College Basketball Roundup : No. 1 Temple Proves Point, Routs Carolina

Despite being ranked No. 1, Temple had to prove it Sunday.

The Owls went to one of the toughest proving grounds in the country, Chapel Hill, N.C., and made plenty of believers with an 83-66 rout of No. 5 North Carolina.

“We wanted this game,” guard Howard Evans said. “We wanted it because it was North Carolina, because it may be for the No. 1 seed (in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. East Regional) and because they’re supposed to have eight (high school) All-Americans and we have only one.

“We wanted to show we could play too.”

Temple (22-1) trailed, 39-34, at halftime but scored the first 19 points of the second half by making 8 of 11 shots, including two three-pointers by Mike Vreeswyk and another by Mark Macon.

North Carolina (20-4) missed its first seven shots of the half and committed five turnovers to fall behind, 53-39, with just under 14 minutes left. The Tar Heels got no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

“It hard to say anybody deserves No. 1,” Coach Dean Smith said. “But based on this game, I’m certainly voting them No. 1.

“Maybe this will be a good learning experience for us. I don’t think I had the team prepared. We have become so conscious of the turnovers that we didn’t make some of the passes we should make.”

It was North Carolina’s worst loss at home in 13 years and only the fifth time the Tar Heels have lost to a nonconference team at home in 22 years.

The last nonconference team to beat the Tar Heels at home was Villanova in 1983. Maryland beat North Carolina by 22 points in a 1975 game at Chapel Hill.

Vreeswyk scored 26 points for Temple, Macon added 19, Tim Perry had 17 and Evans scored 13.

“I think they are the best team we have have played,” said Jeff Lebo, whose scored 18 for North Carolina.

Temple’s pressure defense forced the Tar Heels into 29 turnovers, 18 in the second half.

Playing primarily a matchup zone, the Owls limited North Carolina’s J.R. Reid to 10 points and Scott Williams to 9.

“This game will give us a lot of confidence going into the last leg of our schedule,” Temple Coach John Chaney said. “To win against a top program, to come here and play extremely well is a big boost.”

Temple stayed in the game in the last 11 minutes of the first half after top scorer and floor leader Macon went to the bench with two quick fouls.

Purdue 95, Indiana 85--Todd Mitchell scored 21 of his 24 points in the second half and Troy Lewis had 22 points and 14 assists as the second-ranked Boilermakers overcame the Hoosiers in a Big Ten game at West Lafayette, Ind.

A basket by Mel McCants, who scored 21 points, put Purdue (22-2 overall, 11-1 in the Big Ten) ahead to stay, 76-75. The Boilermakers made it 88-81 on two free throws by Everette Stephens with 1:52 left and two free throws by Lewis increased the lead to 90-81 with 1:31 remaining.

Baskets by Dean Garrett and Jay Edwards cut Indiana’s deficit to five before Mitchell’s dunk with 34 seconds left clinched the victory.

Keith Smart had 23 points and Edwards added 20 for Indiana (15-8, 7-6).

Missouri 92, Oklahoma State 70--Derrick Chievous scored 21 points and the No. 15 Tigers trounced the Cowboys in a Big Eight game at Columbia, Mo.

Oklahoma State Coach Leonard Hamilton was thrown out of the game early in the second half when the Cowboys’ bench was assessed its third technical foul. Hamilton drew a double technical foul three minutes into the game.

Missouri (17-6, 6-4) outscored the Cowboys, 14-3, in the first 5 1/2 minutes of the second half to take a 55-42 lead. John Starks scored 19 points for Oklahoma State (12-12, 3-7).

Brigham Young 72, Hawaii 70--Brian Taylor caused a steal, grabbed a rebound and sank two free throws in the final seconds to give the No. 7 Cougars a Western Athletic Conference victory over the Rainbows in Honolulu Saturday night.

The Cougars (21-2, 10-1) had a 69-67 lead when Taylor stole a pass and flipped the ball to Nathan Call, who was fouled with five seconds left. Call missed the free throws, but Taylor got the rebound and made two free throws after being fouled.

After a steal, Call made one free throw and Hawaii’s David Hallums hit a three-point shot at the buzzer.

Jeff Chatman scored 22 points and Michael Smith added 17 for Brigham Young, and Reggie Cross scored 19 for Hawaii (2-21, 1-11).

Stanford 71, California 61--Todd Lichti scored 20 points and the Cardinal moved into a tie for second place with Oregon State in the Pacific 10 Conference by downing the Bears at Berkeley.

Stanford improved its record to 9-5 in the conference and 17-8 overall, and California fell to 5-9 and 8-15.

Cal (5-9, 8-15) jumped to an 18-5 lead by holding Stanford (17-8, 9-5) without a field goal for the first eight minutes. The Cardinal got within 37-31 at halftime, took the lead on a basket by Derek Bruton with 11:17 left and broke the game open with 10 straight points.

Oregon 73, Washington State 66--Frank Johnson scored three big baskets to carry the Ducks past the Cougars in a Pac-10 game at Eugene, Ore.

Johnson drove the length of the court for a layup to tie the game, 43-43, with 12:54 left, after a steal to give Oregon (13-10, 8-6) a 45-43 lead with 11:27 remaining.

Washington State (10-13, 5-9) reclaimed the lead, 46-45, on Brian Wright’s three-pointer with 10:44 left, but Johnson responded with a three-pointer and the Ducks never trailed again. Wright had 28 points for the Cougars and Johnson scored 18 for Oregon.

Illinois 85, Wisconsin 65--Nick Anderson scored 23 points and the Illini scored a Big Ten victory over the Badgers at Champaign, Ill.

The Illini (18-8, 8-5) broke open a tight game with a 24-6 run that built a 63-45 lead with eight minutes left.

Danny Jones scored 22 points and Trent Jackson added 21 for Wisconsin.