College Basketball Roundup : Notre Dame Starts Slowly, Loses to Vanderbilt

Reserve center Randy Neff made three free throws in the final 15 seconds as Vanderbilt held off Notre Dame, 60-56, Friday night at Nashville.

Vanderbilt led, 57-50, with 1:31 left when Notre Dame’s Donald Royal, who finished with a game-high 21 points, sparked a 6-0 spurt that brought the Irish within 57-56 with 16 seconds left.

But Neff hit the first of two foul shots to put Vanderbilt ahead, 58-56, with 15 seconds remaining. Eleven seconds later, Notre Dame’s Mark Stevenson tried to force a pass to Royal, but it bounced off Royal’s hands and went out of bounds.

On the ensuing inbounds pass, Neff was fouled again and made both foul shots to make it 60-56.

Vanderbilt (14-9) held the Irish to four field goals in the first half and led at halftime, 23-19.

Vanderbilt guards Barry Booker and Scott Draud combined to limit Notre Dame guard David Rivers to only nine points. Rivers made only 3 of 13 shots.

Irish Coach Digger Phelps said his team (13-6) played its worst game of the season. “We were horrible in the first half, just horrible,” Phelps said.

Scott Draud was Vanderbilt’s top scorer with 14 points.

St. John’s 65, Boston College 50--Senior Willie Glass scored 25 points and Mark Jackson added 23 as the 19th-ranked Redmen rolled to a Big East victory at Boston.

Glass scored for 17 points in the second half, including 10 in the first nine minutes of the half as the Redmen, 16-4 overall and 7-4 in Big East play, opened a 46-32 lead with 8:49 remaining. Boston College is 9-12 and 2-9.

Santa Clara 70, Gonzaga 61--Brian Moody and Mitch Burley scored 17 points as the Broncos snapped the Bulldogs’ five-game winning streak in a West Coast Athletic Conference game at Santa Clara.

Jim McPhee scored 18 points for the Broncos (13-10, 4-5). Gonzaga is 15-6, 6-2.

USF 99, Portland 74--Mark McCathrion scored 28 points and grabbed 9 rebounds to lead the Dons in a WCAC game at San Francisco. USF, snapping a six-game losing streak, improved to 13-9 and 3-6. The Pilots are 12-9 and 4-4.