College Basketball Roundup : Hunter Decides to Play, Helps Kansas Beat Oklahoma, 86-84

Kansas Coach Larry Brown wasn’t the one who decided that injured guard Cedric Hunter would play Saturday against Oklahoma. Hunter made that decision.

“I’m glad he did,” Brown said.

Hunter, after missing two games with a sprained ankle, scored 20 points and Danny Manning had 26 as the No. 17-ranked Jayhawks defeated the No. 8 Sooners, 86-84, in a Big Eight showdown at Lawrence, Kan.

Hunter, who also sank a key foul shot in the final seconds, said: “I decided to play right before the game. The ankle was looser and I felt pretty good.”

Kansas, 19-6 overall and 8-2 in Big Eight play, has won 47 straight at home, the longest home winning streak in Division I. The Jayhawks take over first place in the Big Eight, while the Sooners (19-5, 7-3) fall back into a second-place tie with Missouri.

Oklahoma, which trailed Kansas by 17 points early in the second half, pulled within one at 85-84 with 38 seconds to play.

After Hunter was fouled, he hit the first free throw, rebounded his own miss on the second and slapped the ball to Manning.

Kansas’ Keith Harris, a freshman, was fouled but missed the free throw with nine seconds left. The buzzer sounded as Oklahoma’s Tim McCalister missed a three- point shot.

Missouri 69, Oklahoma St. 68--Mike Sandbothe’s follow shot with 10 seconds remaining capped a tremendous comeback that allowed the Tigers to beat the Cowboys in a Big Eight game at Stillwater, Okla.

Sandbothe grabbed the rebound of a missed three-point try by Derrick Chievous, who finished with a game-high 27 points. The ball bounced long off the rim.

Missouri (17-9, 7-3) trailed 64-54 with 4:55 remaining. But the Tigers scored nine straight points to make it 64-63 with 2:25 remaining as Oklahoma State missed on the front end of three one-and-one situations.

Oklahoma State (7-16, 3-7) got 17 points each from Todd Christian and Ray Alford.

Colorado 77, Iowa State 74--The Buffaloes snapped a 26-game Big Eight losing streak when sophomore forward Matt Bullard, who had played in 24 of those 26 losses, hit a three-pointer from the top of the key with seven seconds left at Boulder, Colo.

It was Colorado’s first conference victory since Feb. 27, 1985, when the Buffaloes beat Missouri, 88-79, in overtime.

Junior Scott Wilke had a career-high 27 points for the Buffaloes (7-16, 1-9). Jeff Grayer scored a game-high 31 points for Iowa State (11-12, 3-7).

Pittsburgh 72, Boston College 67--Had it not been for freshman Rod Brookin throwing in a desperation three-point shot with three seconds left in the first overtime, the underdog Eagles would have pulled off a Big East upset at Pittsburgh.

Brookin’s shot forced a second overtime, enabling No. 10 Pitt (21-4, 10-2) to pull away from Boston College (9-14, 2-11).

Brookin scored 15 points, and sophomore forward Jerome Lane had 13 points and 19 rebounds as Pitt rallied from a six-point second-half deficit to win its eighth consecutive game.

Boston College’s Dana Barros made two foul shots with one second left in regulation to tie the score at 58-58. Jamie Benton later made two free throws to give Boston College a 61-58 lead with 12 seconds left in the first overtime.

Pitt called a timeout before an unguarded Brookin, falling away from 20 feet, hit the game-saving shot.

The Panthers moved 1 1/2 games ahead of Syracuse (8-3) in the Big East race.

Providence 79, St. John’s 78--Ernie Lewis’ foul shot with 30 seconds remaining broke a 78-78 tie as the No. 20-ranked Friars ended the Redmen’s 30-game home winning streak at New York.

Mark Jackson, who had won three games for No. 16 St. John’s with last-second shots, had an 18-footer bounce off the rim as time expired in the Big East game.

Dave Kipfer scored 18 points for Providence (17-5, 7-4). Willie Glass had 23 for St. John’s (17-5, 8-5).

Purdue 81, Minnesota 73--Everette Stephens scored 13 points, including six free throws in the final 57 seconds and had eight assists as the No. 7-ranked Boilermakers won a Big Ten game at Minneapolis.

Troy Lewis, had 18 points, including four three-pointers, and Todd Mitchell added 16 points for Purdue, which won its fourth straight game to improve to 20-3 overall and 11-2 in the conference.

Minnesota (9-13, 2-10) lost its 10th straight.

Iowa 66, Illinois 61--Brad Lohaus, a 7-foot senior, made six free throws in the final minute as the No. 4 Hawkeyes battled to a Big Ten victory over the No. 11 Illini at Iowa City.

Iowa (22-3, 9-3) stayed in the running for the Big Ten title. Illinois is 19-6 and 9-4.

Ohio State 75, Northwestern 60--Dennis Hopson scored 29 points, including 15 from three-point range, to lead the Buckeyes (17-8, 8-5) to a Big Ten victory at Evanston, Ill. Northwestern is 6-17 and 1-12.

Alabama 60, LSU 52--Defense dominated this Southeastern Conference game at Baton Rouge, La, for the No. 14 Tigers, who average more than 79 points a game.

The Alabama defense held LSU’s leading scorer, Anthony Wilson, to just six points, about 10 points under his average.

The victory kept Alabama (19-4, 12-2) one-half game ahead of Florida in the Southeastern Conference race. Florida beat Kentucky, 74-56, earlier Saturday. LSU is now 16-12 and 6-9.

Derrick McKey, who scored 21 points for the Crimson Tide, got six of them to lead a 10-3 surge after LSU had pulled to within 50-49 with five minutes left.

Florida 74, Kentucky 56--Chris Capers scored eight points to key a 14-3 burst that broke open a close game midway through the second half and the 19th-ranked Gators rolled to an SEC victory at Gainesville, Fla.

The victory enabled Florida (20-6, 12-3) to reach the 20-victory plateau for only the second time. The Gators have won 8 of 10 games since Kentucky beat them, 67-62, at Lexington last month.

Kentucky (15-7, 8-6) had won six of its previous eight games.

Andrew Moten led Florida with 20 points. Vernon Maxwell, the SEC’s second-leading scorer, added 16. Ed Davender scored a game-high 22 points for Kentucky.

Tennessee 103, Auburn 84--Tony White scored a Tennessee-record 51 points as the Volunteers beat the Tigers in an SEC game at Knoxville, Tenn.

White, who scored 29 points in the first half, finished with 8 of 8 free throws in the last 50 seconds of the game to break Ron Widby’s 20-year record of 50 points.

White, a 6-2 senior who entered the game averaging 22.9 points per game, made 15 of 20 from the field, including 3 of 3 from three-point range, and 18 of 19 free throws.

Tennessee is 11-12 and 5-9, Auburn 14-9 and 7-7.

North Carolina 93, Maryland 86--Freshman J.R. Reid, benched for almost nine minutes at the start for missing the team bus, made amends by scoring 16 points to help the No. 3 Tar Heels defeat the Terrapins in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at College Park, Md.

“I served my time and then helped us win,” Reid said. “It’s the first time I ever did that (miss a bus) and the last time.”

Reid, who ran up a $13 cab bill to reach Cole Field House before the game started, said he had trouble getting an elevator on the 12th floor of the Watergate Hotel. “I ran down a couple of flights, and then got the elevator,” he said.

Kenny Smith scored 20 points for North Carolina (22-2, 11-0). Maryland (6-13, 0-11) was led by Derrick Lewis with 26 points.

Clemson 94, Virginia 90--Michael Brown hit a pair of technical free throws with four seconds remaining in overtime and Michael Tate added a pair of foul shouts with two seconds left as the Tigers rallied for an overtime ACC victory over the Cavaliers at Charlottesville, Va.

The Tigers (23-2, 8-2) trailed by three points in the extra period when Horace Grant, who led Clemson with 29 points and 9 rebounds, hit a three-point shot, his first three-point attempt of the season, with six seconds left to tie it, 90-90.

Virginia’s Mel Kennedy then signaled for a time out. But the Cavaliers (15-8, 4-6) had no time outs remaining and were handed a two-shot technical foul.

Brown then hit the shots and Tate connected on his pair on the ensuing in bounds play to give Clemson its 10th road victory in as many tries.

Temple 67, West Virginia 57--Mistakes hurt the Owls, but they really stopped the Moutaineers in this Atlantic 10 game at Morgantown, W.Va.

The No. 6 Owls committed six turnovers in the first four minutes of the second half, allowing West Virginia to cut a 40-29 halftime deficit to two points. But because of mistakes and poor shooting, the Mountaineers failed to capitalize.

“I haven’t had that many turnovers in my life,” said Coach John Chaney, who is in his fifth year at Temple.

Temple senior Nate Blackwell scored 23 points, including 16 in the first half. His three-pointer with 9:55 left in the game broke a nine-minute scoreless string.

West Virginia hit only 35% from the field and 25% from the foul line.

Temple (25-2, 14-0) snapped a six-game West Virginia winning streak. The Mountaineers, still in sole possession of the No. 2 spot in the conference at 12-3, are 18-6 overall.

DePaul 83, Alabama Birmingham 71--Reserve Stanley Brundy scored 20 points and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds to lead the No. 5 Blue Demons to victory at Birmingham, Ala. Rod Strickland added 18 points for DePaul (22-1). James Ponder scored 21 points for the Blazers (16-10).

Syracuse 99, Louisville 72--Greg Monroe scored 20 points and Derrick Coleman added 19 as the No. 9 Orangemen won at Syracuse to improve to 20-4. It was the 250th victory at Syracuse for Coach Jim Boeheim, who recorded his 10th 20-win season in 11 years as the Orangemen’s leader.

Louisville, which had its four-game win streak snapped, fell to 14-11.

Felton Spencer, Louisville’s 7-1 freshman center, scored 17 points.

Navy 68, American University 61--David Robinson scored 25 points and Doug Wojcik hit four free throws in the final 47 seconds as the Midshipmen (20-5, 11-1) held off American University in a Colonial Athletic Assn. game at Arlington, Va. American is 11-11 and 4-8.