 3-4 in ACC play, took a 50-37 lead with 11:08 left on a basket by Tom Hammonds, then withstood a Maryland rally, led by Steve Hood and Derrick Lewis.

Lewis led the Terps (6-8, 0-6) with 25 points, 17 in the second half, and Hood had 22. Hood, who was 10 of 13 from the field, missed his last two shots, one a dunk.

Nebraska 73, Oklahoma St. 66--Nebraska, which led by as many as 15 points in the first half, had its lead cut to three points late in the game but held off Oklahoma State in a Big Eight game at Lincoln, Neb.

Bill Jackman, who scored 15 points, made three key free throws in the final minute for the Cornhuskers, who are now 12-7 overall and 2-4 in the Big Eight. Oklahoma State drops to 5-14 and 1-5.

Missouri 68, Kansas State 64--Nathan Buntin scored 13 of his 20 points in the second half as Missouri won at Columbia, Mo., to earn a share of the Big Eight lead.

Missouri, winners of five of its last six games, is 5-1 in conference play and tied for first with No. 20 Kansas and No. 10 Oklahoma. The Tigers, who got 17 points from Derrick Chevious, are 15-7 overall.

Kansas State (14-5, 4-2) was led by Norris Coleman, who scored 20 points.

Texas 70, Rice 69--Patrick Fairs sank a free-throw with no time left to give the Longhorns a come-from-behind victory over Rice in a Southwest Conference game at Houston.

Texas inbounded the ball under its own basket with three seconds left to play and the score tied at 69-69. Fairs missed a 15-foot shot at the buzzer but was fouled by Rice’s Greg Hines.

Fairs sank the first of two free throws to give the Longhorns the win, despite protests from Rice interim coach Greg Walcavich, who disputed the foul call.

Texas (10-12, 3-6) was led by Raynard Davis, who scored 20 points. Rice (7-13, 1-8) was led by Hines, who had 17 points and 8 rebounds in the Owls’ first game under Walcavich.

Seton Hall 79, Boston College 76--James Major scored 21 points and Mark Bryant added 18 as Seton Hall won a Big East game at Boston.

The Pirates (12-7, 3-7) withstood an outstanding performance by Dana Barros, who scored 27 of his career-high 35 points in the second half to rally the Eagles (8-11, 1-8).

The Eagles trailed 73-57 with just over two minutes to go but soared back to make it close.