College Basketball Roundup : No. 1 Temple Just Gets By Penn State

Top-ranked Temple played its worst game of the season, but managed to collect another victory Tuesday night at Philadelphia as freshman Mark Macon converted a three-point play and Tim Perry blocked a shot with two seconds left to give Temple a 50-49 Atlantic 10 victory over Penn State.

“We were a bad basketball team tonight, the worst I’ve ever seen of any club in my life,” Temple Coach John Chaney said.

The Owls made only 16 of 50 shots (32%) in scoring a season-low 50 points and were outrebounded, 34-32.

“We came out real flat,” Temple guard Howard Evans said. “We had no rhythm, no timing. A lot of shots were not falling. We can’t afford to play like that and win. We just stopped Penn State at a crucial time, at the end.”

Macon, who finished with 26 points, drove the lane for a basket and Penn State’s Wes Jones was called for a blocking foul. Macon finished the three-point play for a 50-49 lead with 42 seconds to go.

Penn State held the ball for the last shot but Perry blocked Mike Iuzzolino’s jumper and grabbed the rebound to preserve the win.

Temple is now 21-1 overall, 14-0 in the Atlantic 10; Penn State is 11-10, 7-6.

Notre Dame 75, Rutgers 62--David Rivers scored 29 points and keyed a 17-3 second-half run at East Rutherford, N.J., that sent the Scarlet Knights to their 16th straight loss.

The victory was the third straight for Notre Dame (15-7), but it struggled against Rutgers (3-19) for more than 30 minutes before putting the game away.

The victory was the first for Notre Dame in six games at the Brendan Byrne Arena covering a six-year period.

Pitt 87, Providence 86--Pitt freshman Jason Matthews made a pair of three-point baskets in the final 75 seconds to give the eighth-ranked Panthers a Big East victory at Providence, R.I.

Pitt, which beat Providence by 34 points three weeks earlier, had to come from behind three times in the final minutes. Charles Smith scored 33 points, one short of his career high, to lead the Panthers to their 18th victory in 21 games. They lead the Big East with an 8-2 record.

Smith scored 12 of Pitt’s first 15 points but the Panthers needed Matthews’ long-range shots, their only three-pointers of the game, to pull out the victory.

Providence (10-13, 4-8) got 25 points from Abdul Shamsid-Deen and 22 from Steve Wright.

The Friars, who trailed by eight in the first half, took a one-point lead at the intermission on Darryl Wright’s rebound tap-in with 12 seconds left. However, they could not put together any kind of big lead in the second half.

St. Mary’s 61, California 51-- Erick Newman scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half, and Robert Haugan added 14 as the Gaels rallied to beat the Bears at Moraga, Calif.

The Gaels (16-6) trailed 35-34 with 13:36 remaining, but went on an 18-2 run to take a 52-37 lead with 6:30 left in the game. Cal (8-15) was never able to come closer than 10 points.

Three players--Matt Beeuwsaert, Roy Fisher and Keith Smith--led the Bears with 11 points each.

Kansas 70, Nebraska 48--Danny Manning scored 21 points and Milt Newton added a dozen in Big Eight game at Lawrence, Kan., as Kansas handed the Cornhuskers’ their fifth straight loss.

Kansas (16-8, 5-4), led, 46-23, at halftime and scored five straight points to start the second half, including a three-point play by Manning. Nebraska fell to 12-13, 3-6.

Seton Hall 79, St. Peter’s 70--John Morton masterminded a 19-2 Seton Hall run in the final 7:08 of the first half with seven points and three assists at East Rutherford, N.J., and the Pirates handed the Peacocks their third straight loss.

The victory was the third in four games for Pirates of the Big East Conference and raised their record to 16-10, their most victories in a season since the 1978-79 season.

DePaul 92, Iona 56--Rod Strickland and Kevin Edwards each scored a game-high 17 points and Stanley Brundy added 15 as DePaul won in a rout at Rosemont, Ill.

The 36-point triumph was the Blue Demons’ biggest margin of victory this year and the first time they had won by 30 or more since they defeated Western Michigan by 30 points last December.