College Basketball Roundup : Temple Barely Survives to Clinch Atlantic 10 Title

If Temple was taking a step down Tuesday--after routing North Carolina, 83-66, Sunday--it was difficult to tell by its 62-61 victory over West Virginia at Morgantown, W. Va.

The top-ranked Owls needed two free throws by Mike Vreeswyk with six seconds left to defeat the Mountaineers and clinch the Atlantic 10 Conference title before the crowd of 10,766.

West Virginia (16-11 overall, 11-5 in conference) was 11 of 14 from the free-throw line in the second half against Temple (23-1, 15-0), which won its ninth straight.

“They really played well, and shot excellent from the foul line, which was unexpected because they have struggled all season,” Temple Coach John Chaney said of West Virginia, which lost for the sixth time in seven games.

Vreeswyk had 22 points, including five three-pointers, but freshman Mark Macon, who had scored in double figures in Temple’s first 23 games, was held to 8 points in the game.

Tim Perry partially blocked Steve Berger’s three-point attempt with 10 seconds left to seal the victory.

Brigham Young 75, Colorado State 68--Michael Smith scored 24 points and had 8 rebounds for the No. 11-ranked Cougars in the Western Athletic Conference win at Fort Collins, Colo. Brigham Young is 22-2 overall, 11-1 in conference.

Boston College 64, Connecticut 56--Dana Barros scored 21 points to lead the Eagles to a Big East victory over the Huskies at Boston. Jamie Benton made a three-point play, drawing a foul on a driving layup to give BC (14-11, 5-9) a 60-56 edge with 49 seconds left, and the Eagles hit four free throws to seal the victory.

Cincinnati 106, Memphis State 90--Cedric Glover scored a career-high 32 points and Steve Jackson added 22 points and 13 rebounds to carry the Bearcats to a Metro Conference victory at Cincinnati.