College Basketball Roundup : Irish Warm Up for Tournament by Upsetting Duke, 70-66

Digger Phelps knows there is more work to be done, but he believes Notre Dame is ready for the NCAA tournament.

The Irish proved it to him Sunday by upsetting 15th-ranked Duke, 70-66, in overtime at South Bend, Ind.

“If it was tomorrow, we could play,” said Phelps, whose team needs a strong finish to reach the NCAA tournament. “We’ve proved we can play against the best.”

Notre Dame (14-7) upset then-No. 1 North Carolina two weeks ago and nearly knocked off highly ranked Kansas last week, but was surprised by losing to Vanderbilt.

Donald Royal made two free throws with 24 seconds left in overtime to break a 66-66 tie and freshman Scott Paddock added two more with three seconds left to sink the Blue Devils (20-5).

“I just wanted to go in there and concentrate on my follow-through,” said Royal, who had 16 points. “After that disappointing loss to Vanderbilt, I really concentrated on my free-throw shooting.”

Billy King of Duke opened the scoring in overtime to give the Blue Devils a 62-60 lead with 4:22 left, but Notre Dame freshman Joe Fredrick hit a jumper to tie the score. Duke’s John Smith, who scored 19 points, put the Blue Devils ahead with a basket at the 2:32 mark, but Notre Dame’s David Rivers hit two free throws to tie it, 64-64, with 1:58 left.

Fredrick made two free throws to give the Irish a 66-64 lead with 1:04 left. King scored with 50 seconds left, tying the score one last time.

“The freshmen scoring six points won the game for us,” Phelps said. “I had the feeling all week that Joe Fredrick was going to be the guy to come off the bench and score. Both Fredrick and Paddock knew they would play this week.”

Smith’s basket with 52 seconds left in regulation tied the score and sent the game to overtime.

Scott Hicks scored 19 points for the Irish.

Notre Dame hit 26 of 30 free throws while Duke was 9 of 15 from the foul line.

North Carolina 83, Marquette 74--Jeff Lebo scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half and the third-ranked Tar Heels rallied to turn back the Warriors at Chapel Hill, N.C.

The Tar Heels (23-2) were trailing, 53-46, with 13:24 left, but tied the score with seven straight points--the last two on a dunk by freshman J.R. Reid with 11:13 left.

Jeff Lebo scored five straight points to give North Carolina a 61-57 lead, and Marquette (14-9) never caught up.

North Carolina stretched its lead to 79-65 on a dunk by Kenny Smith with 3:01 left.

Reid and Smith scored 17 points each for the Tar Heels and Joe Wolf added 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Tom Copa made 7 of 9 field-goal attempts for the Warriors and had 16 points. Michael Sims added 15.

David Boone, Marquette’s leading scorer and rebounder who missed much of the second half with foul trouble, finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Illinois State 75, Tulsa 70--Derrick Sanders missed a crucial free throw with 35 seconds left, but then cashed in a rare four-point play to give the Redbirds an upset of the Missouri Valley Conference-leading Golden Hurricane at Normal, Ill.

The Redbirds (14-10, 6-6) led by as many as 14 in the second half before Tulsa (18-5, 8-2) mounted a comeback.

The Golden Hurricane went on a 14-4 surge, pulling to within 65-61 on Brian Rayhilly’s layup with 3:33 left.

Cliff Petersen hit two free throws with 1:13 left to increase the lead to 71-65, but Tulsa’s Tracy Moore scored five points to pull the Golden Hurricane to within 71-70 with 43 seconds left.

After Sanders missed his free throw, Tulsa missed a pair of shots that could have put the Hurricane in front. Sanders made a layup and added two free throws when he was fouled intentionally.

Jeff Harris scored 15 of his 21 points from three-point range for Illinois State and Sanders added 16 points. Moore had 19 points for Tulsa and Byron Boudreaux added 17.

Michigan State 90, Michigan 81--Darryl Johnson scored 26 points and Vernon Carr added 20 as the Spartans pulled away in the second half for a Big Ten victory over the Wolverines at East Lansing, Mich.

Johnson scored 17 points in the second half and Carr had 10 to help the Spartans (9-13, 4-8) stretch their 43-42 halftime lead as much as 90-78 with 11 seconds left.

Jumpers by Carr and Johnson put Michigan State ahead, 62-53, with 12:45 remaining, but Michigan (15-9, 6-6) fought back to within 71-68 on three baskets by Gary Grant and two by Glen Rice.

Johnson hit a three-pointer, Carlton Valentine made two free throws and Todd Wolfe added a layup to boost the Spartans’ lead to 80-70 with 6:30 left.

Antoine Joubert had 19 points for Michigan and Garde Thompson added 18.

California 68, Washington State 66--Briant Walton hit an 18-foot jump shot with two seconds left to give the Bears a Pacific 10 Conference victory over the Cougars at Pullman, Wash.

Anthony Kidd of Washington State tied the score, 66-66, on a shot with 11 seconds to play.

Cal trailed, 35-28, at halftime, but got back into the game with a 10-3 surge at the outset of the second half and it was close the rest of the way.

Dave Butler scored 24 points for the Bears and Joe Wallace had 19 for Washington State.

Texas Tech 65, Texas A&M; 58--Sean Gay scored 16 points and the Red Raiders blanked the Aggies over the final 3:14 in a Southwest Conference game at Lubbock, Tex.

Texas A&M; (12-11, 5-7) had a 50-41 lead midway through the second half, but the Texas Tech (13-11, 8-5) outscored them, 24-8, the rest of the way.

Todd Holloway had 24 points for A&M.;