College Basketball Roundup : Arizona Upsets Michigan, Faces Syracuse in Shootout Final

Arizona, the preseason favorite in the Pacific 10, showed why Saturday night by upsetting Michigan, 79-64, in the semifinals of the Great Alaska Shootout at Anchorage, Alaska.

In Monday night’s championship game, the Wildcats will meet No. 1-ranked Syracuse, a 79-63 winner over Alabama Birmingham in the other semifinal game.

Michigan will play Alabama Birmingham for third place in one of three consolation games today.

Arizona’s standout guard, Steve Kerr, made 3 of 3 three-pointers and 6 of 7 shots overall, scoring 14 points and shutting down Michigan star Gary Grant.

“It was obvious (Grant) was intent on putting on pressure and trying to intimidate me,” Kerr said. “He was talking on the court. Stuff like, ‘Don’t put it on the floor.’ Nothing out of the ordinary.

“But I was fired up, too, and in the heat of the battle I decided to do a little talking myself.”

Kerr pointed a finger at Grant after his first three-pointer with 5:37 left in the first half. The shot gave Arizona a 28-21 lead and brought a timeout from Michigan.

The Wolverines were never the same, especially Grant. Michigan fell behind, 39-30, at halftime and trailed by as many as 21 in the second half.

Grant scored only 7 points, making 3 of 14 shots.

Tom Tolbert led Arizona with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Anthony Cook scored 16, and Sean Elliott had 14.

Terry Mills led Michigan with 18 points, and Glen Rice scored 15. But Mills, who had 12 at halftime, didn’t score in the second half until 3:43 remained.

Syracuse scored the first eight points in its game and never trailed Alabama Birmingham. Sherman Douglas, who led the Orangemen with 24 points, got 16 in the first half, when he also had four steals.

Rony Seikaly scored 12 and Derrick Coleman added 11 for the Orangemen. Coleman and Seikaly had 19 and 13 rebounds, respectively, as Syracuse dominated the boards, 51-41.

Coleman’s 19 rebounds tied a Shootout record held by two others.

In the losers’ bracket, Michael Jackson scored 26 points as Alaska Anchorage defeated Southwest Texas State, 90-84, and Lemuel Howard had 24 and Eric Brown 23 as Miami (Fla.) held off Duquesne, 84-84. Tito Horford had 18 rebounds for the Hurricanes.

Iowa 100, Kansas 81--Returning to his familiar sixth-man role, Jeff Moe made five three-point shots and scored 22 points to help the Hawkeyes beat the Jayhawks in the semifinals of the Maui tournament at Lahaina, Hawaii.

Moe started in Iowa’s first-round victory over Stanford but made only 3 of 9 shots.

Roy Marble, who is coming back from a minor knee injury, replaced Moe in the starting lineup and also scored 22 points as Iowa moved into tonight’s championship against Villanova, a 78-76 winner over Illinois.

“I thought it would help Roy to get him back starting and I thought it might help Jeff coming off the bench,” Iowa Coach Tom Davis said. The strategy worked.

Kansas’ Danny Manning was limited to 7 points in the second half after scoring 16 in the first half. He fouled out with 4:31 left.

Bill Jones finished with 15 points for Iowa, and Kent Hill scored 14.

In a consolation game, Todd Lichti scored 31 points to lead Stanford over host Chaminade, 93-82.

Florida 70, Seton Hall 68--Vernon Maxwell sank two free throws with six seconds left, and the Gators withstood a second-half Pirate surge to win the Big Apple NIT championship at New York.

Maxwell, who scored a game-high 27 points and was named the tournament MVP, was fouled by Martin Salley and hit both ends of the one-and-one to help Florida improve to 4-0.

The Pirates trailed by 18 points at the half but used a 26-10 run to pull within 51-49 with 10:37 left. It was then close until the end.

In the consolation game, Jeff Grayer scored 29 points and Lafester Rhodes added 24 to give Iowa State a 107-96 victory over New Mexico.

Indiana 90, Miami (Ohio) 65--The defending national champion Hoosiers defeated the Redskins at Bloomington, Ind., in both teams’ season opener.

Dean Garrett scored 25 points and Rick Calloway 19 for the Hoosiers, who trailed, 14-13, with 15:21 remaining in the first half but outscored the Redskins, 10-2, in the next 3:12 as Calloway had four points.

Miami’s Eric Newsome had 18 points, including four three-pointers. Jeff Fuerst added 12 points.

Keith Smart scored 17 and Todd Jadlow 12 for Indiana.

Maryland 77, Mississippi 69--Derrick Lewis scored 27 points and freshman Brian Williams added 20 to help the Terrapins win the title game of the Harbor tournament at Baltimore.

Southern Methodist 121, James Madison 89--Carlton McKinney scored 29 points to lead the Mustangs to a victory over over the Dukes in the opening round of a tournament at Springfield, Mo.

Duke 110, Appalachian State 74--Kevin Strickland and John Smith keyed a 26-2 run in the first half as the Blue Devils rolled in their season opener.

Strickland, who had a game-high 17 points, scored 7 and Smith 6 during the Blue Devils’ big run.

Pittsburgh 96, Robert Morris 70--Charles Smith scored 20 of his game-high 23 points in the second half as the Panthers buried their cross-town rivals at Pittsburgh.

Pitt outscored the Colonials, 18-2, to start the second half and turn the game into a rout. Smith scored the first six points of the half.

Jason Matthews, a 6 foot 3-inch freshman from St. Monica High in Santa Monica who was academically ineligible last season because of Proposition 48, scored 15 points for the Panthers.

Kentucky 86, Hawaii 59--Center Rob Lock scored 18 points, and the Wildcats had a 17-0 run in the second half in opening their season with a victory over the Rainbows at Lexington, Ky.

Guard Chris Gaines scored 24 points for Hawaii (0-2).

Ohio State 95, Missouri St. Louis 74--Jay Burson scored 17 points as the Buckeyes won at Columbus, Ohio, in their season opener. Curtis Wilson had 16, Randy Doss 15, Jerry Francis 13 and Perry Carter 12 for Ohio State.

Drake 70, Minnesota 67--Bart Friedrick scored on a baseline drive with 23 seconds to play at Minneapolis as the Bulldogs handed the Gophers their 17th straight loss in the opener for both teams.

Drake’s Walter James led all scorers with 21 points before fouling out with 8:12 remaining.

Melvin Newbern, making his collegiate debut after sitting out last season because of academic problems, led the Gophers with 15 points.

California 70, Creighton 49--Forward Matt Beeuwsaert scored 15 points and center Hartmut Ortmann added 14 as the Bears defeated the Bluejays at Berkeley in the season opener for both teams.

Oklahoma 104, Texas A&M; 80--Stacey King scored 33 points to lead the Sooners at Norman, Okla.

Mookie Blaylock had 25 points for Oklahoma, and Harvey Grant added 16, getting all but 2 in the second half.

Pacific 82, Hayward St. 66--Junior forward Willie Tatum had 18 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Tigers at Stockton.

Georgetown 92, Hawaii Loa 41--Charles Smith scored 15 points and Mark Tillmon and Anthony Tucker added 14 apiece as the No. 16 Hoyas won at Honolulu Friday night. Hawaii Loa, an NAIA school, has only one player taller than 6 feet 7 inches.