College Basketball Roundup : West Virginia Upsets No. 5 Temple, 65-61

The box score credits J.J. Crawl with just 10 points, but he did much more to help bring No. 5 Temple down to earth.

Crawl held Nate Blackwell to eight points and hit a jumper with 53 seconds left to break the game’s final tie as West Virginia upset the Owls, 65-61, Tuesday night in an Atlantic 10 Conference game at Philadelphia.

The Mountaineers (21-6, 15-3) used a box-and-one defense to stymie Temple (28-3, 17-1), with Crawl sticking with Blackwell while the other four defenders played zone. Blackwell, averaging 19.9 points, made just 3 of 8 shots--including a three-pointer that went in at the final buzzer.

West Virginia ended Temple’s 15-game winning streak and broke the Owls’ 34-game home-court winning streak.

Temple held a 46-41 lead with 8:39 left when the Mountaineers went on a 17-4 run. Two free throws by Herbie Brooks gave West Virginia a 53-48 advantage with 3:49 to go.

The Owls rallied to tie the score, 55-55, on a free throw by Mike Vreeswyk, but Crawl’s jumper untied it. Brooks and Tyrone Shaw made two free throws each, and Brooks added a layup as the Mountaineers put the game away.

Shaw scored 16 points, and Brooks added 15 for the Mountaineers. Vreeswyk had 18, and Howard Evans 15 for Temple.

Iowa State 86, Oklahoma 84--Tom Schafer had 29 points and 17 rebounds and hit a 14-foot shot at the buzzer to give the Cyclones an upset of the 12th-ranked Sooners in a Big Eight game at Ames, Iowa.

The Cyclones (13-13, 5-8), who rallied from a 16-point deficit, knocked Oklahoma (21-6, 9-4) out of a share of the Big Eight lead.

Harvey Grant had 26 points for Oklahoma, and Darryl Kennedy added 24.

Missouri 80, Kansas State 75--Lee Coward and Greg Church made crucial shots in the final minutes as the Tigers rallied to beat the Wildcats at Manhattan, Kan., and take sole possession of the Big Eight lead.

Coward scored five points in the final three minutes, and Church made two free throws with 36 seconds left to give Missouri (20-9, 10-3) a 79-75 lead.

Derrick Chievous scored 21 points for Missouri. Norris Coleman had 21 for Kansas State (17-9, 7-6).

Georgetown 79, Boston College 65--Reggie Williams scored 25 points to lead the eighth-ranked Hoyas past the Eagles in a Big East Conference game at Boston.

The Hoyas (22-4, 11-4) took sole possession of second place in the Big East, one-half game behind Pittsburgh.

Troy Bowers had 20 points for the Eagles (9-16, 2-12).

Army 68, LaSalle 59--Kevin Houston scored 16 of the Cadets’ last 20 points to lead a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference upset of the Explorers at West Point, N.Y.

Houston, the nation’s leading scorer, scored 27 of his 37 points in the second half, outscoring LaSalle (16-11, 10-4), which had just 23 points after halftime.

The Cadets (13-13, 8-5) trailed, 50-48, with just under 10 minutes left when Houston began his tear.

Navy 84, Richmond 66--David Robinson scored 23 points and Carl Liebert added 19 as the Midshipmen won their 10th straight by downing the Spiders in a Colonial Athletic Assn. game at Richmond, Va.

Navy (23-5, 13-1) avenged its only conference defeat. Richmond (14-13, 8-6) upset Navy, 64-62, earlier in the season at Annapolis, Md.

Rodney Rice scored 18 points for Richmond.