College Basketball Roundup : Douglas Takes Over as Syracuse Takes Pitt

Syracuse simply turned the game over to Sherman Douglas.

Douglas scored 12 of the last 15 points when Pittsburgh went to a man-to-man defense, and the No. 11 Orangemen knocked off the fifth-ranked Panthers, 84-75, Wednesday night in a Big East Conference game at Pittsburgh.

“I feel in a one-on-one situation, I should be able to beat my man,” said Douglas, who had 14 of his 16 points in the second half. “The coach wants the ball in my hands at the end of the game.

“My eyes kind of lit up when I saw that man-to-man.”

The Orangemen (18-5 overall, 7-3 in the Big East) trailed, 68-66, when Stephen Thompson made a free throw and Douglas hit a 17-footer to give Syracuse the lead for good. Douglas followed with a 15-footer and fed Thompson for a layup with 4:30 left to complete a seven-point run that made it 73-68.

Matt Roe scored 25 points, and Syracuse outrebounded Pitt, 44-23, keeping Jerome Lane and Charles Smith of the Panthers off the boards in the second half.

Derrick Coleman had 18 points and 12 rebounds for Syracuse. Rony Seikaly added 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Lane had 16 points, and Smith added 13 for Pitt (16-3, 6-2).

Temple 98, Villanova 86--Freshman Mark Macon scored 31 points and Howard Evans had 15 points and a school-record 20 assists to lead the top-ranked Owls past the 20th-ranked Wildcats at Philadelphia.

Mike Vreeswyk scored 19 points, and Tim Perry added 14 as the Owls (19-1) made 14 free throws in the final 1:50 to preserve the win.

Villanova (16-7) led, 65-61, with 10:42 remaining, but the Owls went on a 10-2 run and never trailed again. The Wildcats got within 71-69, but Macon scored three baskets as Temple built the lead to 80-73 and won going away.

Doug West scored 27 points, and Kenny Wilson had 25 for Villanova.

DePaul 88, Bradley 80--Rod Strickland scored 29 points, and the Blue Demons slowed down Hersey Hawkins while turning back the No. 15 Braves at Rosemont, Ill.

Hawkins, the nation’s leading scorer at 35.3 points a game, was held to 25 points, 12 in the final nine minutes.

Bradley (15-4) trailed by 16 points early in the second half but scored nine straight points to tie the score, 67-67, with 3:59 left on Anthony Manuel’s three-point basket. DePaul (14-6) regained command with an 8-1 surge.

Purdue 72, Michigan State 70--Todd Mitchell scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half, and Everette Stephens made four free throws down the stretch as the second-ranked Boilermakers outlasted the Spartans at East Lansing, Mich.

The Spartans (8-12, 3-7) trailed by 11 points with 1:30 remaining in the first half but rallied to get within 70-68 with 52 seconds left on a basket by Ken Redfield, who scored 21 points.

Stephens, who hit two free throws with 2:35 to play, hit two more with seven seconds remaining, and the Boilermakers (20-2, 9-1) allowed Michigan State’s Kirk Manns to drive the length of the floor for an uncontested basket as time ran out.

Iowa 92, Ohio State 75--B.J. Armstrong scored 26 points, and Jeff Moe added 20 as the No. 13 Hawkeyes beat the Buckeyes in a Big Ten game at Iowa City.

Ohio State (12-8, 5-5) rallied from a 51-46 halftime deficit to tie the game, 53-53 on a layup by Jay Burson, who had 29 points.

Armstrong’s hit a jump shot with 17:48 left to break the tie, and Iowa (17-6, 7-3) broke the game open with a 15-5 run.

Kentucky 69, Auburn 62--Rex Chapman scored 25 points, and freshman Eric Manuel added eight in the final minutes as the 10th-ranked Wildcats held off the Tigers in a Southeastern Conference game at Auburn, Ala.

Auburn (12-8, 5-6), which trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half, got within 63-59 in the final minutes, but Manuel tipped in a missed shot and hit a 12-footer to give the Wildcats (17-3, 9-3) breathing room at 63-55 lead with 2:28 left.

The Wildcats were upset by Auburn, 53-52, on Jan. 9 at Lexington, Ky., when Kentucky was ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Vanderbilt 90, Tennessee 62--Will Perdue scored 22 points, and the No. 17 Commodores routed the Volunteers in an SEC game at Nashville.

The Commodores (15-5, 8-4), who had lost four straight to the Tennessee, remained one game behind Kentucky in the SEC race.

Dyron Nix scored 31 points for Tennessee (12-8, 5-6).