College Basketball Roundup : Temple Gets Even, Wins, 70-57

This time, Temple never gave West Virginia a chance.

The eighth-ranked Owls connected on their first five shots and seven of their first eight Thursday night en route to a 70-57 victory in the championship game of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament at Philadelphia.

The victory made up for a 64-61 defeat by West Virginia last week and gave the Owls (31-3) their 17th victory in the last 18 games plus an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

“We hit our shots early and that makes it easier later,” Temple Coach John Chaney said. “It helped our confidence to get off so good. We did a good job of coming out balanced. We weren’t emotionally high, but we were mentally alert.”

Temple, after taking a 17-6 lead at the start, powered to a 43-29 halftime lead.

West Virginia (23-7) rallied behind freshman guard Steve Berger, who at one point scored 10 straight points. The Mountaineers closed to within 58-49 on Berger’s 3-point shot with nine minutes left.

J.J. Crawl’s basket cut the lead to 64-57 with 2:09 left, but the Owls converted six straight free throws for the game’s final points.

“We made a thrust in the second half, but they withstood it and made their shots when they had to,” West Virginia Coach Gale Catlett said. “I think the game really was won in the first half.”

Mike Vreeswyk scored 21 points, Howard Evans added 20 and Nate Blackwell had 19 for Temple. Tyrone Shaw had 17 points for West Virginia.

Iowa 103, Northwestern 76--Kevin Gamble scored 21 points, and Jeff Moe added 20, including 5 consecutive three-pointers, and the sixth-ranked Hawkeyes rolled past the Wildcats in a Big Ten game at Evanston, Ill.

The Hawkeyes (26-4, 13-4) gave Coach Tom Davis the 300th victory of his career.

Shon Morris scored 16 points for Northwestern (6-21, 1-16).

Notre Dame 65, Miami 49--David Rivers scored 22 points, and Donald Royal added 20 as the 20th-ranked Irish downed the Hurricanes at South Bend, Ind.

Miami (14-16) was within five points late in the game before Notre Dame (21-6) scored 14 straight points, 6 apiece by Rivers and Royal, for a 61-42 lead.

Tito Horford had 17 points for Miami.

LSU 68, Mississippi State 54--Anthony Wilson and Oliver Brown scored 16 points each to lead the Tigers past the Bulldogs in the first game of the Southeastern Conference tournament at Atlanta.

LSU (19-13) will play regular-season runner-up Florida tonight.

Reginald Boykin scored 17 points for Mississippi State (7-21).

Tennessee 74, Vanderbilt 57--Tony White scored 30 points, including 12 in a row during one stretch, and the Volunteers routed the Commodores in the SEC tournament.

The Volunteers (14-14) will play regular-season champion Alabama tonight.

Will Perdue had 15 points for Vanderbilt (16-15).

Boston College 61, Connecticut 59--Jamie Benton hit a jumper in the lane with 14 seconds left to give the Eagles a victory over the Huskies in the Big East tournament at New York.

Dana Barros scored 25 points for Boston College (11-17), which didn’t lead until Benton’s shot.

Freshman Steve Pikiell scored 27 points for Connecticut (9-19).

Wyoming 56, Utah 54--Sophomore Reggie Fox scored on a follow shot with three seconds left to lift the Cowboys to a victory over the Utes in the first round of the Western Athletic Conference tournament at Albuquerque, N.M.

Fennis Dembo scored 21 points for Wyoming (20-9) and Eric Leckner added 20. Mitch Smith had 18 points for Utah (17-12).

In other tournament games, New Mexico beat Colorado State, 92-77, BYU downed Air Force, 82-79, and Texas El Paso defeated San Diego State, 85-65. UTEP (24-5) plays Wyoming, while BYU (21-9) meets New Mexico (25-8) in tonight’s semifinals.