College Basketball Roundup : Alford Scores Career-High 42 in Hoosier Win

Steve Alford scored a career-high 42 points to set an Assembly Hall scoring record as No. 2 Indiana beat Michigan State, 84-80, in a Big Ten game Wednesday at Bloomington, Ind.

Indiana (18-2 overall and 9-1 in the conference) preserved a one-game lead over second-place Iowa in the Big Ten standings.

“We won this because Steve Alford plays for us,” Indiana Coach Bob Knight said. “Without Alford, Michigan State wins the ballgame going away.”

Knight said he was pleased with the play of Daryl Thomas, who had 20 points, and said guard Joe Hillman did a good job, “but I was disappointed with the rest of them.”

“We will make some changes in our next lineup,” Knight added. “And we’ll get some people sitting . . . on the bench until they decide they want to play.”

The Hoosiers led, 44-31, at halftime with Alford scoring 24 points, but they couldn’t shake the stubborn Spartans (8-12, 3-7).

Indiana led, 72-59, with 8:58 remaining, but Michigan State scored 10 of the next 12 points to close within 74-69 on Vernon Carr’s dunk with 3:44 left in the game.

The Spartans had a chance to cut the lead to three, but Ed Wright, all alone on a breakaway layup with 2:30 left, was called for traveling. Then the game turned into a free-throw shooting contest, with Alford hitting eight in the last 1:51 to secure the victory.

Alford’s performance bettered the 41 points scored in Assembly Hall by Indiana’s Steve Downing in 1973 against Illinois.

Iowa 78, Minnesota 47--Forward Roy Marble scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half as No. 4 Iowa rolled in a Big Ten game at Iowa City, Iowa.

Marble sparked the first-half surge as Iowa moved to 20-2 overall and 8-2 in the conference, as the Hawkeyes held on to second place. Minnesota fell to 9-11 overall and 2-8 in the Big Ten.

Iowa 7-foot forward Brad Lohaus added 11 points, six on three-point field goals, while center Ed Horton had 10 points.

Pittsburgh 58, Villanova 57--Charles Smith, Jerome Lane and Rod Brookin scored 15 points apiece to pace 16th-ranked Pittsburgh to a Big East triumph at Villanova, Pa.

Harold Jensen had a chance to give Villanova the lead late in the game, but his shot from the lane was blocked with 10 seconds left. The Panthers improved to 18-4 and 7-2 in the conference, while Villanova dropped to 12-9, 5-5.

The scored was tied 47-47 with 8:24 left when Mike Goodson hit a jump shot to open a 10-3 run that gave the Panthers a 57-50 edge with 5:26 remaining. Villanova closed to 58-57 with 1:53 left on Jensen’s three-pointer.

Baylor 66, TCU 63--The longest current college basketball winning streak was broken at Baylor’s Heart O’ Texas Coliseum in Waco, a noted Southwest Conference graveyard for ranked teams.

TCU, which had won 14 consecutive games and risen to the No. 15 spot in the rankings, lost its first conference game of the season as Baylor guard Michael Williams scored eight of his 15 points in the final minutes.

“We just waited too long to get started,” TCU Coach Jim Killingsworth said. “We let them take the boards away from us and we didn’t play very quick. When you don’t do those things, you’re going to lose.”

In 1982, Baylor broke Texas’ 14-game winning streak at Heart O’ Texas Coliseum when the Longhorns were ranked fifth in the nation.

TCU is 19-4, 9-1; Baylor is 12-8, 7-3.

Notre Dame 76, LaSalle 64--Sean Connor scored four straight free throws to key a 15-1 Irish spurt at the start of overtime as Notre Dame defeated LaSalle in a nonconference game at South Bend, Ind.

Notre Dame, which survived cold shooting at the end of regulation, returned to form in overtime after two bench technical fouls were called on the Explorers (11-10).

The first technical with 4:36 left in overtime enabled the Irish to score six points on one trip down the floor.

Two of Connor’s four consecutive free throws came in a bonus situation, and the other two came after technicals.

Notre Dame (13-5) had lead 57-49 with 6:10 left in regulation, but was unable to score again until the overtime period.

Oklahoma 80, Nebraska 66--Harvey Grant scored 22 points as eighth-ranked Oklahoma kept at least a share of the Big Eight Conference lead with a win at Lincoln, Neb.

David Johnson had 16 points and David Kennedy and Tim McCalister scored 15 each for the Sooners.

The Sooners, who have won nine straight games, are 6-1 at the halfway point in the Big Eight race and 18-3 overall. Nebraska is 2-5 and 12-8.

Kansas 80, Kansas St. 75--Keith Harris scored four of his six points in the second overtime to give No. 18 Kansas a key Big Eight victory at Manhattan, Kan.

Harris scored to give the Jayhawks a 71-70 lead with 1:35 left in the game. After the Wildcats failed to score twice down the court, Cedric Hunter made the first of a 1-and-1 with 56 seconds left. He missed the second free throw, but the rebound was batted back to him.

Hunter, who finished with 22 points, found Harris open under the basket for a dunk and a 74-70 Kansas lead with 42 seconds to go.

Mark Turgeon made two free throws with 28 seconds left for Kansas (16-5, 6-1) and Hunter added two more with 10 seconds to go to make the score 78-72 and secure the Jayhawks’ seventh consecutive victory and keep them in a tie for first place in the conference with Oklahoma.

Kansas State is 14-6, 4-3.

Duke 75, Virginia 61--Tempers almost always flare when Duke and Virginia meet, and a flare-up in this Atlantic Coast Conference showdown turned the tables in favor of the 16th-ranked Blue Devils at Durham, N.C.

The problems began when Virginia’s Tom Sheehey threw an elbow at Danny Ferry of the Blue Devils. Sheehey was ejected and Ferry hit two free throws to break a 31-31 tie with 5:27 left in the first half.

Freshman Alaa Abdelnaby added two short baseline jumpers to push Duke’s lead to 37-31. Then Cavaliers Coach Terry Holland continued to argue Sheehey’s ejection and he was assessed a technical foul. But, Tommy Amaker, who led Duke with 14 points, missed both free throws.

Amaker hit a baseline jumper with three seconds left in the half gave Duke a 39-33 lead.

The Blue Devils, who won their ninth straight game over Virginia, improved to 18-4, 6-3; Virginia is 14-6, 4-4.

Alabama 76, Mississippi State 55--Mark Gottfried hit 6 of 7 three-point shots en route to an 18-point performance that led the No. 9-ranked and Southeastern Conference-leading Crimson Tide to victory at Starkville, Miss.

Alabama is 17-3 overall and 10-1 in the SEC; Mississippi State is 5-15 and 1-10.

Kentucky 75, Auburn 71--Senior guard James Blackmon scored a career-high 27 points as Kentucky held off a late rally by 20th-ranked Auburn to take a Southeastern Conference victory at Lexington, Ky..

Kentucky improved to 13-6 overall and 6-5 in the SEC, while Auburn fell to 12-7 and 5-5.